“How Does Your Kindergarten Classroom Affect Your Earnings?” is one of the most impressive empirical papers ever written. The data collection is amazing. The empirical analysis is clear and careful. Above all else, the authors’ methods are transparent. Lesser authors would have buried the conflicting findings. Chetty et al. took the high road. Unfortunately, the world is so eager for stories about the power of early education that their paper is being badly misinterpreted. Chetty et al. don’t confirm romantic hopes about teachers that change young minds forever. Despite their pro-education tone, they expose these hopes as wishful thinking.

This message comes through far too seldom in discussions of international trade: barriers to trade, or lifting barriers to trade, aren’t going to alter the total number of jobs over time, but instead will shift the industries and sectors where those jobs occur.

The best argument against vocational education is economic change. What’s the point of preparing students for occupations that won’t even exist by the time they finish their studies?

I have to say that I share most — if not all — the goals of the honest Left, which would be embodied in a constantly rising standard of living for the lowest economic classes. … But the big problem with the honest Left is their absolute and obstinate refusal to learn the most basic economic principles. The “Occupy Wall Street” movement is no different, and it is a real pity that all this energy and frustration can’t be put to use toward achieving their goal. Many demands are being made, but sadly, if these were ever implemented, they would make problems worse by lowering the standard of living for all — especially for the poor! I will proceed to address some of the demands in plain English, hoping to reach out to them.

If government wishes to see a depression ended as quickly as possible, and the economy returned to normal prosperity, what course should it adopt ? The first and clearest injunction is: don’t interfere with the market’s adjustment process. The more the government intervenes to delay the market’s adjustment, the longer and more gruelling the depression will be, and the more difficult will be the road to complete recovery. Government hampering aggravates and perpetuates the depression. Yet, government depression policy has always (and would have even more today) aggravated the very evils it has loudly tried to cure. If, in fact, we list logically the various ways that government could hamper market adjustment, we will find that we have precisely listed the favourite “anti-depression” arsenal of government policy.

Education costs are poised to rise for everyone in California except illegal aliens who get a reduced rate. Is this a dream or a nightmare? The answer depends on whether or not you are an illegal alien (or a politician who gets elected pandering to them).