Joshua Rosenblum > Recent Status Updates

“The city built by jinn in the old legends?” “The very same,” said the man. “Though it’s fallen out of fashion in recent times, I’m afraid. Many of us prefer to live in places abandoned by humans. Less work for us. Detroit is very popular.”

Lobbying per se is not bad, but the imbalance in lobbying is. Larger companies lobby disproportionately more and consequently obtain disproportionately greater benefits. Heavily taxing lobbying, and redistributing the proceeds to support the arguments of the more diffused interests, would help level the playing field. It would also reduce the incentive to lobby...

If we want to regulate lobbying because we think that it distorts the political process, why do we think that the distorted political process can ameliorate the problem by regulating lobbying? If the decision-making process is the problem, it can hardly be the solution.

“She can’t quite see me as I am,” he said. “It’s an American quirk. Half in, half out. A very spiritual people, but in their hearts they feel there is something shameful about the unseen. You’d be right at home there, younger brother.”

Continues to be excellent.

So far... Excellent.

The first and most obvious reason for firms to lobby government is the growing reward for lobbying.2 The bigger the government, the larger the pie, and thus the larger the incentive for businesses to try to grab a slice.

the most competent are also the least objective, because the most competent tend to be the most specialized, with a small potential set of employers they are afraid to alienate. This problem creates a detachment between ordinary people and experts, which fuels mistrust.

For behavioral economists, however, freedom has a cost, which is borne by individuals who make bad choices, and by a society that feels obligated to help them.

The idea of denominator neglect helps explain why different ways of communicating risks vary so much in their effects. You read that “a vaccine that protects children from a fatal disease carries a 0.001% risk of permanent disability.” The risk appears small. Now consider another description of the same risk: “One of 100,000 vaccinated children will be permanently disabled.” The second statement does something to you

A 2005 study examined rail projects undertaken worldwide between 1969 and 1998. In more than 90% of the cases, the number of passengers projected to use the system was overestimated. Even though these passenger shortfalls were widely publicized, forecasts did not improve over those thirty years; on average, planners overestimated how many people would use the new rail projects by 106%, and the average cost overrun wa

It is time for us and them to accept that the work they do for our country is inherently dangerous. Instead of focusing solely on their safety, we must balance the risks they run with the value their professional activity brings to our national interest.