Henry Farrell

Advice on succeeding as a policy intern in Washington DC. Doubtless, this is entirely well meant. Very likely, it is good advice. But precisely to the extent it is good advice, it speaks volumes … The number one thing that ensures a “way in” to this town/field is an internship- which are typically unpaid and […]

Tyler Cowen blogs about Nick Turse’s recent book on the US-Vietnam war, Kill Anything That Moves. I’ve been reading it too over the last couple of weeks during infrequent breaks, and have found it extraordinary and horrifying. Turse managed to get access to internal files generated by investigations into possible crimes committed by US troops […]

Since it’s timely, I’m republishing my modest proposal from last year, one half of which is meant in all seriousness: It’s not at all surprising that most US media have yawned at today’s news that a UN rapporteur has found that the US has treated Bradley Manning in a cruel and inhuman fashion. But it […]

The Financial Times has an editorial warning gravely that the European Union may overreact to the PRISM surveillance program revelations. If recent leaks about US internet surveillance spur Europe’s political leaders to press ahead with a proposed privacy directive, so much the better. That looks like one potential outcome from disclosures about the National Security […]

The news that Jenny McCarthy will become a co-host of TV discussion show The View is generating a lot of controversy – people worry that McCarthy will be able to spread her controversial (for which read: crazy) views on autism, vaccination and chelation therapy to a much wider audience. Some of the theories as to […]

This, from Megan McArdle: My assertion that there’s a 70% chance that the GOP controls White House, Senate, and House in 2017 has attracted a lot of pushback. And it’s certainly possible that I’m wrong! Here’s my thinking, for what it’s worth: Since the Civil War, only two Democratic presidents have been succeeded by another […]

Criminals have great difficulty in trusting each other – they often have conflicting interests (and may sometimes have incentives to inform on each other) but have no very good equivalent of the state to enforce contracts. One traditional solution is to rely on family members, who are presumably more trustworthy. But there are others – […]

This New York Times article about Edward Snowden implicitly highlights the perceived dilemmas of US cybersecurity policy. In 2010, while working for a National Security Agency contractor, Edward J. Snowden learned to be a hacker. He took a course that trains security professionals to think like hackers and understand their techniques, all with the intent […]

Local economic development theory argues that it’s usually a bad idea for cities to offer special incentives to try to attract businesses. These incentives weaken the fiscal position of the city, but often provide freebies for location decisions that the businesses would have taken anyway. So why do cities do it? In a new paper, […]

This bit in a New York Times about Angela Merkel’s election manifesto may seem a little strange to US observers. Addressing some 600 representatives of her Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union, on Monday, Ms. Merkel vowed that if returned to office, she would increase child subsidy, as well […]