The State of Neuroeconomics

An assessment of a new, promising field.  (HT to MR).

The Latest from Team Romney

Here.

Tax Expenditure Fact of the Day

The NY Times reports:

[T]he people who tend to derive the greatest dollar benefit from the mortgage interest deduction are households earning $100,000 to $500,000 a year.  

“About two-thirds of the total benefit go to that group in the 80th through the 99th income percentiles,” Mr. Rosenberg said.  

For those households, by the center’s calculations, the tax benefit of the deduction amounts to about 1.5 percent of after-tax income. By way of comparison, the value to households earning $40,000 to $50,000 is closer to 0.3 percent of after-tax income; for households earning $50,000 and $75,000, it is 0.7 percent.

These numbers compare the status quo to a system without any mortgage deduction at all.  If instead we lowered the size of the mortgage eligible for this deduction from the current $1 million to, say, $250,000, the base broadening would have an even smaller effect on middle-income housholds.

Al Smith Dinner Talks

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Anything In Return listening events announced in NY & SF

This November, Toro Y Moi will team up with Red Bull Music Academy to give fans the opportunity to hear his upcoming third album, Anything In Return, more than two months in advance of release through a unique experience in select cities. Red Bull Music Academy will be presenting the events with Toro Y Moi that will take place at Project Parlor in Brooklyn Nov. 9-11 and Public Works in San Francisco Nov. 16-18. At each gallery, 13 original drawings from Chaz Bundick will be on display, each paired with a corresponding song from the album that fans can listen to via Incase headphones. These events, conceived by Bundick himself, will be free and open to the public.

Anything In Return listening events:

11-02−11/04 - Brooklyn, NY - Project Parlor #
11-16−11/18 - San Francisco, CA - Public Works #

Toro y Moi's third LP, Anything In Return is due on Carpark Jauary 22nd.

Stream: Toro y Moi - "So Many Details"

The Effects of Government Debt on Growth

An analysis from Stanford's Michael Boskin.

Harvard Conservatives

No, it is not an oxymoron, but a new blog.