A young man named Elliot Rodger apparently killed six people Saturday in Isla Vista California. I say "apparently" because the story is new enough that it keeps changing. When I first heard it, he had shot six people dead, but now it appears that three of them were stabbed, according to a recent version of the story. Apparently most of his targets were women, although not all … [Read more...] about Elliot Rodger’s Motive Says Very Little About Anyone Except Elliot Rodger
Don’t Disinvite, Just Don’t Invite
It's graduation season again, which means it's time for the usual round of news stories about controversial graduation speakers and the attempts by protesters to get them disinvited. For example, after protesters at Rutgers got Former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice to back out of giving the commencement address, the normally wonderfully cynical P. J. O'Rourke went into full … [Read more...] about Don’t Disinvite, Just Don’t Invite
Crime and Incentives
In response to my post about some of economist Gary Becker's views on crime, "russ" leaves a comment with a couple of interesting points:I would think the failure of the war on drugs is the evidence AGAINST Becker’s idea that increased punishment reduces crime. Just because criminalizing drugs hasn't made them go away completely doesn't mean that criminalization has no … [Read more...] about Crime and Incentives
Gary Becker on Crime
One of the giant minds of economics, Gary Becker, passed away on Saturday. Among other things, he and Kevin Murphy were pioneers in the idea of rational addiction, which I wrote about last year. That was just one example of his approach to applying the tools of economic thinking to a wide variety of other fields such as discrimination, family life, politics, and crime.It's … [Read more...] about Gary Becker on Crime
Stealth In the Parking Lot
I did some grocery shopping at lunch today, and on my way back to my car, as I was threading my way through the parking lot, an empty car next to me started rolling forward. Several thoughts ran through my head: Was any part of it going to hit me? What was in it's path? Other cars? People? Could I catch up to the driver's door and try to get in to stop it? --As I was … [Read more...] about Stealth In the Parking Lot