I’ve never tried this before, but I thought I’d try to come up with what I consider to be my top 10 EconLog posts in 2024. I narrowed it down to 15 and then made some somewhat arbitrary exclusions.
Here they are. In all but one case, I provide an extract.
Misleading Wall Street Journal subtitle about oil companies
November 23, 2024.
When I wrote this, I was working from the electronic version of the Wall Street Journal because my printed version is delayed. I had no idea this was the front-page article when I wrote my critique, a fact that makes me glad I wrote it. Its prominence on the page makes it an even bigger deal than I thought.
Should you become a college professor?
November 18, 2024.
Extract:
Even if the vast majority of colleges and universities are beyond saving, that doesn’t mean all colleges are. And that doesn’t mean that even those who can’t be saved can’t have nice niches.
Thomas Gale Moore RIP
October 29, 2024.
Extract:
Tom was one of the first proponents of deregulation. At a forum on inflation held by President Ford in 1974, Tom distributed a statement calling for deregulation of transportation, airlines, energy and a number of other sectors. (I’m going off the top of my head here. The copy he gave me was destroyed in the 2007 fire in my office.) If I remember correctly, he has the vast majority of economists, a group that includes many Democrats and Republicans alike. belonged, were encouraged to sign the declaration. .
Are sex workers necessarily involved in human trafficking?
October 14, 2024.
Extract:
Note the disgusting irony. We are told to watch out for sex traffickers because this will reduce the number of people forced into prostitution. But if we work together, we may be able to help police stop using force against innocent, non-coercive people.
Average height of NBA players and Canadian decline in real GDP per capita
October 8, 2024.
Extract:
But here’s an attempt at using the back of the envelope. The number of NPRs in Canada increased from 3.5% of the population in 2022 to 6.5% in January 2024. That is an increase of 3.0 percentage points. Because these NPRs were disproportionately students, and because those who worked were disproportionately low-productivity jobs, I think it’s a generous assumption that they increased GDP by 1.0% in those two years. So if, all else being equal, the numerator, GDP, increases by 1.0% and the denominator, the number of people, increases by 3.0%, GDP per capita will decrease by 2.0%. In short, these non-permanent residents cause a decline in GDP per capita. But the rest of Canada could experience an increase in GDP per capita.
Subsidies to the press endanger freedom of expression
September 12, 2024.
Extract:
Press freedom in Canada is dying. And, as Noormohamed’s threatening tweet indicates, silencing government critics is one of the main purposes of government subsidies.
Bryan Caplan underestimates the arguments for immigration
August 21, 2024.
Extract:
For all its imperfections and government barriers, America still has one of the most vital dynamic economies in the world. Potential inventors here have others nearby to collaborate with: think Silicon Valley. So if the government had prevented a substantial number of them from immigrating, it would have prevented a significant amount of innovation, and American consumers, along with other consumers, would have been deprived of the benefits from innovation.
Military-age men
April 16, 2024.
Extract:
So why do they call immigrants “military age men”? I think it’s meant to subtly plant in the minds of listeners the fear that a hostile foreign government is sending these men here to help them take over or at least somehow destroy American society. undermine.
Could a substantial percentage of these military-age men actually be military personnel, but in disguise? Sure, they could. But it seems unlikely.
Occam’s razor applies here.
The most likely explanation is that they want to leave the country they come from because this country (the United States) is so much less oppressive and so much better in other ways. In fact, it wouldn’t be entirely surprising if some of these military-age men were to flee the draft. That was a strong motivator for their colleagues who came here between 100 and 150 years ago.
Pregnancy discrimination law reduces women’s economic freedom
April 12, 2024.
Extract:
When the government interferes with contracts between employers and employees, it limits the freedom of both parties. Take the PDA. You can certainly imagine a married woman who would want the freedom to contract with an employer who does not offer maternity benefits. Why? The most obvious reason is that she may not want to get pregnant. The benefit then appears to be of no value to her. But it’s worse than that. Although the benefit has no value, it does come at a cost. There is no such thing as a free lunch, and if employers are forced to offer this benefit, they will find ways to reduce wages (in dollars or in other benefits) for women, especially married women, of childbearing age.
How Timur Kuran changed my thinking
January 13, 2024.
Extract:
Rarely do I leave a conference thinking deeply about an idea I just heard. But his article stuck with me. It helped solve a problem I had been thinking about for decades.
The problem was this: why is the adult world more like high school than I expected when I was in high school?
Even when I was very young, I did not hesitate to express my opinion. But in high school I noticed that I could face severe social sanctions (thankfully, apart from threatening my life, which only happened once) if I expressed unpopular views.
Note: The accompanying photo is by Timur Kuran.