Newmark's Door

Today's interesting fact: in 1940, less than 8% of Americans lived alone; today, about 25% do.

No free lunch in education, either.

"Tuition increases are a huge problem for low-income families, he is quick to add, but policymakers are wrong to assume that students care only about price. Public colleges need to compete with private institutions on quality, too, he says.

"Hoxby, the Harvard economist, is blunt about the consequence of that choice: 'If you want public colleges that are academically elite, you can either have massive subsidies [from the state] or you have to behave like private colleges and have higher tuition.'"

Italy gets a taste of its pension-system's future.

Mysterious black spot on Jupiter. If you saw the movie 2010, you know what's coming. Roy Scheider, call your office.

This would almost be an argument against charter schools, especially since the school in question is an elementary school. But not quite. I believe the cost of letting parents made foolish mistakes like this is far outweighed by the benefits of good charter schools.

John Hood, president of the John Locke Foundation here in North Carolina, offers a fine analysis of "Why the States Are Broke."

More on the serious drawbacks of the Canadian health care system.

Brad DeLong picks a small fight with Instapundit. Instapundit replies with a lesson of "English 101 for Economics Professors."

David Bernstein of the Volokh Conspiracy helps some confused liberals. How, they ask, would vouchers for private schools help education significantly when the capacity of private schools relative to public enrollment is so small? Bernstein explains, "Call me crazy, but I assume if vouchers gradually became available to more students, especially those trapped in bad public schools, existing private schools would expand, and new private schools would arise, to meet the increased demand for their services."

Amazing what a little economics can do to dispel confusion.

John Hawkins collects some of Ann Coulter's best comments of the past year. My three favorites:

"Noticeably, the only incumbent Republican senator to lose in (2002) was Tim Hutchinson of Arkansas, who left his wife for a staffer a few years ago. I'm proud to be a member of a party that still frowns on that sort of thing."

"Freedom of speech isn't working out so well for liberals now that they aren't the only ones with a microphone. It's not so much fun when the rabbit's got the gun."

"The reason any conservative's failing is always major news is that it allows liberals to engage in their very favorite taunt: Hypocrisy! Hypocrisy is the only sin that really inflames them. Inasmuch as liberals have no morals, they can sit back and criticize other people for failing to meet the standards that liberals simply renounce. It's an intriguing strategy. By openly admitting to being philanderers, draft dodgers, liars, weasels and cowards, liberals avoid ever being hypocrites."