The 5 most popular Angus KPC posts of 2012

The following were the five most viewed posts of mine this past year.

I am impressed. Two about economics, one about academics, one about sports and only one total goofball post.

Football: Stick a fork in it?

Me and LeBron's "what would the end of football look like?" piece in Grantland lives on as the horrific evidence grows.

The edited volume blues

People, you can't get something for nothing. If you are not yet where you want to be in academia, stay away from edited volumes, special issues of journals, festschrifts, and the like.

When cannons are outlawed....

Anytime I can legitimately post a Breeder's video, it's a good day. I guess I should feel bad about someone actually dying, but being taken out by a "homemade" cannonball cannot go un-mocked in my world.

Eyes wide shut

I am a big proponent of evaluating aid projects, but a bit skeptical of the grand claims sometimes made by the Randomista contingent. This paper about pseudo placebo effects in RCTs really caught my attention.

The Economy & Presidential Elections

"BHO is going to win in November DESPITE the economy, largely because Romney is a terrible candidate who is running an undisciplined, juvenile, brain-damaged campaign.

And that matters."

Thanks for indulging me and Mungo and we will endeavor to bring you even more gonzo-econo-blogging in 2013. We'll be back with more stuff.

Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea

From the KPC request for posts pool:

"If you were the supreme ruler of the USA, what would be the top 5 things you would do?"

1. Increase the inflow of immigrants, especially skilled immigrants.

2. Increase school choice, especially for lower income families.

3. Big tax reform with a broad base, low rates, and a carbon tax included in the mix.

4. Use a combination of size limits, leverage limits, and capital requirements that move with size/leverage to reduce the frequency with which finance blows up the economy (instead of trying to micro-manage a la Dodd-Frank / Volcker rule).

5. De-porkify the Federal Government (Dept. of Agriculture, Ex-Imp bank, small business administration,   military procurement).

Other priority items would be work to privatize public universities,work for a "trade not aid" approach to developing countries, and work on patent reform.

I shudder to think what Tom will think of it, but that's it; that's my list!