I’ve mentioned before that there was a period when I spent (wasted?) an incredible amount of time studying philosophies of procedural property rights. I call them philosophies of procedural property rights because these philosophies try to justify property rights by appealing to just processes, namely non-aggressive and voluntary processes. As I wrote before, that is… Continue reading More fun with procedural property rights
Looks like rich kids are driving up college costs
A few days ago, I had a purely speculative post about the possibility that the consumption preferences of rich kids are driving up the cost of college. The basic idea of the piece is simple. Most kids do not go to college because they love education. They do so because college is the gatekeeper of… Continue reading Looks like rich kids are driving up college costs
Soltas and squirrels
Evan Soltas wrote a column about Social Security in Bloomberg. I responded to that column with a blog post, and explained where I thought he went wrong. Now he is out with a blog post responding to me. In my argument, I basically pan the notion that retirement savings really do anything meaningful. You see,… Continue reading Soltas and squirrels
Response to Evan Soltas on generational transfers
Evan Soltas has a post out today about generational warfare, in which he effectively advocates cutting Social Security benefits. Him and I had a little back-and-forth about this article before it came out, and he told me to blog my response to make it clearer. So here goes. In his argument, Soltas groups Medicare and… Continue reading Response to Evan Soltas on generational transfers
Are rich kids driving up the cost of college?
One of the reasons the cost of college has risen is that colleges have undertaken big capital projects to build luxurious dorms, fitness centers, and other similar amenities. The reason they do so, it is often claimed, is that they need to compete for student applicants. When students are trying to pick a college, cool… Continue reading Are rich kids driving up the cost of college?