Links for 2011-03-30 [del.icio.us]

• democracyarsenal.org: Obama’s Most Glaring Contradiction Ever
  Those of us who are skeptical of intervention have to grapple with the fact that not acting could have led to a terrible civilian massacre, which appears to have been averted. On the other hand those who endorse intervention have been too far triumphalist about the use of force and the explicit morality of acting (and the implicit immorality of not getting involved).

  However, I think the one argument that perhaps is getting too much attention is the question of whether we are demonstrating a double standard by intervening in Libya and not intervening in Cote d’Ivorie or Bahrain or Syria etc.

• Jeffrey Sachs Plays Robin Hood, But His Policies Would Harm the Poor « The Enterprise Blog
  Countries that raise tax rates lose revenues. It is not surprising that the United States, with one of the highest corporate tax rates in the OECD, is at the bottom of the list when it comes to raising revenues from these high tax rates. Indeed, that is one of the reasons that the Obama administration may even be in favor of a corporate tax cut. Further, even if all countries were able to agree to a uniformly high level of corporate taxes—not an easy feat by any means given every country’s unique fiscal and budgetary needs—it is still unclear that the “rich” would bear the burden of corporate income taxes. A growing empirical literature on the incidence of the corporate income tax suggests that firms are able to pass on the burden to workers in the form of lower wages. Therefore, a Robin Hood policy of taxing the rich to give to the poor may have exactly the unintended consequence of hurting the poor.
• Are High Food Prices Due to the Fed?, David Henderson | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty
  On Judge Napolitano’s “Freedom Watch” on March 25, Austrian economist Bob Murphy claimed that the unrest in the Middle East was due to rising food prices which in turn are due to the Fed printing money. I’m not sure about the rising food price/political unrest issue–that could well be true. But I’m pretty sure that the Fed printing money/rising food prices link is weak. When the Fed prints money, that raises the dollar prices of goods. But why would it raise the prices to people in the Middle East. All other things equal, the dollar would adjust downward and the prices of food to people in the Middle East would stay the same.
• Ideas: Misrepresenting Adam Smith
  Not only is Smith not endorsing a progressive income tax, he isn’t endorsing any sort of income tax. Reading further into the passage, he successively rejects taxes on income from capital, taxes on wages, and taxes on the income of professionals. The only income he approves of taxing is the income of government officials. What he is arguing for is a system of taxation whose effect is proportional to income, not a tax on income.
• D.C. vouchers advance, despite Obama — Joanne Jacobs
  Washington, D.C.’s voucher program could be back: On a 225-195 vote, mostly along party lines, the House passed Speaker John Boehner’s bill reauthorizing and expanding vouchers for low-income students in the District. Under SOAR, students would get $8,000 to attend a private K-8 school, $12,000 for high school tuition.
• Heritabilities Are Meaningful and Important, Bryan Caplan | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty
  If you set up your study correctly, these are causal estimates that speak directly to the nature/nurture debate. Suppose h2=.4. Then if you were separated at birth from an identical twin, and you’re 1 SD above average in a trait, you should still expect your twin to be .4 SDs above average in that trait. Why? Because of your shared genes. Or suppose c2=.1. Then if you were raised with a random baby, and you’re 1 SD above average in a trait, you should expect him to be only .1 SDs above average in that trait. Why? Because of your common upbringing.
• Greenspan and Unemployment – NYTimes.com
  In the process, Mr. Greenspan helped demonstrate that unemployment could fall lower than many economists had believed without setting off inflation. The late 1990s remain the only sustained period over the past 35 years when incomes rose at a healthy rate all across the income spectrum. The jobless rate, at its nadir, was below 4 percent.
• Inequality Is Most Extreme in Wealth, Not Income – NYTimes.com
  By wealth.
• Vouchers Help But Obama Opposes « Jay P. Greene’s Blog
  In a new study released today by a team of researchers led by Josh Cowen at the University of Kentucky, we learn that voucher students in Milwaukee are more likely to graduate high school and go to a four year college than their counterparts in the Milwaukee Public Schools.
• It’s Safe to Use TSA’s Body Scanners « The Enterprise Blog
  Alot safer than you thought.
• Politics in India: The House of the People Becoming a House of Dynasty « The Enterprise Blog
  He goes on to show that while hereditary politics is a problem across all parties in India, from the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party to smaller regional parties, the Indian National Congress is the biggest culprit. Eighty-eight percent of Congress Party MPs under the age of 40 are hereditary.
• democracyarsenal.org: Washington’s Bipartisan Consensus
  On the neocon Libya connection.
• The wisdom and legality of arming Libyan rebels – Glenn Greenwald – Salon.com
  The dirty details.

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