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Category Archives: Questions Rarely Asked
Glorified tax collectors? (Ferguson, Missouri edition)
Our friend and colleague Alex Tabarrok has posted his thoughts on “The Ferguson Kleptocracy” earlier today. In addition to a grab bag of (representative?) anecdotes, Professor Tabarrok notes, among other things, that “last year Ferguson drivers paid $12,400 in fines for driving cars with … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Justice, Law, Questions Rarely Asked
Tagged Anecdotal Evidence, Ferguson
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D.C. versus Amsterdam
Yeah, that’s what we thought … (Via imgur.)
South Beach Story
My wife and I were in Miami Beach last night. We enjoyed a late dinner at Prime 112 on Ocean Drive, and then went to Dream nightclub on Washington Street. We had fun, but I did not like the DJ … Continue reading
Cuba libre?
Our Cuba was an imperial Spanish colony until 1898 and a prosperous quasi-colony of the United States until 1959. Now, it’s an impoverished military dictatorship. When will our Cuba be free? (Image of the “Cuba Libre board game” below courtesy of … Continue reading
23 Feb. 1945
On this day 70 years ago, Joe Rosenthal took this famous photograph during the historic Battle of Iwo Jima. So, is this picture still under copyright?
Posted in History, Law, Questions Rarely Asked
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“Do not cite or circulate”
That is the title of this 13-page paper by Lee Ann Fennell, a law professor at the University of Chicago. Her short essay questions why law professors often attach formulations such as ‘Do Not Cite or Circulate’ to their drafts or works … Continue reading
Posted in Academia, Questions Rarely Asked
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Why do people still use LinkedIn?
Check out this critique of LinkedIn from an academic’s perspective. (One of the comments at the link sums up our assessment of LinkedIn to a tee: “The loathing I feel for LinkedIn almost defies words. The amount of spam I … Continue reading
Theatre of the absurd (Arizona State edition)
Check out Justin Wolfers’s most recent essay “How Arizona State Reinvented Free-Throw Distraction.” Here is an excerpt (edited by us for clarity):
Posted in Culture, Probability, Questions Rarely Asked, Sports
Tagged Arizona State, Curtain of Distraction, Free Throws
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What should the burden of proof be in college sexual assault cases?
How should colleges and universities (and sports stadiums, for that matter) respond to allegations of sexual violence and harassment on (or off) campus? Check out Emily Bazelon’s excellent essay “The Stanford Undergraduate and the Mentor.” The following excerpt from her report especially caught our attention:
An open letter to our frequentist friends
We have had to sit through a countless number of mind-numbing social science presentations and empirical papers during our academic career, most or all of which have relied on standard frequentist methods. We are writing today to request a favor. Why can’t we just admit … Continue reading
prior probability 