Private Schools: Hope for the World’s Poor
Friday | Today's idea: Low-cost private schools are outperforming government-run schools in poor neighborhoods around the world, an article says. [The Boston Globe]
View ArticleKings: A 21st-Century Notion
Tuesday | Today's idea: In political crises from Europe to Asia, monarchy suddenly seems relevant again as a glue of democracy, safeguard against disorder and protector of rights. [The Boston Globe]
View ArticleThe Midget Sub Threat
Wednesday | Today's idea: The American Navy needs to hone its antisubmarine skills after the torpedoing of a South Korean corvette by a North Korean minisubmarine, an article says. Whether deployed by...
View ArticleMarijuana Pollution
Friday | Today's idea: Pot isn't so green after all, an article says. California's large marijuana growing operations — most illegal — "are polluting local ecosystems on an industrial scale in rural...
View ArticleThe Spare-Time Revolution
Wednesday | Today's idea: Our use of spare time is now less about passive viewing and more about engaging -- from Flickr and Facebook to online political action -- an author says. And new insights into...
View ArticleThe World War of Generations
Friday | Today's idea: If you think the crisis in government spending is a result of the Great Recession, you're wrong, a columnist says. Bank bailouts only hastened the long-predicted war of...
View ArticleThe Great De-Stimulus of 1946
Tuesday | Today's idea: The abrupt withdrawal of government spending ushered in the post-World War II economic boom, two economists write. So why worry about winding down stimulus now? [Cato Policy...
View ArticleBetter Vacations Through Science
Wednesday | Today's idea: How to spend your summer vacation? Behavioral science, including research into the pain of colonoscopies, may offer a better guide than Fodor's, an article says. [The Boston...
View ArticleRethinking Appeasement
Friday | Today's idea: Appeasement gets a bad rap in harsh 20-20 hindsight after World War II, Paul Kennedy writes. With American power overstretched, he says, it's time to reconsider this time-honored...
View ArticleAn American Praetorian Guard?
War | Today's idea: The all-professional military poses a danger to American democracy, a historian says, because it allows politicians to wage prolonged wars with the public disengaged, and thus...
View ArticleTo Killjoy ‘Mockingbird’
Tuesday | Today's idea: "It's time to stop pretending that 'To Kill a Mockingbird' is some kind of timeless classic that ranks with the great works of American literature," a critic says. [The Wall...
View ArticleThe Case for Voluntary Taxes
Wednesday | Today's idea: Voluntary taxes, some say, offer a politically palatable way to raise additional revenue and perhaps even strengthen American patriotism and citizenship. [The Boston Globe]
View ArticleReworking Maslow’s Pyramid
Friday | Today's idea: Maslow's "hierarchy of needs" is out of date, a team of evolutionary psychologists argues. Let's replace "self-actualization" with "parenting" to better reflect our fundamental...
View ArticleVain Economist, Humble Historian
Thursday | Today's idea: Economists would do well to learn the modesty of historians, a columnist says. They better understand human complexity and the limits of social science. [The Financial Times]
View ArticleLiberals vs. Populists: It’s a Long Story
Thursday | Today's idea: American political life has long been marked by mutual incomprehension and outright hostility between liberalism and populism, an essay says. Today is no different. [Boston...
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