Logical Fallacies in the Time of Pandemics
Logical fallacies are types of faulty reasoning. They can be categorized by structure (formal) or content (informal). Formal fallacies...
Motivated Reasoning and Affinity Fraud
Every once in a while, I come across new terms that seem important and worth further investigation. Ezra Klein (see book review) used the...
Justice and Fairness: Survival of the Fittest?
Writing about scandals and corruption, I’ve included justice and how it is applicable. Based on a fair bit of recent reading, should...
What Happened in Unemployment?
No question, unemployment is skyrocketing, probably to levels never seen before. Two sets of numbers are reported on the news: 1) new...
Let’s Do Real Estate Probabilities (Part 2, Forecasting in a Pandemic World)
How can probabilities be used to improve economic projections, especially for considering multiple alternatives? Probability is the...
Forecasting in a Pandemic World (Part 1)
This is the first of a multi-part blog on predictions based on probability statement, using a Tetlock framework. Part 2 will explore the...
Running Against The Devil: Book Review
Running Against the Devil: A Plot to Save America From Trump--and Democrats From Themselves (2020), Rick Wilson. Wilson is (or was) a...
Why We're Polarized: Book Review
Why We're Polarized: Ezra Klein (2020). This is an important book with lots of content from several perspectives, including a substantial...
Between Two Fires: Book Review
Surviving in Putin's Russia is the focus of this book, telling the stories of people in very different circumstances, some famous and...
Arguing With Zombies
Arguing With Zombies: Economics, Politics, and the Fight for a Better Future (2020), Paul Krugman. The thesis is that a number of ideas...
Homewreckers: Book Review
Homewreckers: How a Gang of Wall Street Kingpins, Head Fund Magnates, Crooked Banks, and Vulture Capitalists Suckered Millions out of...
Duped: Book Review
Duped: Truth-Default Theory and the Social Science of Lying and Deception (2020), Tim Levine. Gladwell's Talking to Strangers used...
Veblen Goods
Veblen goods are luxury products (services also apply) where quantity goes up with price, contradicting the usual interpretation of...
Impeachment Hearings
After a couple of weeks of House impeachment hearings, what stands out to me is the professionalism of the foreign service officers (also...
Echo Chambers and Epistemic Bubbles
An article in the paper ("A Reverb Epidemic" by Thi Nguyen) caught my attention, considering "radical polarization." Politics jumps out...