Jeanne Hoffman interviews, Dr. Edward J. Lopez, Associate Professor or Economics at San Jose State University, about his new book, “The Pursuit of Justice: Law and Economics of Legal Institutions.” From the publisher: The Pursuit of Justice is a thoroughgoing analysis of the bureaucratization and politicization of the U.S. legal system and how the law works in practice rather than in theory. The book looks specifically at how decision makers in the law—judges, lawyers, juries, police, forensic experts, and more—respond to economic incentive structures. Faulty incentives lie at the heart of numerous failures of the U.S. legal system, but rather than the romanticized version of the law as portrayed in television dramas and in much academic research, the authors portrays…
“The Academic Review Process: How Can We Make It More Efficient?” Ofer H. Azar. American Economist 50:1 (Spring 2006):37(14). Draft linked online. ABSTRACT: “Recently many editors try to reduce the turnaround times of academic journals. Shorter turnaround times, however, will induce many additional submissions of low-quality papers, increasing significantly the workload of editors and referees, and the number of rejections prior to publication. I suggest several ideas how editors can shorten turnaround times and four ideas how they can still avoid frivolous submissions, thus improving the review process efficiency: higher submission fees; requiring authors to review papers in proportion to their submissions; using differential editorial delay – letting low-quality papers wait more; and banning papers from being submitted after a…
Jeanne Hoffman. Welcome to this Kosmos Online podcast. I’m Jeanne Hoffman. Today’s episode is part of our series on liberty and science fiction. I’m talking about themes of liberty on the TV show Firefly and its big screen sequel, Serenity, with my guest Amy Sturgis. Dr. Sturgis is an author, editor, scholar, educator, speaker, and podcaster with specialties in the field of science fiction fantasy and Native American studies. Welcome back, Dr. Sturgis, thanks for joining us! Amy Sturgis. Thanks so much for having me; it’s great to be here! JH. It’s always great having you! So I was wondering first, could you give us a brief summary of Firefly and Serenity for those who might not be familiar with…
Jeanne 10/14/2010 11:25am Last week I talked with Bruce Benson about his new book, ““Property Rights: Eminent Domain and Regulatory Takings Re-examined.” Dr. Benson is a Senior Fellow at The Independent Institute, the DeVoe Moore Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at Florida State University, and Contributing Editor of The Independent Review. Download this interview Read a transcript of this interview Get Kosmos podcasts on iTunes
Bill Glod: Jessica Flanigan discusses feminism and libertarianism. James R. Harrigan: Even if his heart is in the right place (and I am by no means saying that it is), a candidate for the highest office in the land might want to think through the First Amendment implications of his “there ought to be a law” utterances. Jeanne Hoffman: Should there be first class passenger lines for airport security checks? (editor’s note: “shameless self-promotion”) Phil Magness: A comparative photo essay of sites in East Germany before and after Communism. Notably, just about everything in the communist period is in a state of disrepair. Nathan Chang: Peter Thiel is teaching a class at Stanford. Thiel Fellows need not apply.
Application deadline: CLOSED Applications will go live on January 1, 2012! Application Deadline: March 31, 2012 Since 1962, FEE has educated over 10,000 students at our annual seminar series. Join us this year as we continue the tradition and celebrate our 50th anniversary of seminars. We invite you to take part in the battle of ideas. Our distinguished faculty and liberty-loving colleagues create an environment that is both challenging and enlightening, providing what is consistently regarded as a memorable, life-changing seminar. *We do not allow minors (17 years of age or younger) to attend the college seminars. If you are a minor, please see our options for high school students. This summer marks the 50th anniversary of FEE seminars, so find a program that is…
The best XKCD links of the year! On the First Click of Christmas, My True Love Gave to Me a link to an XKCD. On the Second Click of Christmas, My True Love Gave to Me Two Gigs of spam And a link to an XKCD. On the Third Click of Christmas, My True Love Gave to Me Three Thumbs Up Two Gigs of spam And a link to an XKCD. On the Fourth Click of Christmas, My True Love Gave to Me Four Banking Scams Three Thumbs Up Two Gigs of spam And a link to an XKCD. On the Fifth Click of Christmas, My True Love Gave to Me Five Stupid Memes! Four Banking Scams Three Thumbs Up…
James R. Harrigan Editor’s note: Professor Michael Munger of Duke University thinks students should be allowed to bring laptops and other forms of technology into class. James R. Harrigan, Director of Academic Programs at IHS, doesn’t. Consider this the Laptops-In-Class version of Keynes vs. Hayek. Rap video to follow. Below is James’s rebuttal to Munger’s opening volley. Munger’s no-holds-barred argument is reposted below in case you missed it. Professor Munger has me in a tight spot before I even begin. He has, after all, accused me (and others like me) of engaging in prostitution and/or slavery. I suppose it isn’t the first time for either, but still. And this because I have the temerity of banning laptops (and all other…
In this KosmosOnline podcast, I talk with Joseph Packer about World of Warcraft and spontaneous order. Mr. Packer is a PhD student at the University of Pittsburg School of communication and is the author of the paper “Dethroning the author, when fiction and reality collide in MMORPG‟s.” Download this interview Read a Transcript Get Kosmos podcasts on iTunes
Aaron Gordon Each week, IHS Staffers will share their top links from the week across the web. Phil Magness: My link is from March 2011, but I picked it because it syncs up with the book I started reading this week: Thaddeus Russell’s “Renegade History of the United States.” Russell is a left-leaning historian with some libertarian inclinations, but most of all an iconoclast who’s directly challenging some of the more annoying habits of the history profession – “consensus history,” a bias toward group analysis and against the individual, and tendency to prop up “great figures” on both the right and left. Reason interviewed him back in February. Just for fun, Russell also wrote a blistering critique of the tenure…
