The Daily Dozen

1. Life is a trial for Chinese lawyer. A reminder to be grateful for the the liberties, rights, and rule of law we enjoy in the US. They are rare among the world and among history.
   
2. The economic argument for taxing only labor income?
3. Posner's anxiety, Cardozo's influence.
4. FTC (my former employer) may force end to Google-Apple love affair?
5. Fixing lungs outside the body. A technique may double the number of lungs available for transplant.
   
6. A theory of good teaching. It requires at least three things: 1) expertise; 2) teaching tools; and 3) interactions. I am taking notes as I will be teaching macroeconomics this summer. Here are thoughts on the moral obligation to teach well.
   
7. First, blame the regulators? The financial crisis wasn't a problem of regulatory failure, but of regulatory corruption?
8. Why is this bubble different from all other bubbles? "James Surowiecki has a very interesting column arguing that this bubble was different because unlike the earlier banking booms, there was no point to the wild spending. The bubble didn't bring us railroads and electrification; it brought us . . . houses. Lots and lots and lots of houses."
9. Making the world a better place? "Remove economists from the planet." Somehow, I don't think that would improve my world.
10. The importance of economic growth. "In the United States, diarrhea is a pain, an annoyance, and of course an embarrassment. In much of the developing world, diarrhea is a killer, especially of children. Every year 1.8 million children die from diarrhea. Ending the premature deaths of these children does not require any scientific breakthroughs, nor does it require new drugs or fancy medical devices. Preventing these deaths requires only one thing: economic growth." It's literally a matter of life and death.
    
11. The essentials of the credit crisis.
    
12. Americans stop getting taller. "Unlike most other developed countries, in the United States men and women aged 20 to 24 are no taller than those aged 45 to 49 years old." That's because we were already tall relative to many other developed countries.