Assorted Links (6/26/2014)

Here’s a list of articles that I have been reading lately:

The Supreme Court’s huge new cellphone privacy ruling, explained

vox.com

“The Supreme Court kept cops from looking at your phone. Here’s why that’s such a big deal.”

Senseless in Seattle: The Minimum-Wage Follies

cato.org

“You don’t need a Ph.D. in economics to understand that economies are not static.”

Even America’s most liberal states imprison more people than nearly any other country in the world

vox.com

“Even the most liberal state in America has a higher incarceration rate than most other countries around the world, according to a new analysis from the Prison Policy Initiative.”

This chart shows that violent deaths at US schools remain quite rare

vox.com

“There’s been no clear upward trend since the 1990s.”

Why Iraq’s army crumbled

economist.com

“On the face of it, the stunning success of the ISIS offensive in the past ten days defies understanding.”

Devaluing the Bolivarian revolution

www.economist.com

“After months of opposition protests that it portrays as a “fascist coup”, the government of Nicolás Maduro has reason for grim satisfaction. Using crude, but selective, repression, Mr Maduro has fought the protesters to a state of exhaustion.”

Kim Strassel and the WSJ on the Lost IRS Emails

cato.org

“Thank heavens that unlike some in the press, investigative columnist Kim Strassel and her colleagues at the WSJ have been willing to dig into the revelations of evidence destruction at the Internal Revenue Service.”

Tyranny of Experts

Econtalk.org

NYU economist William Easterly clearly and succinctly explains development economics…

3 academics think they’ve solved the HFT problem

cnbc.com

“Mandating that stocks trade in set time intervals would negate some of the problems posed by high-frequency trading, according to an analysis.”

Inside the vast liberal conspiracy

politico.com

“Picture this: millionaires and billionaires gathering under tight security in fancy hotels with powerful politicians and operatives to plot how their network of secret-money groups can engineer a permanent realignment of American politics.  Only, it’s not the Koch brothers. It’s the liberal Democracy Alliance.”

Obama’s Deficient Student Loan Plan

reason.com

“But thinking that more federal aid will make college affordable is like believing that a dog can catch its tail if it goes faster.”

How To Marry The Right Girl: A Mathematical Solution

npr.org

“Johannes Kepler, one of the world’s great mathematicians, decided to marry in 1611. He made a list of 11 women to interview, and he wanted, of course, to choose the best…”, so he invented optimal stopping theory, which is an important result used in a number of different fields, including applied probability, statistics, and decision theory.

Here are the states that small business owners love and hate

aei-ideas.org

“Key factors evaluated include ease of hiring. ease of starting a business, regulations, licensing, tax code, and zoning.”

The High Cost of Cheap Health Insurance

reason.com

“The Obama administration wants everyone to know how cheap insurance is under Obamacare.  But they don’t really want people to think about how expensive it is to keep it that way.”

The High Price of Obama Fatigue

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Wonder Land columnist Dan Henninger writes that the IRS scandal isn’t Watergate. It’s worse than Watergate.”

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