Mike Norman Economics

Paul Rosenbaum’s 1999 paper “Choice as an Alternative to Control in Observational Studies” is really thoughtful and well-written. The comments and rejoinder include an interesting exchange between Manski and Rosenbaum on external validity and the role of theories.... Important in the most studies in social science, including economics, are necessarily observational rather than experimental. The question is how to design observational studies to make them as close as possible to experimental...

Every few years, I teach (in addition to ec 10) a freshman seminar for about a dozen students. The seminar is essentially a book group for students who are taking introductory economics concurrently or who have advanced placement credit in economics. Here is a list of this year's books: Greg Mankiw's BlogA Reading List Greg Mankiw | Robert M. Beren Professor of Economics at Harvard University

In the context of America’s Afghanistan problem, Pakistan joined the international coalition in the wake of the attacks on September 11, 2001, allegedly as a result of a direct threat by US secretary of state Colin Powell to the Pakistani president at the time, Pervez Musharraf. It is a folly to believe that the interests of these two countries converge in the larger scheme of things. They never have. In terms of soft power, the United States has never enjoyed high approval ratings among...

Donald Trump has chided China for failing to take responsibility for its dangerous neighbor. But America's president should be careful what he tweets for: If China launched a military invasion of North Korea, it could work – and China would gain greater strategic parity with the US in East Asia. Project SyndicateA ‘China First’ Strategy for North Korea Bill Emmott, former editor-in-chief of The Economist

There was an article in the International Politics and Society journal (August 27, 2017) – Robin Hood had the right idea – which continues to demonstrate, how in my view the Left has gone down a deadend path with respect to financial market reform and re-establishing a credible progressive agenda. The sub-title of the article ‘Why the left needs to deliver on the financial transaction tax’ indicates that the author, Stephany Griffith-Jones, who has long advocated positions I am sympathetic...

Erik Olin Wright is one of the genuinely important contributors to a progressive sociology in the United States. He was one of the first wave of social scientists and philosophers who created the movement of analytical Marxism in the 1970s and 1980s, and for more than thirty years he has organized much of his own thinking and the collaborations of a number of other scholars around the idea of a "real utopia." Essentially the idea is to make use of good social science research and theory to...

Feeling like a deer in the headlights yet? In what we believe is a significant escalation and potentially a hint as to the president's thinking, President Trump said during a phone call with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that the US remains committed to defending its territories and allies using all "diplomatic, conventional and - here's the big one - nuclear - capabilities at our disposal."  This is the first time Trump has explicitly referenced possible involvement of nuclear...

There's hope in the younger generations. The state of Vermont has now seen it all, as thirteen-year-old Ethan Sonneborn has thrown his beanie into the ring to run for governor of the state in the 2018 elections.The ambitious teen — too young to vote legally — told The Burlington Free Press that he can seriously run for governor in Vermont because there are no age restrictions in the state for that position.… If elected, the middle-schooler promised to get implement a "practical and...

Jason Smith makes a key observation here that many miss. Science is inherently a skeptical enterprise where conclusions are tentative on both forthcoming empirical findings and new explanations that challenge existing ones, which they may replace if they provide a better explanation in the view of the scientific community. "Firmly held beliefs" has another label — dogma. The dogmatic approach is opposite of the scientific one. Of course, this doesn't mean that fringe views are to be...

A surprisingly simple solution to the conflict between self-interest and mutual benefits at all hierarchical levels.… The conflict between lower-level selfishness and higher-level welfare pervades the biological world.… But goodness has its own advantages, especially when those who behave for the good of their groups are able to band together and avoid the depredations of the selfish. Punishment is also a powerful weapon against selfishness, although it is often costly to wield. Every...