Here is my piece on structural poverty. Here is Noah Smith’s piece on structural poverty. His piece is not narrative, so my reaction won’t be narrative either. Structural Poverty To rehash the basic idea: structural poverty refers to poverty that is derivative of the way that we have structured our economy. In particular, when I… Continue reading Structural poverty, obviously the case
Just War Theory is window dressing
Although I don’t do foreign news events, I actually am very well-acquainted with the ins and outs of so-called Just War Theory, having intensely studied it many years ago. To call it a “theory” is to give it too much credit of course. It is nothing more than a list of discrete rules and principles… Continue reading Just War Theory is window dressing
Reihan LOL
Reihan Salam wrote a piece against using non-market incomes to reduce poverty. A critical part of the piece claims that this doesn’t reduce poverty under the official poverty metric because that metric only tracks earnings: The official poverty measure is very useful because it tells us how much people are earning. Anyone remotely competent knows… Continue reading Reihan LOL
Does nature command the destruction of all human liberty?
I found this hilariously exasperated piece from Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry on Tumblr while I was browsing the #pajamaboy tag. In it, Gobry says the problem with the legal realist point that all economic regimes are totally made up social constructs is that it denies people’s rights. What rights? Well, you know, the “inherent, natural, human right… Continue reading Does nature command the destruction of all human liberty?
Osama bin Laden in the Wall Street Journal
In the Wall Street Journal, Thane Rosenbaum opines on the civilian status of the killed Gazans: The asymmetry is complicated even further by the status of these civilians. Under such maddening circumstances, are the adults, in a legal and moral sense, actual civilians? To qualify as a civilian one has to do more than simply… Continue reading Osama bin Laden in the Wall Street Journal