Deadweight loss, also known as excess burden, is a cost to society created by market inefficiency. It occurs when supply and demand are out of equilibrium. Mainly used in economics, it can be applied to any deficiency caused by an inefficient allocation of resources. Here is how Wikipedia defines deadweight[Read More…]
Author: Matthew Ladner
In search of the bright, shiny object
In the morning, when the sun hits our kitchen window just right, a dangling crystal refracts light, sending Serafina (the much-adored Ladner family cat, pictured above) on the “shiny hunt.” Serafina doesn’t understand the properties of light, but she never seems to tire of hunting shiny things. They are shiny[Read More…]
Please don’t control your soul’s desire for chaos
Videos have surfaced recently of starving residents of Shanghai screaming in the night a week into an incredibly misguided COVID-19 lockdown that has imprisoned Chinese citizens in their homes. A reporter from The Economist noted that a Chinese drone flew through the area blaring a message: “Please comply with COVID[Read More…]
James Buster Douglas and the Art of War
Military tactics are like unto water; for water in its natural course runs away from high places and hastens downwards. So, in war, the way is to avoid what is strong and to strike at what is weak. -Sun Tzu The biggest upset in heavyweight boxing history occurred Feb. 11,[Read More…]
Focus on constituencies to propel education choice forward
Months ago, The Heritage Foundation published a study showing that Democrats have provided determinative votes only rarely in state legislatures on private choice programs. I’ve seen little publicly that would constitute a substantive response. Privately, I’ve heard multiple missives that fall somewhere on the “random grousing” to “grasping at straws”[Read More…]
Public schools take everyone – except when they don’t
Arizona started down the choice road back in 1994 when a bipartisan group of legislators passed both a robust charter school law and an open enrollment law forbidding districts from charging tuition and requiring them to have an open enrollment policy. Subsequently, Arizona lawmakers were the first in the nation[Read More…]
The Ayn Rand School for Tots
Recently, Geoff Esposito, a lobbyist for the Arizona ACLU, testified before the Arizona Legislature. He explained that while not a fan of Ayn Rand, he would not support a bill to remove her novels, “Atlas Shrugged” or “The Fountainhead,” from a school library. I wholeheartedly agree with him. Ayn Rand[Read More…]
Suburban property values can surge along with student opportunity
I’ve heard that advocates of open enrollment reform are encountering opponents who claim that if you allow open enrollment, then suburban property values will go down. Scottsdale, Arizona, is one of the most active suburban choice areas in the country and a hotbed for open enrollment. In examining the record[Read More…]