I was surprised to hear that you consider his portrayal of trade debates as a strawman. I rarely hear economists discuss the distributional consequences of trade and how they should be weighed in a cost-benefit analysis…more often the issue seems to simply be brushed off as someone’s else’s problem to deal with. I read 100-times more analysis/commentary on the aggregate benefits of trade. I think Russ is exactly right with his “rant.”
Great job as usual, Arnold. You’re a consistently good guest on Econtalk.
Disappointing. Roberts monopolized the discussion.
A bit too much Roberts, but your points in conversation were not as sharp as in your (edited) writing.
‘Am I on a path that’s meaningful?’–very much culturally determined. That doesn’t just come from inside you. Very, very much culturally related. And there will be–you know, your choices will be affected a lot by the people who you respond to most over the course of your life.
Funny that the cultural PC-bullies seem to understand this, and are exerting huge effort to control the cultural context, and the framework of the discussion. Today’s college seems often to be indoctrination to live more meaningful lives.
Perhaps the envious professors DID choose lifes of the mind, and feel that for themselves, as well as for “superior” folk, a life of the mind is superior to the conehead ‘consume mass quantities’. Thus they want their students to be less materialistic.
I’m kind of anti-NGO / non-profits, because I’ve worked in some and with some and see how the frequent “great hearts” of the non-profit folk get disappointed trying to help poor people who are usually far far more interested in consuming as much stuff as they can get. And how often the programs devolve into semi-corruption…
I actually suggest a non-profit surtax of 10% on wages paid that higher than prior year’s median wage paid (now almost $60k/yr) — those in the non-profits are claiming moral superiority, they should be paying more in taxes. This certainly includes professors at non-profit org schools like Harvard & Stanford. I’m sure they won’t like it.
Good discussion, as always.
I was surprised to hear that you consider his portrayal of trade debates as a strawman. I rarely hear economists discuss the distributional consequences of trade and how they should be weighed in a cost-benefit analysis…more often the issue seems to simply be brushed off as someone’s else’s problem to deal with. I read 100-times more analysis/commentary on the aggregate benefits of trade. I think Russ is exactly right with his “rant.”
Great job as usual, Arnold. You’re a consistently good guest on Econtalk.
Disappointing. Roberts monopolized the discussion.
A bit too much Roberts, but your points in conversation were not as sharp as in your (edited) writing.
‘Am I on a path that’s meaningful?’–very much culturally determined. That doesn’t just come from inside you. Very, very much culturally related. And there will be–you know, your choices will be affected a lot by the people who you respond to most over the course of your life.
Funny that the cultural PC-bullies seem to understand this, and are exerting huge effort to control the cultural context, and the framework of the discussion. Today’s college seems often to be indoctrination to live more meaningful lives.
Perhaps the envious professors DID choose lifes of the mind, and feel that for themselves, as well as for “superior” folk, a life of the mind is superior to the conehead ‘consume mass quantities’. Thus they want their students to be less materialistic.
I’m kind of anti-NGO / non-profits, because I’ve worked in some and with some and see how the frequent “great hearts” of the non-profit folk get disappointed trying to help poor people who are usually far far more interested in consuming as much stuff as they can get. And how often the programs devolve into semi-corruption…
I actually suggest a non-profit surtax of 10% on wages paid that higher than prior year’s median wage paid (now almost $60k/yr) — those in the non-profits are claiming moral superiority, they should be paying more in taxes. This certainly includes professors at non-profit org schools like Harvard & Stanford. I’m sure they won’t like it.