The recent David Letterman scandal is renewing interest in
the old (but still interesting) question of why blackmail is illegal. Lizzie
Widdicombe takes up the case in The New Yorker, interviewing law
professors, economists, and other theorists.
Is
the Use of Blackface in French Vogue Offensive? (XX)
How economist Richard
Rahn recently had a segment on the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer canceled, not
because he had the wrong point of view, but because the show found another
economist prepared to make his points on John Maynard Keynes in the form of
rap. (HT: Andrew
Sullivan)
Paul
Caron picks apart the Princeton Review rankings in a series of posts.
From the FT, Asia’s richest man takes 66% pay cut:
“Mukesh Ambani who is spending about $1bn to build a lavish 27-storey house
and buy his wife a luxury Airbus jet, this week gave himself a 66 per cent pay
cut ‘to set an example of moderation.’”
Also from the FT, Bonus hopes lift top properties:
“City bankers confident of bumper bonuses this year have descended on
London estate agents hoping to snap up multimillion-pound homes, with Goldman
Sachs employees among those leading the charge.”
Justin
Wolfers and Betsey Stevenson respond to criticism by Barbara
Ehrenreich in the LA Times of their “The
Paradox of Declining Female Happiness.”
Reviews of SuperFreakonomics
are trickling out now. Here’s a
roundup of review links from Freakonomics. Ezra Klein is
much more negative, and Brad
DeLong is annoyed at the publisher, because he has to rely on second-hand
reviews, rather than the book itself.
See this
exchange between Dubner and DeLong.
The climate change chapter is
generating particular controversy.
See, for example, here
and here.
Brian Leiter on "Regional"
Law Schools With an Unusually Good Eye for Faculty Talent