Perception gap on schools
In the Atlantic, Jack Schneider wonders "why Americans maintain pessimistic views of the nation's schools, even when their own experiences are largely positive." Read "Why Americans Think So Poorly of the Country's Schools" in full at http://theatln.tc/2vnAE43. Here's an excerpt.
If the nation's schools are generally doing well, it doesn't make much sense to disrupt them. But if they are in a state of decline, disruption takes on an entirely new meaning. Seizing on the presumed failures of the education system, reform advocates have pushed hard for contentious policies — expansion of charter schools, for instance, or the use of value-added measures of teacher effectiveness — that might have less traction in a more positive policy climate. Perception also shapes the decisions people make about where to enroll their children. If the quality of public education is generally poor, then parents must compete for a small number of adequate schools — a competition that will be won by those with the greatest access to resources.
Clear-eyed view of Iran
In Foreign Policy, Michael Axworthy worries that "Donald Trump says Iran is a threat to the region, but his administration might be the real danger" if it pushes to overthrow the leadership in Tehran. Read "Regime Change in Iran Would Be a Disaster for Everyone" in full at http://atfp.co/2uGhWqv. Here's an excerpt.
If that proves the case, Washington will have inadvertently made itself a far greater danger to the stability of Middle East than Tehran. This might sound like an apology for the Iranian regime. It is not. The current regime in Iran has many faults: It is repressive and authoritarian, abuses human rights and severely limits the legitimate aspirations to greater political freedom of its own people. Nonetheless, the faults of the regime and the inflammatory rhetoric of some of its supporters should not distort the picture. We need to see Iran's foreign and security policy, and the alternatives on offer, as they are, rather than as the sum of all our fears, or indeed as a bogeyman derived primarily from the polarized debates of internal politics in the United States.
Locked-in behaviors
An economic paper from the now-famous behavioral economist Richard Thaler, the Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman and Jack Knetsch has been back in the news recently, cited by New York Times op-ed columnist David Leonhardt as important background reading. Though it was published a generation ago in the Journal of Economic Perspectives, it's worth reviewing in full as a reminder of the some of the concepts that drive our behavior, in particular how hard it is to change our minds. Read "Anomalies: The Endowment Effect, Loss Aversion, and Status Quo Bias" in full at http://bit.ly/2gNLlcX. Here is its introduction.
A wine-loving economist we know purchased some nice Bordeaux wines years ago at low prices. The wines have greatly appreciated in value, so that a bottle that cost only $10 when purchased would now fetch $200 at auction. This economist now drinks some of this wine occasionally, but would neither be willing to sell the wine at the auction price nor buy an additional bottle at that price.
Thaler called this pattern — the fact that people often demand much more to give up an object than they would be willing to pay to acquire it — the endowment effect. The example also illustrates ... a status quo bias, a preference for the current state that biases the economist against both buying and selling his wine. These anomalies are a manifestation of an asymmetry of value that Kahneman and Tversky call loss aversion — the disutility of giving up an object is greater that the utility associated with acquiring it.
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Explore all your optionsBefriending a pig
As long as we're dipping into the archives, here's an E.B. White classic from the 1948 Atlantic, an exquisite food-for-thought essay in all senses of the word. As vegans and meat-eaters debate the ethics of humanely raising animals only to be slaughtered, White was ahead of us all by nearly 70 years, as he went from raising one piglet for its pork on his farm in Maine, only to become its health care provider when it took ill and wishing it would never die. Read "Death of a Pig" in full at http://theatln.tc/2ttzrLr. Here's an excerpt.
The scheme of buying a spring pig in blossom time, feeding it through summer and fall, and butchering it when the solid cold weather arrives, is a familiar scheme to me and follows an antique pattern. It is a tragedy enacted on most farms with perfect fidelity to the original script. The murder, being premeditated, is in the first degree but is quick and skillful, and the smoked bacon and ham provide a ceremonial ending whose fitness is seldom questioned.
Once in a while something slips — one of the actors goes up in his lines and the whole performance stumbles and halts. My pig simply failed to show up for a meal. The alarm spread rapidly. The classic outline of the tragedy was lost. I found myself cast suddenly in the role of pig's friend and physician — a farcical character with an enema bag for a prop.