Consulting by RPM || Free Advice Blog

Currency Devaluation, Export Advantage, and Commodity Prices

I am mostly doing this as a placeholder. I wrote this article for Mises back in late 2010. A lot of it is standard stuff, but I got into the step-by-step adjustment to a currency devaluation, showing the sense in which it would shower benefits on certain groups. I vaguely remember that it took me […]

Our Most Rational Minds Considering All Hypotheses?

I am not intending this to be smug. I mean this post sincerely. In a recent SlateStarCodex post, Scott Alexander–who is one of the most open-minded, thoughtful bloggers I follow–wrote: I realize this is pretty unsophisticated-sounding, but I’m basing this off of my continuing confusion over the rise of Christianity. Christianity came out of nowhere […]

A Numerical Example on Corporate Tax Cuts and Wage Increases

In my last post I mentioned that a lot of economists are puzzled that corporations are announcing wage hikes right when the tax cut goes through. I’ve now jotted down some numbers to show exactly what I mean. But before I dive in, let me say what I think the fundamental problem is: The way […]

Are Economists Overthinking Tax Cuts and Wages?

In the wake of companies announcing pay hikes after the tax cut package, lots of economists are weighing in on whether the two can be related. Krugman is quite sure they have nothing to do with each other, and John Cochrane basically agrees with him (even though the tone is miles apart, the underlying analysis […]

Christopher Reeve’s Training for Superman

Potpourri

==> The latest Contra Krugman, in which Tom complains about a bunch of presidents. Guy is a serious whiner. ==> Jeff Deist takes a swing at the Nobel laureate too. ==> Scott Horton has trained his young apprentice well. ==> I haven’t listened yet, but David Gornoski got Jordan Peterson to sit down for an […]

More on My Proposed Solution to the Mind-Body Problem

My girlfriend sent me this interesting link that she was assigned in one of her classes. It reminded me of my earlier Free Advice posts in which I propose a solution to the mind-body problem. Here’s the short version (but follow the link to get the fuller context): ==> To (finally) recapitulate my own solution […]

ICE Removals Under Trump vs. Obama

[UPDATED with more info about interior removals under Obama.] I kept hearing conflicting statistics, but thanks to a commenter at Scott Sumner’s blog, I found the relevant reports to sort it all out. So if you want to make it seem like Trump is deporting way more people than Obama–and both Trump’s fans and critics […]