Contributing Editor, TCS
Arnold Kling is a TCS Contributing Editor and an adjunct scholar with the Cato Institute. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was an economist with the Federal Reserve Board and later with Freddie Mac. In 1994, he founded Homefair.com, one of the first commercial sites on the World Wide Web. After Homefair was sold, he wrote "Under the Radar: Starting Your Net Business Without Venture Capital," published by Perseus in 2001. He has also written "Learning Economics," a collection of essays on economic issues. Kling 's personal web site is http://arnoldkling.com. His blog (with Bryan Caplan) is at http://econlog.econlib.org. He teaches high school on a volunteer basis near his home in Silver Spring, Maryland. He is married, with three daughters.
Arnold Kling is a TCS Contributing Editor and an adjunct scholar with the Cato Institute.
He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was an economist with the Federal Reserve Board and later with Freddie Mac. In 1994, he founded Homefair.com, one of the first commercial sites on the World Wide Web. After Homefair was sold, he wrote "Under the Radar: Starting Your Net Business Without Venture Capital," published by Perseus in 2001. He has also written "Learning Economics," a collection of essays on economic issues. Kling 's personal web site is http://arnoldkling.com. His blog (with Bryan Caplan) is at http://econlog.econlib.org. He teaches high school on a volunteer basis near his home in Silver Spring, Maryland. He is married, with three daughters.
In the study of history, the importance of mankind's mental and moral development has often been overlooked. My guess is that the rate of mental and moral development will accelerate sharply over the next few decades, and the phenomenon will be more widely noticed and its significance better appreciated.
Inequality is now affected by assortive mating. Assortive mating means that men with high earnings potential tend to marry women with high earnings potential. In a sense, we are back to the pre-industrial era, except that today's elite marriages combine high salaries rather than large landholdings. Arnold Kling on what, if anything, government can do about significant changes in American society and the economy.
If the United States is exceptional because of our entrepreneurial culture, then our natural allies may not be in Continental Europe, in spite of its democratic governments and high levels of economic development. Instead, we may have more in common with other nations of the Anglosphere, as well as such entrepreneurial outposts as India, Israel, and Singapore.
Milton Friedman often was praised as a great debater, which can be a backhanded compliment. After all, a lawyer might be very persuasive using an emotional argument for a weak case. Instead, I contend that Friedman won on merit, because his basic position was correct.
I think that American troops should stay to protect the oil fields in Iraq. They should also seal the Kurdish region. On the other hand, I'd be happy to see our soldiers walk out of Baghdad, not with their tails between their legs but with their middle fingers in the air.
When the Stern Review says that the cost of the de-industrialization strategy "can be limited to around 1% of global GDP each year," that makes the cost seem small. The number 1, after all, is a low number. Arnold Kling on strategies for combating global warming.
