After such knowledge what forgiveness? After such knowledge what forgiveness Such after knowledge what forgiveness Such knowledge after what forgiveness Such knowledge what after forgiveness Such knowledge what forgiveness after After such knowledge what forgiveness After knowledge such what forgiveness After knowledge what such forgiveness After knowledge what forgiveness such Such after knowledge what forgiveness … Continue reading OCD: A poem
Why I left philosophy
1. I started working on intuitions. To see what a philosophical intuition is (or rather, what one type of philosophical intuition is), consider the following: You might think knowledge is justified and true belief. But suppose I look at my watch and it says the time is 12:37. On this surely reasonable and justified basis … Continue reading Why I left philosophy
The effects of Kaldor-Hicks improvements in an oligarchical society
0. Given the (debatable) difficulties of interpersonal utility comparison, the Kaldor-Hicks compensation test has been proposed as a way of assessing whether or not a given policy improves social welfare. To understand the idea of a Kaldor-Hicks improvement, we first must introduce the idea of a Pareto improvement, which a Kaldor-Hicks improvement generalises. A policy … Continue reading The effects of Kaldor-Hicks improvements in an oligarchical society
The Paradox of the Crowd
I want to introduce a new paradox. It’s not a strict paradox, but it is of practical concern: The majority opinion in almost every field is more likely to be correct than your own, if your opinion deviates from the majority opinion. This is true even the group has no more raw data than you- … Continue reading The Paradox of the Crowd
Redistribution is not bad for economic growth: Evidence from the IMF
For the study that this post is based on, click here. In a previous post I outlined the main case for redistributing wealth- an extra hundred dollars means a lot more to someone struggling to make ends meet than to a millionaire. We even put some figures on how much inequality ‘costs’ through exactly this … Continue reading Redistribution is not bad for economic growth: Evidence from the IMF
An Apologia for Apologies
Few topics are subject to as much motivated cognition as the apology. A great example is the way in which, after someone makes a public apology, commentators will scour through their apology for any imperfection: “I feel terrible about what I have done” becomes “She’s making it all about herself!” “At the time I was … Continue reading An Apologia for Apologies
The class composition of voters for Front National, a French far right party.
In 2017, Front National, a far-right party in France, came second in the presidential elections. Before that, in 2012 they achieved 17% of the first round vote. The 2016 European Social Survey allows us to analyse the characteristics of a sample of 2012 Front National voters, including relatively detailed statistics about their economic situation. There … Continue reading The class composition of voters for Front National, a French far right party.
Economic anxiety and lower incomes are associated with greater opposition to multi-ethnic immigration in Europe
There’s a raging debate about whether the rise of nativist and racist ideas has anything to do with economic anxiety. At least in Europe there appears to be an association. In the first section I’ll discuss the empirical evidence for this claim, in the in the second I’ll grapple with the political consequences. I In … Continue reading Economic anxiety and lower incomes are associated with greater opposition to multi-ethnic immigration in Europe
The Cost of not Redistributing Money Part 1
Distributive Efficiency Let's discuss Abba Lerner’s concept of distributive efficiency. It’s an interesting exercise to calculate how much the United States loses -from a utilitarian point of view- from not redistributing. In order to do the calculations I’ve enlisted the help of my good friend Kieran Latty, whose work on this very question is almost … Continue reading The Cost of not Redistributing Money Part 1
Let’s end the myth that poor and working class people don’t support redistribution
For some people this isn’t going to be a surprise, in fact they might wonder why I’m bothering to write about it. For others this will contradict cherished contrarian wisdom. But yes, I am here to tell you that the empirical evidence suggests that those who are not rich are more likely to believe the … Continue reading Let’s end the myth that poor and working class people don’t support redistribution
DePonySum 