CommunitiesStimulus That! 
Linguist and economics professor Jim Picht looks at the global economy, considers the civilizing power of capitalism, and wonders what markets have to do with morality. And if you don't think one answer is "plenty," think again.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
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Marital Bliss
posted at 4:35 p.m.
It would be easier to decide who can marry if we knew what marriage is.
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Hey, Teacher, Leave Those Kids Alone!
posted at 4:14 p.m.
The perverse incentives of higher education
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Monday, November 16, 2009
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The Incredible Shrinking Dollar
posted at 4:10 p.m.
Will the dollar become an Ozymandias currency?
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Tuesday, November 10, 2009
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We Don't Need No Education
posted at 3:49 p.m.
America's problem isn't too little access to higher education, but too much.
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Twenty Years after the Fall
posted at 4:44 p.m.
Khrushchev's wall has been gone for 20 years; the remains of the Soviet empire still aren't quite whole.
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Monday, November 9, 2009
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Cold Reading the Economy
posted at 5:03 p.m.
Evaluating the stimulus is fortune-telling, not science.
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Thursday, November 5, 2009
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Hurray for Savage Bipartisanship!
posted at 1:38 p.m.
Hard times are no time for bipartisan niceness.
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Tuesday, November 3, 2009
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In Praise of Death Panels
posted at 2:46 p.m.
If you want cheap and universal healthcare, plan to die
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Who's Afraid of Dragons?
posted at 2:02 p.m.
Learning to love Chinese goods
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Culture and Civilization
posted at 10:59 a.m.
The moral nature of markets
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I'm an economist, a husband, and a father. I'm also a former music major and classically trained pianist, a church organist, and a part-time jewelry maker. I thought I wanted to be a scientist and got a degree in biology/chemistry (University of Utah), but a stint in a genetics lab sent me running to graduate studies in Slavic Languages (UT Austin). A computer error landed me in an economics class one summer, after the first hour I was in love with the subject, and five years later I earned a PhD in economics (Texas A&M). I spent the next several years working as a contractor for the U.S. government and international development banks with assignments in Kiyiv, Moscow, Sarajevo, and Central Asia. The work was interesting, the travel more so, but I got tired of cold winters and cabbage soup. So I moved to Louisiana and got myself a teaching job, a wife, and two children. I teach economics and Russian literature at the Louisiana Scholars' College at Northwestern State University, Louisiana's designated honors college. I find my life even more interesting than before, but without the winters, the cabbage, or the Mafia protection.