2009–2011

2011 695

December 2011

1. 31 DecThe sum of all fears = 183
2. 30 DecYes, another talking baby video, now with informed commentary
3. 30 DecA quote from Coase
4. 30 DecThe scandal isn't that the New York Times is one of our worst papers; the scandal is that it's one of our best papers
5. 29 DecAdam Smith
6. 28 DecYou have to wonder what they're thinking
7. 28 DecIf you're following Burn Notice online
8. 27 DecI think we also need to page Mark Palko
9. 27 DecDoes strong government help?
10. 26 DecIntroducing the Ddulites
11. 26 DecIs there an economist is the house? Casey Mulligan edition
12. 25 DecHappy Holidays
13. 24 DecLayoffs
14. 24 DecDo copyright extensions drive innovation? -- Hollywood blockbuster edition
15. 23 DecTwo telling quotes from Bill Adair of PolitiFact
16. 21 DecIntellectual property: the story that never ends
17. 21 DecStill more adventures in intellectual property
18. 21 DecA few more thoughts on journalistic conformity
19. 20 DecPrediction is difficult
20. 19 DecCan we do observational medical research?
21. 18 DecHow to read Megan McArdle part 46 -- the quotes
22. 17 DecWhen a model simply doesn't match reality
23. 15 DecA really nice article by Andrew Gelman and Kaiser Fung
24. 15 DecRemember, it no longer counts as plagiarism unless you use exactly the same words
25. 14 DecK12
26. 11 DecQuestion about Airlines
27. 10 DecThis week's appalling story of intellectual property abuse
28. 9 DecMaybe the Republican primary is going just as we should expect
29. 8 DecModel assumptions
30. 8 DecQuote of the day
31. 7 DecDefined Contribution Health Insurance
32. 7 DecEating Eric Roberts
33. 6 DecYour tuition dollars at work
34. 5 DecAgendas
35. 5 DecCascading failure
36. 4 DecWhat fictional character has been worst served by his or her movie adaptation?
37. 4 DecStudent Loans: a continuing series
38. 3 DecI happen to like handles on my coffee cups
39. 3 DecMore "moral" economics via Chait
40. 2 DecEconomics and Morality
41. 2 Dec"So crazy it just might work"
42. 1 DecIntellectual Property

November 2011

1. 30 NovEmotionally an eight-year old
2. 30 NovLots of good stuff
3. 29 NovI hate John D. Cook
4. 29 NovApple Stock
5. 28 NovAnother statistics/auteur theory post -- causality
6. 27 NovSad news
7. 27 NovContradictions
8. 27 NovLiving with Mistakes the easy way -- larger points
9. 26 Nov"[T]he numbers show that wage inflation is — literally — the least of the problems when it comes to university cost inflation"
10. 26 NovProbably the damnedest thing you'll see this weekend
11. 25 NovPeak Life Expectancy
12. 25 NovGlycemic control and diabetes: today's evidence
13. 23 NovThings that make you wince science writing edition
14. 23 NovTax Levels
15. 21 NovToys for Tots -- reprinted, slightly revised
16. 20 NovThe most disgusting image I could come up with in the education reform debate
17. 20 NovStatements that I violently disagree with
18. 19 NovEvaluating evidence
19. 18 NovWhy aren't you reading the incidental economist?
20. 17 NovHard work
21. 17 NovLaboratory animals in biomedicine -- a recycled reply
22. 16 NovThe limitations of laboratory animals in biomedicine
23. 15 NovHow not to convince people
24. 15 NovTone poem -- how Duncan Black and company missed the big picture
25. 14 NovCross sectional reasoning
26. 14 NovAnother "It's too late tonight to do it justice..."
27. 13 NovI'm not knowledgeable enough to sufficiently mock this* #
28. 12 NovLibertarians in Space
29. 12 NovTex Avery animates David Frum's sudden move to the center
30. 11 NovPre-blogging Jack Shafer
31. 10 NovHealth Care Costs
32. 10 NovOld story, different hemisphere
33. 9 NovWerner Herzog, LA, and structural employment in hot jazz
34. 9 NovBut some of my best friends are administrators
35. 8 NovI haven't taken a cheap shot at an administrator for a while
36. 8 NovSpeaking of curriculum -- Armenian edition
37. 8 NovAt least we aren't giving them antidepressants
38. 7 NovOne of the risks of living is dying
39. 2 NovThe worst example of curriculum dead wood?
40. 1 NovWe need curriculum reform but we need to do it right

October 2011

1. 30 OctIs consistency too much to ask?
2. 29 OctPre-blogging David Carr
3. 28 OctCalifornia Pension Reform
4. 28 OctAnother cautionary tale of corruption by metrics
5. 27 OctFelix Salmon on the implosion of Netflix
6. 27 OctIs this an expression you want to see on the face of a woman holding a giant axe?
7. 26 OctA Luddite Portfolio
8. 26 OctTragic alignment
9. 25 OctInteresting Trading Idea
10. 25 OctA tweet from Matt Yglesias
11. 24 OctThe secret of (unintentional) comedy is timing
12. 22 OctI could not disagree more
13. 22 OctGreat catch from Jared Bernstein -- four years of your life for a lousy, stinking 0.1% a year
14. 22 OctOccasionally I feel a little down...
15. 21 OctPossibly the best graph of the year
16. 20 OctAntidepressants
17. 18 OctMs Goldstein on Tenure
18. 18 Oct"Don't like my tax plan? Dial 1-800-EAT-USED-FOOD"
19. 18 OctSome more thoughts on MeTV
20. 17 OctUnemployment
21. 16 OctMore banking thoughts
22. 16 OctBad banks and (you guessed it) free TV
23. 15 OctFinancial security and the decision to start a family
24. 14 OctBest economic metric based on a Seinfeld routine
25. 13 OctTesting Theory
26. 11 OctUpdate on BoA severance
27. 11 OctSocial Justice
28. 10 OctEpidemiology is about communication
29. 10 OctTesting teachers
30. 9 OctMore on Executive Compensation
31. 9 OctSchlock Mercenary
32. 8 OctFree TV blogging -- Why Weigel Broadcasting may be the best business story that no one's covering -- part I
33. 7 OctCERN disproves global warming!
34. 7 OctEqual time for American Public Media
35. 7 OctThe unhappiest place on earth?
36. 6 OctResponse to Comments
37. 6 Oct"100,000 Tablets for School Children in New Delhi"
38. 5 OctMarket Efficiency
39. 4 OctEffect Sizes
40. 3 OctThe danger of deserve
41. 1 OctWhy I keep going on about rabbit ears
42. 1 OctYou should read this

September 2011

1. 30 SepPerformance based teaching
2. 29 SepMicheal Lewis on California Government
3. 29 SepWhat you'd be watching now if you had rabbit ears
4. 29 SepI wish I had time to join this debate
5. 26 SepTag-teaming Felix Salmon
6. 26 SepWe treat economists as authorities on genetics and epidemiology but we aren't that interested in what they have to say about economics
7. 24 SepWhen Greece is an appropriate example
8. 24 SepJoey Skaggs and Rick Perry
9. 24 SepMarginal utility
10. 24 SepCalifornia Falling
11. 21 SepIs smoking really the most important predictor of obesity?
12. 21 SepBeware of pundits bearing ADA arguments
13. 20 SepThe Growth Fetish cont. -- Netflix and Dylan
14. 19 SepPrincipal agents
15. 19 SepLeave SpongeBob aloooooooone!
16. 18 SepLogic on social security
17. 18 SepHow do you say Los Angeles
18. 17 SepWhat is up with Arkansas?
19. 16 SepMedical spending as a zero-sum game
20. 16 SepProfessionals and Advancement
21. 15 SepAppropriate Scales
22. 15 SepThe Wisdom of Salmon
23. 15 SepThe Growth Fetish
24. 14 SepDream a little dream for me
25. 13 SepAnd now for a break from serious discussion
26. 13 Sep401(k) plans
27. 11 SepOpen Call
28. 11 SepPersonal Finance talk
29. 11 SepRemind me not to piss off Felix Salmon
30. 10 SepType M Bias
31. 9 SepReplication in Science
32. 9 SepEarmarks and Agricultural Research
33. 8 Sep"Ask Mister Math Person"
34. 7 SepWhen a toothache is fatal
35. 7 SepWhen good news is a long way away
36. 5 SepXKCD on investing
37. 4 SepCassandra in reverse?
38. 2 SepBecause it isn't there
39. 2 SepCredentialing versus teaching
40. 1 SepStudent Debt

August 2011

1. 31 AugEconomics puzzle
2. 30 AugA different point of view on Michael Lewis
3. 28 AugMore Freakonomics causality
4. 28 Aug"Picked so green you could kick them to market"
5. 26 AugAs problems go, that one really is pretty fundamental
6. 26 AugMore from Salmon on Dalberg
7. 26 AugFrom the New Republic. Seriously.
8. 25 AugMedical Free Markets
9. 24 AugMore on Medicare
10. 24 AugMedical Expenses
11. 23 AugMore on the vanishing business of writing
12. 23 AugNever give money to a company that has a Director of Thought Leadership
13. 22 AugIs there a demographer in the house? -- Texas edition
14. 21 AugOptions have a cost associated with them
15. 19 AugMedicare versus Social Security
16. 19 AugStill more intellectual property silliness
17. 19 AugAn interesting observation about the electoral math of Texas
18. 17 AugWish I had time to discuss this in detail
19. 17 AugWhen you really want to reach a conclusion
20. 16 AugLast conference of the year
21. 13 AugNoah Smith has some smart things to say about libertarians and property rights...
22. 12 AugStop by and see what you think
23. 12 AugA sentence that you just don't want to hear
24. 12 AugXkcd
25. 12 AugYou might not want to read it while you're eating...
26. 10 AugMust-reads
27. 10 AugI think we can all use a distraction now
28. 9 AugTax Policy
29. 9 AugBad optics
30. 9 AugLibertarianism and it's limitations
31. 8 AugJonathan Chait: "I suppose I didn't express myself as well as I could have." -- repeatedly
32. 8 AugMy disconnect with Jon Chait
33. 8 AugAnother This American Life episode you ought to listen to...
34. 8 AugThe discussion continues
35. 8 AugDeclining Salaries for Writers
36. 7 AugPaul Krugman should continue doing more productive things than watching TV
37. 7 AugWorth keeping in mind
38. 7 AugA classic natural experiment
39. 6 AugPaul Krugman needs to watch more TV
40. 6 Aug"No linear relationship" does not mean "no relationship"
41. 6 AugUS Credit Rating
42. 6 AugQuestion for economic modelers
43. 6 AugIf America's not AAA, is anybody?
44. 5 AugGrade Inflation
45. 5 AugQuestion for Jonathan Chait
46. 4 AugKrugman backslides
47. 4 AugExcuses, excuses, excuses
48. 3 AugA return to education as a topic
49. 3 AugAre we entering the Post-coalition age of American politics?
50. 3 AugIs health care choice important?
51. 1 AugMath issues
52. 1 AugApologies to Mr. Raz

July 2011

1. 31 JulOverly-trusting Straussians
2. 31 JulA view into the queue
3. 30 JulHow to improve health care for the poor
4. 30 Jul"Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue"
5. 29 JulWords of Wisdom -- Weekend Edition
6. 28 JulToo busy to give this the write-up it deserves
7. 28 JulRestoring my faith in public radio
8. 27 JulA surprisingly blunt view of finance
9. 27 JulWhy we're where we are
10. 26 JulVirtuous Circles
11. 25 JulWhen all of your studies are ecological
12. 24 JulMr. Glass vs. the Patent Troll
13. 23 JulA busy morning
14. 23 JulDifferent visions of Health Care
15. 21 JulImplications of not raising the debt ceiling
16. 20 JulThe irrationality of engineers
17. 19 JulPopular Micro-economics
18. 16 JulAnybody's culpa?
19. 16 JulSubtle satire or ugly glimpse into the mind of the NYT -- you be the judge
20. 15 JulCalifornia Education
21. 15 JulGrade Inflation
22. 14 JulAnother must-hear from This American Life
23. 14 JulFelix Salmon addresses something that's been bothering me for a long time
24. 13 JulWise Bloodsport
25. 12 JulModeling assumptions
26. 10 JulChallenges of causal inference in complex systems
27. 9 JulHarnessing the power of tax evasion to address climate change
28. 8 JulCase Crossover paper and time trends
29. 7 JulTransformations
30. 5 JulThe Chameleon XLE
31. 5 JulSimulation and foolish cost-cutting
32. 5 JulDean Dad on Higher education
33. 4 JulFreelance Writing
34. 3 JulToo much silliness, too little time
35. 2 JulOnline Retailers and Sales Tax
36. 2 JulJonathan Chait -- now to the right of David Brooks on Education
37. 1 JulIt's like Groupon, only they don't even check with the merchants first
38. 1 JulThe Orphan Works Project

June 2011

1. 29 JunIf you're serious about education reform...
2. 24 JunAdoption studies as Rorschach test
3. 23 JunAnother data dump
4. 21 Junmore thoughts on geoengineering
5. 21 JunExtraordinary interview with Eric Sterling
6. 21 JunBond villains can be so hard to shop for
7. 21 JunNow their feelings are hurt
8. 20 JunThose darned Canadians
9. 20 JunIf your BS detector isn't going off, you need to check your battery
10. 20 JunSome confusion with the concept of future tense
11. 20 JunWeekend Blogging -- Free TV edition
12. 19 Jun"Just when I thought I was out... they pull me back in." -- another Groupon post (merchant relations edition)
13. 15 JunSo much for maintaining a light tone over the weekend
14. 15 Jun"How To Party Your Way Into a Multi-Million Dollar Facebook Job" -- the sad state of business journalism
15. 15 JunMore bad statistics from Freakonomics
16. 14 JunIs Megan McArdle abandoning the Chicago School?
17. 14 JunSome reflections on student loan debt
18. 14 JunWhat fun is it firing people if you don't get to humiliate them too?
19. 13 JunSome products simply demand a targeted approach
20. 12 JunWeekend Gaming -- in memoriam/elegant games
21. 12 JunA Groupon postscript
22. 12 JunMore on McKinsey
23. 11 JunReporting on methods
24. 9 Jun"We've made huge advances in what they're called"*
25. 9 JunThe real problem with Groupon
26. 8 Jun(Probably) OE's penultimate Groupon
27. 8 JunHow exactly do you cold call a CT scan?
28. 8 JunCanadian Health Care
29. 8 JunCap'n Crunch -- the Movie (you know they'll get around to it eventually)
30. 8 JunIf you recognize this picture, you don't have to give your age
31. 7 JunUncertainty and default -- another "if you don't post it someone else will"
32. 7 JunAdverse selection, misaligned interests and Groupon
33. 7 JunSawdust in the transmission
34. 6 JunYeah, n = 1, but based on this sample, I can't see Groupon doing any targeting at all
35. 5 JunWhat's the best investment you can ever make? (another Groupon post)
36. 5 JunMore on Groupon
37. 4 JunSalmon/Fung cage match -- Did Salmon use a representative example?
38. 4 JunApparently, journalists who work for Yahoo don't have access to the internet
39. 3 JunFriday afternoon data dump
40. 3 JunRIP: Joel Rosenberg
41. 3 JunOne more thought
42. 2 JunUniversity Professor Compensation -- Andrew and Joseph hit the big points but leave out the punch line
43. 2 JunUniversity Professor Compensation
44. 1 JunTyler Cowen argues against more regulation with an example that calls for more regulation

May 2011

1. 31 MayA couple of interesting stories on the business of gambling
2. 31 MayA "how to lie with statistics" instant classic from the Wall Street Journal op-ed page
3. 31 MayMetaphor of the day
4. 31 MayMore nails in the church door -- the case for the counter-reformation keeps getting stronger
5. 31 MayThought of the day
6. 30 May3-day Weekend Blogging -- Junk Food edition
7. 29 MayCorrelation is not causation . . .
8. 29 MayPerhaps we were a bit too quick to dismiss the Jupiter effect
9. 29 MayConsistency
10. 26 MayAnd NPR is probably the best of the bunch
11. 26 MayThere's only one thing more annoying than the kind of post Mike Konczal just put up
12. 26 MayMore intellectual property silliness
13. 25 May"Top Colleges, Largely for the Elite" -- no, really?
14. 25 MayAnother data dump
15. 25 MayI am surprised Mark did not post this
16. 24 MayUse it up, wear it out, make it do or do without
17. 24 MayI can't cut-and-paste this New Yorker article, which is perhaps just as well
18. 24 MayWould you rather have Jon Stewart or Felix Salmon gunning for you?
19. 23 MayDean Dad makes an essential point about the higher education debate
20. 23 MayWhy restrict the types of NSAIDs used as active comparators?
21. 23 MayWeekend Blogging -- technology edition
22. 23 MayLibertarian dreams
23. 22 MayThis is a big deal
24. 22 MayThe end of the world as seen by Basil Wolverton
25. 22 MayWeekend pop culture blogging -- comic strip edition
26. 22 MayThe headline alone makes it worth clicking the link
27. 21 MayHow to lie with statistics -- the category category
28. 21 MayDana Goldstein actually visits LA
29. 21 MayPreblogging energy
30. 21 MayWeekend Gaming -- that other chess set is just sitting there
31. 20 May"Economists are the rapiest profession going"
32. 20 MayAndrew Ross Sorkin is not helping
33. 20 MayTax Policy
34. 20 May"This really isn't about the hunting, is it, Bob?"* -- more on just scraping by on a quarter mil
35. 19 MayWhat Rick Santorum had to say about fiscal responsibility in 2003
36. 19 May"The Problem with Biomass, Part 1"
37. 19 MaySympathy for the financially inept
38. 18 MayBack to the future
39. 18 MayAlternatives to Social Security
40. 18 MayIt's too late tonight to do it justice...
41. 17 MayMore weirdness from Blogger
42. 17 MayI can think of some exceptions
43. 17 MayFor years I tried to make calculus interesting
44. 17 MayThose who forget the future are doomed to repredict it
45. 16 MaySure $172,200 sounds high but you do get room and board
46. 16 MayNoah Smith leaves out an important distinction
47. 16 MayAgain with the comic books
48. 15 MayI guess we were just collateral damage
49. 15 MayTaxes and Growth via Yglesias
50. 15 MayLending an air of authority to any argument
51. 14 MayWeekend Gaming -- the greatest board game series ever?
52. 13 May"It wasn't our fault... Honest"
53. 12 MayYes, they actually do have a "Best Illusion of the Year contest"
54. 12 MayA defense of Star Wars
55. 12 MayAnother argument for Social Security
56. 11 MayThree education stories -- two interesting and one important
57. 11 MayIt's okay to call Oedipus a...
58. 11 May"This is an egregious example of a public university being willing to sell itself for next to nothing."
59. 11 MayPop culture resources -- you may never leave the couch
60. 11 MayWhile on the subject of old pop culture
61. 10 MayOne of the advantages of studying old pop culture...
62. 10 MayGreat quote on the value of brand
63. 9 MayWhy do libertarians not hate geoengineering?
64. 9 MayClarity Has A Well-Known Liberal Bias
65. 9 MayAltered Oceans
66. 8 MayThe Culture that is Britian
67. 8 MayI was thinking about the way organizations find to avoid acknowledging the obvious
68. 8 MayNoahpinion on Public Goods
69. 7 MayCalifornia's Choice
70. 7 MayCharlie Stross summarizes the latest report on the Fukushima Daiichi accident
71. 6 MayWhy companies do the things that they do -- sports sponsorship edition
72. 6 MayOccam's barbershop -- Hollywood edition
73. 6 MayA conservative view on health care reform
74. 6 MayWeekend Gaming -- special video edition
75. 5 MayAn actual quick one on broadcast TV
76. 5 MayA False Dichotomy
77. 4 May"Teaching. You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."
78. 4 MayA kindness by omission
79. 3 MayProfessor DeLong's history lesson for the day
80. 3 MayApparently, the lot of some economists is to be painfully condescending
81. 3 MayAnother quick one on broadcast TV
82. 1 MayOne of Krugman's talents
83. 1 MayThe human spirograph

April 2011

1. 30 AprWeekend Gaming -- perfecting the imperfect
2. 30 AprA physicist in econ-land
3. 29 Apr"Premature Ecalculation"
4. 28 AprInessential Yglesias -- understanding the elasticity of oil demand
5. 28 AprEssential Yglesias
6. 28 AprAround a quarter of a million reasons to want to keep your job
7. 27 AprPreblog -- Businessmen seldom believe in efficient markets and rational actors
8. 26 AprTwo quotes
9. 26 AprSubtracted cities -- the art of falling gracefully
10. 26 AprWhile we're on the subject of economic assumptions...
11. 25 AprI'm not against the language of the marketplace
12. 22 Apr"On Public Funding of Colleges and Towards a General Theory of Public Options"
13. 22 AprAs a rule, the Centers for Disease Control give better health advice than Gawker
14. 21 AprSilence
15. 21 AprWhen people are willing to pay extra not to use your enhancement...
16. 20 AprCool yet useful -- typography edition
17. 20 AprTaxes and Growth
18. 20 Apr"Great moments in marketing -- Charlie Sheen edition"
19. 19 AprCheap Beer, Paradoxical Dice, and the Unfounded Morality of Economists
20. 18 AprPost-weekend Gaming -- five-penny backgammon
21. 18 AprMark Thoma makes an important point
22. 17 AprRemoving Uncertainty
23. 17 AprBecause it's Saturday
24. 16 AprThen and now -- Paul Ryan edition
25. 15 AprWeekend pop culture blogging -- comic strip edition
26. 15 AprTale of two tax rates
27. 14 AprQuote of the day
28. 14 AprPrediction is hard
29. 14 AprOnline gambling meets artificial intelligence, sort of...
30. 13 AprYou have to admit it does simplify things quite a bit
31. 13 AprMore on deficit reduction
32. 13 AprDeficits
33. 12 AprCatching up
34. 12 AprA big recommendation and a small caveat for "The Test Generation"
35. 12 AprConventional wisdom alert -- Who needs a graphing calculator?
36. 11 Apr"Do you know what 'synergy' is?"
37. 11 AprHamsters, fitness landscapes and an excuse for a repost
38. 10 AprThe Anti-Hulu Hypothesis
39. 10 Apr[OT] Bioware's new Star Wars RPG
40. 9 AprHealth Care and Confusion
41. 9 AprSome perspective
42. 8 AprIt's not often epidemiologists get pandered to
43. 8 Apr"Cathie Black's Departure: Totally Predictable. Plus: Meet Dennis Walcott"
44. 7 AprAnother interesting Ryan graph from Krugman
45. 6 AprAndrew Gelman buries the lede
46. 6 AprUnemployment Forecasting
47. 6 AprThe way some people talked in 1930
48. 6 AprWhy I still drop by Krugman's blog once or twice a week
49. 5 AprIt's that sub-advisement you really have to worry about
50. 5 AprBrad DeLong digs through the NYT archives for this memorable rebuttal of Charles Murray
51. 5 AprFixing performance pay
52. 4 AprIt's possible that statisticians have an odd definition of 'interesting'
53. 4 AprDenominators
54. 3 AprGoogle's autocomplete can lead you to some strange and dark places
55. 3 AprI'm not reading the funny pages -- I'm studying the implications of comparative advantage
56. 3 AprWeekend Thriller Blogging -- the Maltese Falcon
57. 3 AprAt least we can still drink and drive
58. 2 AprPress-release journalism and the NYT's lost default setting
59. 1 AprInteractively nerdy
60. 1 AprAP classes and college development
61. 1 AprFinally, a bill that will "empower and protect teachers"

March 2011

1. 31 MarTest Scores
2. 31 MarIf you haven't used your 20 yet...
3. 30 MarOne more radio story then I'll call it a night
4. 30 MarHarsh, cold moments of self-realization
5. 30 MarWhy we need NPR
6. 30 MarJust pay the 99 cents, you cheapskate!
7. 30 Mar"The best report ever on media piracy"
8. 30 MarStudent Assessment
9. 28 Mar"We had a reason..."
10. 28 MarWhat exactly are the localized benefits of a university?
11. 28 MarThings it's too late to blog about
12. 27 MarWeekend Gaming -- Escape the orthogonal
13. 27 MarAnother New Haven thought
14. 26 Mar"Academic Intimidation"
15. 25 MarUniversities and prosperity -- another data point
16. 25 MarCancer survival rates
17. 25 MarCredit where credit is due
18. 24 MarTeachers are nervous about Michelle Rhee's suggestions because they're afraid other people in power will act like Michelle Rhee
19. 24 MarNYT Paywall -- still getting the feeling they haven't thought this through
20. 23 MarIn coal's defense, it is a wonderful source of mercury
21. 23 MarIntroducing the headless clowns analogy
22. 22 Mar"Is economics a science?" and other silly question
23. 22 MarIf you can't say something nice, quote Kaufman
24. 22 MarMake that 300... No, make that 400 years
25. 22 MarDoesn't Alton Brown have a hand puppet for this?
26. 22 MarTime to call a lie a lie
27. 21 Mar"How to Erase $70,000 in Debt"
28. 21 MarSafety of Energy Sources
29. 20 Mar20 each?
30. 20 MarA nice post on Education Reform
31. 20 MarSunday Morning Funnies
32. 19 MarWeekend Gaming -- the heated chess/checkers debate
33. 19 MarTenure and the end of mandatory retirement (Canada edition)
34. 18 MarNot all that broken up about the paywall
35. 17 MarI'm heading out the door but before I go...
36. 17 MarNew Education Bill
37. 17 MarCloning Jaime Escalante -- a thought experiment
38. 17 MarKrugman joins the nuclear debate
39. 16 MarMore Glaeserian causality
40. 16 MarIf you want to understand what's wrong with American education...
41. 15 MarThe Annotated "Evaluating New York Teachers, Perhaps the Numbers Do Lie"
42. 15 Mar"Jefferson is spinning in his grave"
43. 15 MarThe lessons of Motown
44. 15 MarFelix Salmon catches me off guard
45. 15 MarScience Fiction Thoughts
46. 14 MarNobody talks about the Caulfield problem
47. 14 MarThe paradox of New Haven
48. 14 MarNate Silver takes apart another favorite political myth
49. 13 MarWeekend Gaming -- The Game of Gale
50. 12 MarI don't know what to make of this...
51. 11 MarDoes anyone out there know Michael Winerip?
52. 11 MarFolsom Prison Blues
53. 11 MarOne way of handling worrisome demographic shifts in the electorate
54. 10 MarA useful table and a few observations
55. 10 MarUniversities and Growth
56. 10 MarIf only there were a major university in the Detroit area
57. 9 MarFelix Salmon shoots the elephant in the room
58. 9 MarFiring Teachers
59. 9 MarIn other words, Good Will Hunting understood sigma notation
60. 8 MarSomething else that shouldn't surprise people but probably will
61. 8 MarAnalogy of the day -- it's your funeral
62. 8 MarWhile 'real' news shows were covering Charlie Sheen...
63. 8 MarThis is the sort of thing that makes me nervous
64. 8 MarThe right likes it better but the left does it better
65. 8 MarWhat is this word, 'contract,' of which you speak?
66. 7 MarUltrasonic Remote/Observational Epidemiology cage match?
67. 7 MarWhy we forgive him the puns
68. 7 MarHoisted from comments: "Well, they needed someone to listen."
69. 6 MarFlashman finds work
70. 5 MarThen they made that terrible movie about him with Kevin Spacey
71. 5 MarWeekend Gaming -- Recommending a book and appreciating a publisher
72. 5 MarThis does explain a lot
73. 2 MarThe inalienable right to have a nice lawn
74. 2 MarThis might just be an example of what we were talking about
75. 2 MarDoes running schools like a business actually argue for keeping LIFO? -- part II, the need for layoffs
76. 1 MarDoes running schools like a business actually argue for keeping LIFO? -- part I, the nature of layoffs
77. 1 MarArguments that generalize poorly

February 2011

1. 28 FebThis should literally be a textbook example of how phrasing and context affect polling
2. 28 FebMore big burdens, more small shoulders
3. 28 FebHealth Insurance
4. 28 FebThe biggest burdens go on the smallest shoulders
5. 28 FebCastles and Crusades
6. 27 FebSome Thoughts on Personal Finance
7. 27 FebA Miscellany of Topics That Will Not Appear in My Next Blog Post
8. 27 FebThis round just might go to Eminem
9. 26 FebWeekend Gaming -- Piet Hein's TacTix
10. 25 FebInteresting paper on peer effects
11. 24 FebSo many problems for such a little state
12. 24 FebEvidence
13. 24 FebYou'll notice they said nothing about the op-eds being fit to print
14. 23 Feb"Just around the corner" for about a century
15. 23 Feb"Don't worry, honey, the other children won't judge you on your looks."
16. 22 FebGoodbye little buddy
17. 22 Feb"Especially when it’s done wrong"
18. 22 FebThere is no market solution to the blankonomics problem
19. 21 FebEnvironment is complex
20. 21 FebA nice comment on investment strategies
21. 21 FebThe unreliable magic of compound interest
22. 21 FebAnother note on Herman Mankiewicz, Peter Bogdanovich, and the definition of 'hack'
23. 20 FebIf you don't post it someone else will
24. 20 FebWeekend Gaming -- Quickie book review edition
25. 20 FebSocial Security
26. 19 FebEdward Glaeser
27. 19 FebZonkers and millionaires
28. 18 FebHow to lie with statistics -- rare cinema history edition
29. 17 FebAn excuse to pull out my favorite John Ford quote
30. 17 FebHaving made fun of Paul Krugman's puns, there's no way I can use the title "Darby's Rhee Lapse"
31. 17 FebPaul Krugman still has no shame
32. 17 FebWords of Wisdom
33. 16 FebEasily worth a thousand words... Maybe even fifteen hundred
34. 16 FebForget Jeopardy, show me a computer that can play Eleusis
35. 16 FebNotice anything funny?
36. 15 Feb"Looking under the lamp post"
37. 15 FebAn interesting perspective
38. 15 Feb"Human see; human do."
39. 15 FebGoogle can make you disappear
40. 15 FebUSA Today has some bad graphs but at least it's not the New York Times
41. 14 FebGreat moments in metawork
42. 14 Feb"The Economics of Blogging and The Huffington Post"
43. 14 FebConcerns with data driven reform
44. 14 FebMetawork
45. 13 FebTiger moms are nothing...
46. 13 FebOne more simple game for your weekend
47. 12 FebWeekend Gaming -- Hexagonal Chess
48. 11 Feb"Why the Efficient Market Hypothesis (Weak Version) Says Nothing about the Ability to Identify Bubbles"
49. 11 FebThe Good Principal Principle
50. 11 FebAt least we've gotten more efficient at some things
51. 11 FebE-verify
52. 11 FebAdministration
53. 11 FebThe Principal Problem
54. 11 FebI originally had a mean headline but my better angels swooped in*
55. 10 FebDo good teachers make difficult employees?
56. 10 FebI really ought to do a post on estimation and developing mathematical intuition one of these days
57. 10 FebThe Principal Effect -- repost
58. 10 FebIn the center, the National Review. On the right, the New Republic
59. 10 FebOn the off chance that you ever wondered what "The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock" would sound like if written by Rudyard Kipling...
60. 10 FebJim Manzi has some smart things to say about teacher evaluations
61. 10 FebMichael Hiltzik on the Texas Miracle
62. 9 FebWhat do you do when things are tight?
63. 9 FebNew rule
64. 9 FebAn experiment in blogging -- the conclusion [reposted]
65. 9 FebAn experiment in blogging -- reposted
66. 9 FebCatching up with Dana Goldstein
67. 9 FebIf I'm going to compare H-1Bs and serfdom, I should at least find a British guy for the video
68. 9 Feb"If you don't do well in school, your descendants could grow up to be Morlocks"
69. 8 FebKrugman does stat 101
70. 8 FebSemi-serfdom
71. 8 FebIt has reached the point where not only do sitcoms portray Ponzi schemes...
72. 8 FebThere might just be a lesson here somewhere.
73. 7 FebWell-mannered spam
74. 7 FebMore on poverty and education
75. 7 FebSpeaking of epicycles...
76. 7 FebDamn you, Paul Krugman!
77. 6 FebEmployment in the US
78. 6 FebEducation and Poverty
79. 6 FebIt's important to keep up standards
80. 6 FebGoing full circle in pop culture hell
81. 6 FebSoon to be relevant quote
82. 6 FebWhile on the subject of checkers...
83. 6 FebWeekend Gaming -- Behold the humble checker
84. 6 FebMaybe it's a system for redistributing wealth to statistical consultants
85. 6 FebIf you hurry, you can read it before I do
86. 4 FebFree TV vs. Hotel Cable
87. 4 FebThe lesson of Cassandra -- sometimes it's no fun being right
88. 4 FebPeople who ought not to be interesting but are
89. 3 FebOutsourced blogging
90. 3 FebThere has never been a greater time-wasting innovation than Wikipedia
91. 3 FebAnd you thought statisticians were just good for counting cards
92. 3 Feb"What is the worst case scenario here?"
93. 2 Feb"If you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao..."
94. 2 FebIs geography destiny? -- walkability
95. 2 FebAnother Education Post
96. 2 FebLA, NYC and other imaginary places
97. 2 FebIf you turn on the dome light, the whole thing explodes
98. 1 FebIs geography destiny?
99. 1 FebDepressing thought of the day
100. 1 FebJust when you thought it was gone for good -- more thriller blogging
101. 1 FebBlog-snark as a high art

January 2011

1. 31 JanRaising tuition
2. 31 JanBrad DeLong needs to watch more TCM
3. 31 JanPaul Krugman has no shame
4. 31 JanStudent Loans
5. 31 JanThe curious case of Dr. Glaeser
6. 31 JanWhen bad things happen to good technologies
7. 30 JanBetter late than never...
8. 30 JanMini-colloquium: Homework
9. 30 JanHotel pricing enigma
10. 30 JanEducational Lotteries
11. 29 JanWeekend Gaming -- The Blue and the Gray
12. 27 JanA new post by James Kwak, an old rant by me
13. 27 JanOne more exchange on Mankiw's assumptions
14. 26 JanEvaluating the evaluations
15. 26 JanRepost -- Fitness Landscapes, Ozark Style
16. 25 JanThey may be anecdotal...
17. 25 Jan"Why 3D doesn't work and never will. Case closed."
18. 24 JanWhat's French for spam?
19. 24 JanI could not agree more
20. 24 JanHealth care and economies of scale
21. 23 JanBrewsterian astrophysics and Frazzian mathematics
22. 22 JanDamned, pinko entrepreneurs
23. 22 JanKind and literate OE readers
24. 22 JanNote to Gelman -- first fill its mouth with salt, then light candles, then decapitate
25. 22 JanWeekend Gaming -- Agon
26. 22 JanCredit where credit is due
27. 21 JanAlignment of Incentives
28. 21 JanHoisted from comments -- still more on Mankiw's assumptions
29. 20 JanContractually obligated to mention Canada again
30. 20 JanIn good company
31. 20 JanAchilles and the Tortoise, the CBO and the GOP
32. 20 JanThe Self-esteem gap
33. 19 JanDepartment of better late than never
34. 19 JanThe spam filter on Blogger... what's the word?...
35. 19 JanJonathan Chait disapproves of a liberal journalist's flip-flop on unions
36. 18 JanMortgage Questions
37. 17 JanThe Golden Globes as a collective action problem
38. 17 JanSchool segregation
39. 17 JanWhat can I say, I'm a sucker for a good Procrustes joke
40. 16 JanAcademics
41. 15 JanJoe Gores wrote the best chimpanzee sex scene you'll ever read
42. 14 JanWhen relative rates are misleading
43. 14 JanQuality journalism -- only available for a limited time
44. 13 JanMore thoughts on fluoride and lithium
45. 13 JanThe middle of January and already in reruns -- Alice in Lawyerland
46. 13 JanMore on Just Desserts
47. 12 JanHoisted from comments -- more on Mankiw's assumptions
48. 12 Jan"The generosity collapse"
49. 12 JanIf a PhD isn't worth it, you can always get a law degree
50. 11 JanYes, they really are looking at you
51. 11 JanAndrew Gelman on the methodological attribution problem
52. 11 JanLithium in the water supply
53. 11 JanGoogle -- Over-spammed or over-engineered (or both)?
54. 10 Jan'Standard' does not mean 'sound'
55. 9 JanDamned Canadian Show-offs
56. 9 Jan"Two and a Half Cheers for Education"
57. 8 JanPolitical rhetoric and political violence -- the McKinley Assassination
58. 8 JanDark days
59. 8 JanWhile we're doing "then and now"
60. 7 JanLone star, bad portents
61. 7 JanDefining Denominators
62. 7 JanRajiv Sethi was there first
63. 6 JanEarnings of Post-Docs
64. 6 JanResearch Plans
65. 5 JanThe Scalar Fallacy
66. 5 Jan"Why doing a PhD is often a waste of time"
67. 5 JanCorrection
68. 4 JanDefinition of the Day
69. 4 JanActually, search engines are like bananas
70. 3 JanIncentives, the TSA, and a question for Tyler Cowen
71. 3 JanMaybe they're sneaking across the border to have their car accidents
72. 2 JanEducation thought for the New Year
73. 1 JanUnemployment
74. 1 JanOld School versus New School RPGs
75. 1 JanMinimum Wage Thoughts

2010 569

December 2010

1. 31 DecSettling in
2. 30 DecWarzones and medical research
3. 29 DecFreakonomics: disagreeing about why we disagree
4. 28 DecNot a big deal but...
5. 27 Dec"When $250,000 Equals $315,000"
6. 27 Dec"Fixing the economy the scientific way"
7. 26 DecComplex Constructs
8. 25 DecA Quick Christmas Wish
9. 25 DecMerry Christmas
10. 24 DecA short letter to James B. Patterson
11. 24 DecIf you only read one really long economics lecture this holiday...
12. 24 DecThe Peacock's Tail -- Analogy of the week from Brad DeLong
13. 24 Dec"Some of us are illegal, and some are not wanted"
14. 24 DecAnd bonus stat-nerd points for the title
15. 23 DecMore on Jump$tart
16. 23 DecWashington Ferries
17. 23 DecToys for Tots
18. 23 Dec'Confidence' and 'Rationality'
19. 22 DecWall Street Bonuses and Motivation
20. 22 DecNIH Merger
21. 21 DecTesting the Jump$tart Test
22. 21 DecTemporary Workers
23. 20 DecBoom, bust and echo
24. 17 Dec"What is this 'Canada' of which you speak?"
25. 17 DecCanadian Exceptionalism
26. 17 DecA Christmas Reminder
27. 16 DecThe Homebase study looks OK but the New York Times is still a mess
28. 16 DecMerit
29. 15 DecRandomized Social Experiments
30. 14 Dec"I am not now and have never been a constructionist"
31. 13 Dec"Reasons to teach what we teach"
32. 13 DecInteresting Passage
33. 13 DecHomework and treatment levels
34. 12 DecArnold Kling
35. 12 DecThomas Jefferson on income inequality
36. 11 DecProfundity adjacent
37. 11 DecOn Salmon's blog, even the comments are quotable
38. 9 DecWargaming
39. 8 DecFunding Cuts
40. 7 DecEducation reform and the two kinds of knowledge
41. 6 DecSomeone finally notices the orphan technology
42. 6 DecNIH news
43. 5 DecPerils of studying Small Effects
44. 4 DecYikes
45. 3 DecNice Observation
46. 2 DecLottery based admissions
47. 1 DecMore on owning preperty to vote

November 2010

1. 30 NovWhat happens if you have a mortgage?
2. 30 NovHigher education and resource allocation
3. 29 NovAll costs are linked
4. 28 NovA point to ponder
5. 28 NovComments on Grants
6. 26 Nov"The Instability of Moderation"
7. 25 NovOrlando Airport
8. 24 NovHappy Thanksgiving
9. 24 NovDental Care
10. 22 NovIndustrial Policy
11. 21 NovAnother argument for parenting as an addiction
12. 18 NovImpact Factors
13. 18 NovAirline Security
14. 17 NovHistory question of the day
15. 16 NovMaybe this is making outcomes worse?
16. 15 NovSeniors in space
17. 13 NovThings you can do if you're a charter school
18. 12 NovIs it too late tonight to write a post on the card game Eleusis?
19. 12 NovSomething you have to post immediately if you see it at two a.m.
20. 11 NovNot much time for blogging...
21. 10 NovMore wheelbarrows
22. 9 NovObservational Research
23. 8 NovThe short, sad life of Toxie the toxic asset
24. 7 NovBad polls, good polls, better polls
25. 5 NovThe Wheelbarrow Problem -- is the imagery of deflation influencing the debate?
26. 5 NovNot quite grasping the placebo concept
27. 4 NovNot sure about this one...
28. 3 NovMore on Health Care Efficiency
29. 2 Nov"How much [math, literature, history, politics and music] do we really need?"
30. 2 NovAsk your doctor if Sucrosa might be right for you
31. 2 NovHealth Care
32. 2 NovMore thoughts on Charter Schools
33. 2 NovNervous Nate -- why timidity at FiveThirtyEight is a sign of professionalism
34. 2 NovAn excellent Maxine Udall post
35. 2 Nov"How much math do we really need?"
36. 2 NovDiane Ravitch vs. "Superman"
37. 1 Nov"The Freakonomics Fallacy"
38. 1 NovChildren and Placebos
39. 1 NovAnd a final word on the subject from America's most successful philosophy major
40. 1 NovPlacebos

October 2010

1. 31 OctWorth a quick look
2. 31 OctDiffferences in Professional Standards
3. 31 OctA war with Iran would look nothing like WW II
4. 30 OctAnd now for something completely different...
5. 30 OctThe Volunteer Effect
6. 30 OctFortune's smartest business books
7. 29 OctMysteries of resonance
8. 29 OctThe most open-label of open-label experiments
9. 28 OctImplications of "counseling out" part II -- missions
10. 27 OctImplications of "counseling out" part I -- metrics
11. 27 OctNobody loves an orphan technology
12. 26 Oct"Counseling out"
13. 26 OctContext in posts
14. 25 Oct"they are purging nonperforming students at an alarming rate"
15. 25 OctSilence
16. 23 OctQuick note on good stuff
17. 22 OctOn 'Good Morning America': Worthy defends plan to jail parents who skip school conferences
18. 22 OctMore fun and games
19. 21 OctTax increases as landscape perturbation?
20. 21 OctNothing like a good graph to convey bad news
21. 20 OctNate Silver tries to disabuse political reporters of another favorite myth
22. 20 OctA probabilistic mystery from Alfred Hitchcock
23. 20 OctYet another trillionaire protesting the return to Clinton era taxes
24. 18 OctLucky pennies and constrained roulette
25. 18 OctIn praise of orifice-derived numbers
26. 18 OctLA Weekly doesn't just bury the lede; they hide the body
27. 16 OctBenoît Mandelbrot (1924 - 2010) and Education Reform
28. 16 Oct"No, I said 'self-select for attitude.'"
29. 14 OctWaiting for Superman... to get bored and drop you like a bad habit
30. 14 Oct"5 Myths about Federal Taxes"
31. 14 OctPunch, brothers! punch with care!
32. 13 OctMBA thinking , gestalt and the death of humanities
33. 13 OctWolfmeat
34. 12 OctGreg Mankiw's reply -- dishonesty or just bad prose?
35. 12 OctMake sure to thank the senator
36. 11 OctIf the President wants to get his nominees approved...
37. 11 OctThe indispensable Professor Thoma
38. 11 Oct"Who would have thought that Erik Estrada would have the more dignified career?"
39. 10 OctEducation Reform
40. 9 Oct"The Secret of Doublets"
41. 8 OctI don't like to go to the well too often, but...
42. 8 OctRed Half-state, Blue Half-state
43. 7 OctApparently we've reached the goalpost-moving stage of the game
44. 7 OctMore thoughts on education reform
45. 7 OctMatthew Yglesias buries the lede... deep
46. 6 Oct"New 'venture accelerator' coming soon to Michigan"
47. 6 OctPerhaps this is the time for a counter-reformation
48. 6 OctIncentive Pay
49. 6 OctHey, Rocky! Watch me pull an activist ruling out of this hat...
50. 6 OctBuzzwords! Buzzwords! Buzzwords!-- Coping with the Vanderbilt study
51. 5 OctBrief quote from EPI
52. 5 OctAn experiment in blogging -- the conclusion
53. 5 OctCost of Higher Education
54. 5 OctCompensation and Career Paths
55. 4 OctContracts and compensation
56. 4 Oct“Do your job. Keep employed. Don’t come up with a new idea.”
57. 4 OctThe cusp of coolness
58. 4 OctThe Death Arthur Penn and the definition of the Golden Age of Television
59. 3 OctAn experiment in blogging
60. 3 OctBeing clear about what the incentives are
61. 2 OctMommy, where do numbers come from?
62. 2 OctThe next time you hear a discussion about the fastest way to pump money into the economy...
63. 2 OctThe airport debate continues
64. 1 OctOne more from Megan McArdle
65. 1 OctYou too can write like a professional pundit -- RMP/STF arguments
66. 1 OctWhy Marginal Revolutions is Essential Reading
67. 1 OctOne more from Dave Barry

September 2010

1. 30 Sep"Phase one: change incentive system"
2. 30 SepAirports
3. 30 SepBut I can definitely see the GOP as Lucy
4. 29 SepThe heroin's still doing the heavy lifting -- why Ivy League legacies work
5. 29 SepEcological Fallacy
6. 29 Sep"The war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage"
7. 29 SepDoesn't Microsoft have a template like this on Word?
8. 28 SepWas I too tough on Seyward Darby?
9. 28 SepEncouraging/Discouraging words from President Obama
10. 28 SepThe wonders of shifting rationales
11. 28 SepDoes Seyward Darby think Seyward Darby should be fired?
12. 27 SepPerceived vs. Actual Income Distribution
13. 27 SepToday's must read on education
14. 27 SepObama's education interview
15. 27 SepPropensity Score Matching
16. 27 SepThis American Life on HCZ's Baby College
17. 27 Sep"Crybabies"
18. 26 SepPrincipal Agents
19. 26 Sep"Ignore the parts about crystal meth and pancakes"
20. 26 SepThe trouble with clever theories
21. 26 SepOne more thought on seeing McKinsey's “Closing the Talent Gap”
22. 26 SepMy first thought on seeing McKinsey's “Closing the Talent Gap”
23. 25 SepForget teachers-- hell, forget employees, what does it take to fire a CEO?
24. 24 SepForget teachers, what does it take to fire an incompetent corporate employee?
25. 24 SepAlphametics, the SAT and the theory behind math tests
26. 23 SepBattered Party Syndrome?
27. 23 SepAn alphametic pre-footnote
28. 23 SepOne more while we're on the subject
29. 22 SepIntellectual Property and Monopsony
30. 22 SepA very good point
31. 22 SepOther degrees of patent protection
32. 22 SepAlice in Lawyerland: would the laws Disney lobbied for have prevented Disney from existing in the first place?
33. 22 SepInstrumental Variables
34. 21 SepStudy: Teacher bonuses don't affect student tests
35. 21 SepThe ultimate superpower is litigation
36. 21 SepGraph of the Day -- Copyrights
37. 20 SepMurphy strikes again
38. 20 SepToday's Napoleon quote
39. 19 Sep"Heroin's doing the heavy lifting"
40. 19 SepWhat is rich?
41. 18 SepAlex Tabarrok's literary leverage
42. 18 SepOT: More table gaming thoughts
43. 17 SepKIPP and the Teach(er) for America (or you don't know Jake)
44. 17 SepComplex Systems
45. 17 SepXKCD understates its case
46. 17 SepAt last, something that Paul Krugman and Alex Tabarrok can agree on
47. 16 SepOne reason to look forward to the Republicans retaking Congress and the White House
48. 16 SepA day in the life of a Teach(er) for America -- posted for future comment
49. 16 Sep"We've made huge advances in what they're called" -- New Republic edition
50. 16 SepTenure Track Jobs
51. 16 SepImplications of the DC primary on education
52. 16 SepMore on the SRI KIPP report
53. 15 SepCalling Yves Smith
54. 14 SepThis is so funny it made me cry
55. 14 SepThey just don't care
56. 14 SepSo which one is it?
57. 13 SepThe appeal of bad ideas -- why do rational executives keep trying ideas that never work?
58. 13 Sep(Acknowledging) Failure Is Not an Option
59. 13 SepSubstituting metrics for judgement
60. 13 SepIf reformers are looking for an indictment of our educational system...
61. 12 SepCost of Education
62. 12 SepReflections on the KIPP posts
63. 12 SepMake that most children left behind
64. 12 SepThe 'I' stands for 'Ironic'
65. 12 SepRationality
66. 11 SepMore from Yves Smith
67. 11 SepFishing expeditions
68. 10 SepChanging statistical languages
69. 9 SepStrange Bedfellows
70. 8 SepNon-compete agreeements
71. 7 SepVintage of Educational Reform
72. 7 SepInteresting thought
73. 6 SepEducation in Canada
74. 5 SepStatistical significance (a never-ending series)
75. 4 SepAnother troubling study
76. 4 SepEPI Briefing Paper -- Problems with the Use of Student Test Scores to Evaluate Teachers
77. 4 SepThe principal effect -- a footnote to the last post
78. 3 SepAddiction
79. 2 SepOh, Canada -- another interesting omission in "Clean Out Your Desk"
80. 2 SepSmall Schools
81. 1 SepRubin on Educational Testing
82. 1 SepEconned

August 2010

1. 31 AugMeasurement part 2
2. 31 AugAre you measuring the right thing?
3. 31 AugJoel Klein's Record
4. 31 AugSentences to ponder
5. 30 AugIs Ray Fisman one of the best and the brightest?
6. 30 AugZero Tolerance
7. 30 AugHazards of sweeping generalizations
8. 28 AugMegan's List
9. 27 AugTrade-offs between Type I and Type II error
10. 26 AugBadly needed break from Fisman
11. 26 AugUS Mobility
12. 26 AugGenetic Epidemiology
13. 26 AugMystery (Education Question)
14. 25 AugThe Old Shell Game -- Why you have to keep your eye on Ray Fisman (and no, we're not quite through with the second paragraph)
15. 25 AugMore on Avandia
16. 23 AugStarting from the beginning -- Ray Fisman's sins of omission
17. 19 AugRay Fisman and the Tierney Ratio
18. 19 AugData censoring and Tootsie Pops
19. 18 AugDesperately Seeking Suzanne (Null)
20. 17 AugA Partial N-space of Eduction Reform -- another preblogged footnote
21. 17 AugA dark, swirling, mammoth wall of wrong
22. 16 AugWhen people don't understand regression equations
23. 15 AugLight Posting
24. 14 AugBad collaborators
25. 13 AugBad teachers, thought experiments and anecdotal data
26. 13 AugChart of the day
27. 13 AugFemaleScienceProfessor on Tenure
28. 13 AugEpidemiology Data
29. 12 AugMentioned in passing
30. 12 AugEducational Reform and resources
31. 12 AugReplication
32. 12 AugNotes from a once and future reformer
33. 11 AugDistributions
34. 10 AugComplex processes are hard to simplify
35. 10 AugA better-late-than-never edition of reasons not to trust Naomi Schaefer Riley
36. 9 AugSocial Security Thought
37. 9 AugHiltzik puts SS in plain English
38. 8 AugQuote of the day
39. 7 AugI am not certain that word means what they think it does
40. 7 AugOT: Paizo
41. 6 AugToo many talks
42. 5 AugThe role of luck in science
43. 5 AugMore on Trower
44. 4 AugUniversity Towns
45. 3 AugAcademia and Diversity
46. 2 AugI'm too busy to comment on this at length...

July 2010

1. 31 JulOne final(?) reason not to trust teaching metrics
2. 29 JulVariable definitions are tricky
3. 28 JulAssociation, contribution and causation
4. 28 JulHow education reform is becoming like the Eurozone
5. 27 JulTenure: I just can't look away . . .
6. 27 JulNew classes of analgesics
7. 27 JulTeaching yourself mathematics -- a footnote for future posts
8. 26 JulMarginal Revolution has amazing comments
9. 24 JulSeyward Darby -- now not even pretending to think things through
10. 23 JulA quick note on tenure and the economics of deferred compensation
11. 23 JulOne last post on Tenure
12. 23 JulPaul Krugman and the limitations of historical analysis
13. 21 JulMore on Tenure
14. 21 Jul"The Double-blind Job"
15. 20 JulThe ASA was out of its mind to give Felix Salmon a reporting award
16. 20 JulBad public policy
17. 18 JulThis is exactly right
18. 18 JulNew blog alert
19. 16 JulThe yahoos at Yahoo
20. 15 JulDivergent and Convergent Learning
21. 15 JulBias versus precision
22. 14 JulMore on creativity and slippery metrics
23. 14 JulThe best way to get rich is to sell books to gullible people
24. 13 JulCreativity
25. 12 JulNet impact
26. 10 JulAnother reason not to aggregate elementary and post-elementary school data
27. 9 JulIf all students were 15 years old...
28. 9 JulStatistical programming languages
29. 9 JulSpeaking for the unhinged
30. 8 Jul"Fewer Low-Income Students Going to College"
31. 7 JulHarm Reduction
32. 7 JulMore on tenure
33. 6 JulPost tenure era?
34. 4 JulThinking about teacher layoffs -- the logistics of staffing
35. 3 JulWayward Seyward
36. 3 JulNarrow versus broad searches
37. 3 JulRisk Taking and success
38. 3 JulUh oh
39. 3 JulRole models
40. 3 JulHow blogging is like SCTV
41. 2 JulPaper review times
42. 2 JulMark
43. 2 JulCharms and Mogul Dust
44. 1 JulOne less reason to read the New York Times
45. 1 JulPublishing Equilibria

June 2010

1. 30 JunThe problem with innovation is that it sometimes solves problems
2. 30 JunHow to REALLY lie with statistics
3. 30 JunBob Dylan, the Monkees and the flooded landscape analogy
4. 29 JunGrants!
5. 28 JunIt is possible to have a simple question in a complex field
6. 28 JunA pre-post post on Bob Dylan, the Monkees and the perils of reading business books
7. 27 JunSome mathematical humor from Jeff Mallett's charming strip Frazz.
8. 24 JunSocial Norms
9. 24 JunAdvice on meeting people
10. 21 JunEffect and cause: Hollywood edition
11. 21 JunCredit Hours
12. 20 JunCo-authored work
13. 18 JunDying is easy; comedy is hard -- journalism edition
14. 18 JunMore on impacts of Research
15. 18 JunNo subtle and profound scientific insights from Olivia Judson this week
16. 18 JunSocio-economic Models
17. 17 JunI'm not asking for money...
18. 17 JunWhen is a dollar not worth a dollar?
19. 16 JunReputational Capital and Operational Definitions
20. 16 JunDelta -- "We love to fly; we just hate the passengers"
21. 16 JunPick a number, any number -- American Public Media edition
22. 16 JunThoughts on defined contribution retirement plans
23. 15 JunMinefields
24. 15 JunWhat I wish I knew before
25. 14 Jun"Better a Krabby Patty than a damn"
26. 13 JunMore on compensation -- compensation and pyramid schemes
27. 12 JunMore on compensation -- tenure edition
28. 12 JunCompensation
29. 11 JunFunding Post-Docs
30. 10 JunJournal Boycotts
31. 9 JunThank you
32. 9 JunMultiple Languages
33. 8 JunPapers and Industry
34. 8 JunAnti-stimuli
35. 7 JunSeyward Darby does not understand economics
36. 5 JunInnovationary spiral
37. 5 JunPick a number, any number -- stimulus edition
38. 4 JunHow is war like comedy?
39. 3 Jun"It's all about re-branding in this economy"
40. 3 JunReally not that damned funny
41. 3 Jun"The upside of mortgage default"
42. 2 Jun"Poll: Only Campbell Can Beat Boxer"
43. 2 JunResisting the urge to make a bad pun here
44. 2 JunPerils of Cross-sectional Studies
45. 1 JunJournal Selection Strategy
46. 1 JunRobert Samuelson would not make a good statistician
47. 1 JunNetwork TV -- now entering their fourth decade on death's door

May 2010

1. 31 MayThe economics of rock and roll part III -- Gimme (tax) Shelter
2. 31 MayThe economics of rock and roll part II -- quality control and brown M&Ms
3. 31 MayThe economics of rock and roll
4. 31 MayElegance and Economics -- a choice comment from Paul Krugman
5. 30 MayDistributed computing
6. 28 May"How is model-based macroeconomic forecasting possible?"
7. 28 May"Baby Steps to New Life-Forms"
8. 28 MayWhat Auteur Theory and Freshwater Economics have in common
9. 28 MayJournal Reviewing
10. 28 MayRecursion humor
11. 28 MayOne less giant
12. 28 MayFrom Mark Thoma, two links and a damned good observation
13. 27 MayDiy u
14. 27 MayPudding wrestling, the Antichrist and the breakdown of a winnowing system
15. 26 MaySteve Poizner needs to get out more
16. 26 Maythe plural of anecdote is not data
17. 26 MayMore great reporting from This American Life
18. 24 May"Study: Excluding Cellphones Introduces Statistically Significant Bias in Polls"
19. 23 MayWhat happened before never happened before -- a quick aside on the equity premium debate
20. 23 MayJohn C. Bogle
21. 22 MayPublishing
22. 22 MayThe golden age of financial journalism
23. 21 MayThe perils of forecasting
24. 20 MayTPM: still clueless in CA
25. 20 MayThere's something about Olivia
26. 20 MaySpousal Hires
27. 19 MayCalifornia election update -- the candidate's dilemma
28. 19 MayOrphans in the Advocacy Economy
29. 19 MayEggs
30. 17 MayDoes Talking Points Memo know what it's talking about?
31. 17 MayCandidate Rorschach will not be running
32. 17 MayCA election update -- the ad Meg Whitman didn't want to run
33. 16 MayHow to ace the essay section of the SAT
34. 16 MayFinancial Literacy
35. 14 MayHow to ace the math section of the SAT
36. 14 May"Just when I thought I was out... they pull me back in."
37. 13 May"Red and yellow can kill a fellow"
38. 11 MayAnother failure for the blitzkrieg strategy? -- updated
39. 11 May"U-Va. should fight Cuccinelli's faulty investigation of Michael Mann"
40. 11 MayI'm not saying we should stop trying...
41. 10 MayWhat Felix Salmon missed -- the Hulk paradox
42. 9 MayWhite flight
43. 8 May"You can't shrink your way into prosperity"
44. 8 MayA brief history of beast-starving by Bruce Bartlett
45. 8 MayTyler Cowen has nerves of steel
46. 7 MayThings I've learned -- 60s pulp edition
47. 7 MayThings I've learned -- media critic edition
48. 6 MayScraping by on 200 million
49. 6 MayTimes change
50. 6 May"Research is a joy"
51. 5 MayTyler Cowen hacks Robert Reich's site
52. 5 MayWeekly dose of Judson
53. 4 MayAre oil companies rational actors?
54. 4 MayAuthorship
55. 4 May"Markets Are Not Magic"
56. 4 May"Then I came up with a great idea: I could use the fork to spear the food and the spoon to scoop it."
57. 3 May"Shape of the earth -- opinions still differ"
58. 3 MayBringing a whole new meaning to the term "Primary Investigator"
59. 3 MayUndiagnosed diseases
60. 1 MayPrelinking Nick Krafft

April 2010

1. 30 AprHypertension or Blood Pressure?
2. 30 AprLandscapes and Lab Rats
3. 29 AprA good Bayesian Textbook?
4. 28 AprCarbon Sequestration, Lap Band Surgery and the Seductive Allure of the Grand, Deferred Solution
5. 27 AprPredicting the spread
6. 27 AprA serious discussion of the role of barter in health care
7. 27 AprDavid Brooks' 100K statistic explained
8. 27 AprFitness Landscapes, Ozark Style
9. 26 AprAnd my second favorite quote on lying
10. 26 AprDistributions and outliers
11. 26 AprBest quote ever on lying
12. 26 AprFox News covers quantum physics. What could possibly go wrong?
13. 26 AprIn games of perfect information, bluffing is a really bad idea
14. 25 AprThe roots of Apple's business model
15. 23 Apr"Any color you want as long as it's black"
16. 23 AprSAS graphics
17. 21 AprWeight of evidence
18. 21 AprA chicken in every pot, a couple more for your HMO
19. 20 AprFinancial reporting done right
20. 20 AprJournal Impact Factors
21. 20 AprTragedy of the grading commons
22. 20 AprWho could have seen this one coming?
23. 19 AprCareer paths, educational reform and unintended consequences
24. 19 AprResearch Scientists
25. 18 AprAnd you thought you didn't want to know how they made sausage...
26. 17 AprA discussion you ought to be following
27. 16 AprAnother reason to abolish tenure
28. 16 AprBartlett on the intellectual decline and political rise of think tanks
29. 15 AprQuote of the day on financial innovation
30. 15 AprWhile on the subject of evolution...
31. 14 AprIs Tea Party extremism simply aspect dominance?
32. 14 AprEvolution in the Lab
33. 14 AprYou can always get the answer you want if you ask the right question
34. 14 AprFour things you probably didn't know about the Boston Tea Party
35. 13 Apr"Health And Virtue"
36. 13 AprFirst Spider-Man, now Rush
37. 13 AprHow about an alternative to p-value?
38. 13 AprThe ongoing tyranny of statistical significance testing in biomedical research
39. 13 AprAnother financial piece from This American Life
40. 13 AprGood piece on education funding
41. 13 AprThis is great news
42. 13 AprThe Complexity of the Commons
43. 13 AprMixed messages
44. 12 AprThis is, after all, a write in haste-repent at leisure medium
45. 9 AprAnd you thought the academic job market was tough
46. 9 AprChait on careers in journalism
47. 9 AprStatins in healthy individuals
48. 8 AprOutsourcing English papers
49. 8 AprDoes this sound right?
50. 7 AprPositive Reviews
51. 7 Apr“Gives new meaning to company town.”
52. 6 AprI know there's a Schrödinger's cat joke here somewhere
53. 6 AprSubtle issues
54. 6 AprThe Long Goodbye -- the networks are taking a long damned time to die
55. 5 AprAll others things being equal
56. 5 AprDecline and Fall of the Media Empires?
57. 3 AprBusiness models and secret sauces
58. 3 AprSleaziness as a business model -- first of two posts on Talx
59. 2 AprStatistics is common sense raised to a science
60. 2 AprMore on social norming
61. 1 AprIn keeping with the season
62. 1 AprTwo thoughts on April Fool's Day blogging
63. 1 AprSkipping the math

March 2010

1. 31 MarBlockbusters, Franchises and Apostrophes
2. 31 MarVanishing media
3. 31 MarAnother outstanding (and tragic) economics story from This American Life
4. 31 MarLet's talk about sex
5. 31 MarThe real thing
6. 30 MarToday's pointer
7. 30 MarHey, I used to work there
8. 30 MarThe Decline of the Middle (Creative) Class
9. 29 MarNow I'm going to spend the rest of the day wondering what a giant deodorant gun looks like
10. 29 MarThrillers on Economics -- a quick digression
11. 28 MarAll Cretans are ad execs
12. 27 MarMy best subject used to be recess
13. 26 MarAnother reminder that improbable events are probable
14. 26 MarExcellent primer on the economics of genre fiction.
15. 26 MarAdvice from Andrew Gelman
16. 24 MarFighting words from Andrew Gelman
17. 24 MarAssumptions
18. 23 MarMore questions about the statistics of Freakonomics
19. 23 MarComparing Apples and furniture in a box
20. 22 MarTrue models?
21. 22 MarThe curse of large numbers and the real problem with p-values
22. 22 MarAnother chapter in the New Republic Debate
23. 22 MarSilence
24. 21 MarInteresting variable taxation idea from Thoma
25. 20 MarNew Proposed National Math Standards
26. 19 MarToo late for an actual post, but...
27. 19 MarSome more thoughts on p-value
28. 18 MarThe winner's curse
29. 18 MarA lot to discuss
30. 17 MarEvidence
31. 17 Mar"We could call them 'universities'"
32. 17 MarSome context on schools and the magic of the markets
33. 16 MarAnd for today, at least, you are not the world's biggest math nerd
34. 16 MarWho is this Thomas Jefferson you keep talking about?
35. 15 MarObservational Research
36. 15 Mar"The Obesity-Hunger Paradox"
37. 15 Mar"The economics profession is in crisis"
38. 15 MarTNR on the education debate
39. 14 MarHarlem Children's Zero Sum Game
40. 13 MarSocial norms and happy employees
41. 13 MarCharter schools, social norming and zero-sum games
42. 12 MarInstrumental variables
43. 11 MarPropensity Score Calibration
44. 11 MarWorse than we thought -- credit card edition
45. 10 MarPerils of Convergence
46. 9 MarEfficacy versus effectiveness
47. 9 MarUndead papers
48. 7 Mar"Algebra in Wonderland" -- recommended with reservations
49. 6 MarWhen is zero a good approximation
50. 5 MarHow are genetically engineered crops like AAA rated structured bonds?
51. 4 MarValuing Pain
52. 3 Marp-values
53. 2 MarComparing Apples and Really Bad Toupees
54. 2 MarComparing apples and oranges
55. 1 Mar"What bankers can learn from arc-welder manufacturers"
56. 1 MarSelection Bias with Hazard Ratios
57. 1 MarNate SIlver debunks another polling myth

February 2010

1. 27 FebMeta-Freakonomics
2. 27 FebWhen you really want to argue causality...
3. 26 FebIPTW news
4. 25 FebEditing
5. 25 FebStand and deliver
6. 24 Feb“We've made enormous advances in what they're called” -- more on corporate data cooking
7. 24 FebSitting and obesity
8. 23 FebAvandia to be withdrawn?
9. 23 FebHow to Lie with Statistics -- Allstate Edition
10. 23 FebThe Tuition Paradox
11. 22 FebAre humanities and science careers different?
12. 21 FebAcademic work hours
13. 19 FebMultiple Testing
14. 19 FebThe difficulty of Soft Outcomes
15. 17 FebPost-Doctoral Fellowships

2009 48

May 2009

1. 14 MayCheerios vs the FDA
2. 6 MayWhat should your final model be?
3. 5 MayMeasuring changes
4. 5 MayMission Creep
5. 1 MaySick Days part 2
6. 1 MaySick Days

April 2009

1. 30 AprAcademic Reform
2. 28 AprBayesian Priors
3. 28 AprAetiology
4. 27 AprSwine Flu
5. 24 AprOT: Truly bad ideas
6. 23 AprPay if forward
7. 22 AprYou can never go home
8. 21 AprOnly in Canada
9. 17 AprOT: Pension Plans
10. 16 AprHow long should a post-doctoral fellowship last?
11. 15 AprTenure Track?
12. 14 AprWhy clear methods are important
13. 13 AprWho will be successful?
14. 11 AprOT: Knights of the Old Republic
15. 9 AprBayesian Model Averaging
16. 7 AprWhen non-linear relationships attack
17. 7 AprStepwise Regression
18. 3 AprReporting results
19. 2 AprBudget Cuts
20. 1 AprWhat to do in hard times
21. 1 AprOT: Dentists

March 2009

1. 30 MarMore on Tenure
2. 28 MarAcademic Positions
3. 28 MarCross Sectional Drug Effects
4. 27 MarToo many names
5. 25 MarMedication discontinuation
6. 24 MarMistakes
7. 23 MarService work
8. 20 MarAcademic positions
9. 19 MarIndustry versus Academy
10. 18 MarTenure
11. 18 MarOT: What D&D class am I?
12. 17 MarPre-specificied Analysis
13. 17 MarOT: Firefly
14. 13 MarIrregular Observations
15. 12 MarMissing Data
16. 11 MarA few thoughts on reviews
17. 10 MarPeer Review
18. 9 MarNIH Challenge Grants
19. 8 MarA reply to Andrew Gelman
20. 8 MarSelf Selection
21. 7 MarWhy do observational epidemiology?