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On many dimensions of risk, yes. But are the two drugs mutual substitutes? If not, it’s not clear what we can learn from the comparison.
Archive for December, 2011
December 20th, 2011
Category: Watching Conservatives
Andrew Sullivan thinks the bigoted rants published by Ron Paul and in his name are “very, very old news.” But I can’t parse his argument.
December 20th, 2011
Category: Health and Medicine
Since I started reading tributes to the late Christopher Hitchens last week (such as Toby Young’s), I have been torn between the impulse not to upset anyone grieving the loss of a loved one and my own despair at what is inadvertently becoming an international public health miseducation campaign about addiction. Encouraged by Katha Pollitt‘s [...]
December 20th, 2011
The most powerful argument in this LA Times op-ed piece opposing the charitable tax deduction is that it’s a poor trade-off. Retired foundation executive Jack Shakely points out that charities have permitted themselves to be shorn of their ability to influence policy and politics in return for a mess of pottage. Of course the restrictions [...]
December 20th, 2011
At my company (less in my unit of it), teaching is basically treated as a tax you have to pay to do your research, and faculty are hired and promoted for research and encouraged to avoid this tax where possible; indeed, one of our principal recruitment gestures is a reduced teaching load for the first [...]
December 20th, 2011
Category: Personal moment, Religion and Politics
Saint Francis instructed: “Preach the gospel at all times. If necessary, use words.” Not bad advice, even for atheists.
December 20th, 2011
Category: Uncategorized
The 2012 AEA Program lists all of the paper presentation sessions that will take place in Chicago in early 2012. It provides a clear sense of our research agenda. Is any of this work policy relevant? Yes! To offer just one example, read this paper by Paul Joskow and Catherine Wolfram on electricity [...]
December 20th, 2011
Keith says he not only doesn’t use his cell phone when driving (CWD), but doesn’t talk to people when they are driving. Good for Keith, and the NTSB, which has recommended a flat ban on using cell phones while driving, hands-free or not. Our designated ‘conservative’ columnist, Debra Saunders, weighs in with one of her [...]
December 19th, 2011
Category: Elections 2010 and 2012
Last week I wrote that Newt Gringrich was different than the prior GOP surge-and-burn crowd (Bachmann, Cain and Perry) because he has long experience in the national spotlight and would not make the high-profile stumbles that brought down his largely untested opponents. As I expected, Newt indeed hasn’t wilted under the kleig lights. But as [...]