Inflammatory Political Campaigns and Racial Bias in Policiing
Simple, clever, poignant. I wish I’d thought of it.
Congressmen earn disproportionate returns in the stock market
File under: duh, but that doesn’t mean someone shouldn’t reinvestigate this every 12 months.
Pounds that Kill: The External Costs of Vehicle Weight
This is the kind of thing that basic economic theory combined with Force = Mass X Acceleration will get you all the way to the conclusion, but that doesn’t have a chance at affecting policy until someone credibly estimates the costs. These estimates are credible and they should effect policy. I’ll give you my takeway though: this matters more as we transition to electric vehicles. As the cost incentives of gasoline become a weaker constraint on vehicle size, we will need to introduce new ways to internalize the external costs. Obvious policy solution: tax vehicles by the pound.
Monopsony in the US Labor Market
I’m working on monopsony in the paper I’m presenting at Geoerge Mason University next week. This is the final published version of the paper that presents the bleeding edge of the research in question. You should come to my talk if you’re in town.
Economist Writing Every Day 
Re “Pounds that kill”:
1. I don’t have access to this article, but is “heavier vehicles are safer for their own occupants” evidence-based? And if it is, doesn’t that safety offset the cost in gas and lethality (for the other driver)? Depending on who you’re protecting (your own kid, for example), the value of that extra protection could be virtually infinite.
2. If we try to control vehicle weights via taxation, are we just making poor drivers drive Corollas to protect rich drivers in SUVs?
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