Your FSA/OWI Photo of the Day

Counting sheep, Rosebud County, Montana. Arthur Rothstein, 1939.

It's wishful thinking...

... to suppose that food will bring peace between Jews and Palestinians. But if anyone can do it, Ottolenghi and Tamimi got the goods. Clockwise from lower left: Root vegetable slaw, chicken with clementines and arak, cook, book, and the cook's Tartine country loaf.

How concerned should we be about rising income inequality?

I basically agree with Lane Kenworthy here, who argues that claims of the dire consequences of income inequality for other social desiderata are often overstated. Many of the arguments against income inequality that are floating around these days would work better if they instead targeted poverty, or inequality of opportunity, or racism, or barriers to full political participation. Instead, there are shaky claims that inequality in itself is bad for economic growth, opportunity and mobility, health, democracy, etc.

The best argument against income inequality qua inequality is, in my view (and Kenworthy's as well, I think), based on some version of fairness or justice theory. Most days my version is pretty much garden variety utilitarianism, backed up by a Harsanyi/Dworkin style argument from behind the veil of ignorance. The worst thing about the rich getting richer is, basically, that there are much better things that society (we the people) could be doing with rich people's money than they are choosing to do with it themselves (Bill Gates is an outlier, remember). "But it's their money!" you reply? No it's not... but that's an argument for another day...

Disclosure of potential financial conflict of interest...

... seems like such an obvious tenet of sound professional ethics in academic work to me. But apparently not to Professor Pirrong of the University of Houston Finance Department. Still, even if he prefers not to offer full disclosure, he might consider adding a footnote at the beginning of each paper or powerpoint deck on topics related to the industries that pay him big bucks... In fact he has written it already, in response to a reader who questioned his objectivity: "Uhm, no, dipstick... I call 'em like I see 'em." I'm reassured, aren't you?

My dialect map...

... definitely nails my time in southern New England: eastern Conn., ages 7-17, plus another five years in western Mass. Grinders and sneakers seem to be enough. But Wisconsin? Hmmm. Maybe from my mom, who was a kid there. Then again, she says grinder and sneaker too.

Update: Took it again. Most of the questions were the same, as were my answers, but somehow there were enough changes to eliminate the Wisconsin anomaly...

Marry me, Mary, and we will be merry!

I agree with Krugman on most things, including this... although apparently it is not just New Yorkers who historically have differentiated the pronunciation of these words: New Englanders do (or did) as well. Also, his pronunciation guide at the bottom of the post necessarily exaggerates the differences, methinks. And don't get me started on which vs. witch...

Can Music Be Perfect? Vol. 35

Not sure what I'm doing yet...

Splitting the cost of carbon

Eduardo Porter has an interesting column about the issue of how to split the costs of carbon between "producers" and "consumers." From an economic point of view, the question has a simple and elegant answer: a uniform, global (harmonized) carbon tax would split the cost between producers and consumers in an efficient manner. Since the supply of most manufactured goods is probably quite elastic, much of this tax would be passed onto consumers. The exception would be the countries reliant on producing and selling fossil fuels: they would be hammered. Additional distributive questions would remain: Would it be fair to demand "reparations" for the West's historical carbon emissions? Should richer nations redistribute some of their carbon tax revenues to poorer nations? And the overriding question of who will exercise the necessary political will and global leadership would remain as well.