The Illogic of Debt Ceiling Politics

One interesting sentence:

If the government is (a) required by the deficit legislation to spend,
and (b) precluded by the debt legislation from borrowing, the Treasury
would be forced into default.

From James Hamilton. There is more; all of it is good.

A Couple of Links about Children

Steven Landsburg's Big Answer about preferences for boy children and the proportion of boys and girls. (The Big Questions)
A game theoretic solution to child punishment. (Freakonomics)

Some Links on Trade, Immigration, and Income Distribution

(Unlike immigrants) will robots permanently drive down real wages? I agree that immigrants will not necessarily drive down wages, but am skeptical as to whether robots will. (Modeled Behavior)
Increasing opposition to immigration - is it inversely correlated with the actual immigrant population? (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
Baby steps to promote free trade in 2011. (WSJ)
Are the poor worse off when the rich are better off? Not always. (Economist)
Could you be richer if you really wanted to be and if so what does that do to income distribution at the macro level? (Gelman)
Giving back the Bush tax cuts for jobs and fairness (Freakonomics)