Author Archives: Timothy B Lee

This morning I had a bit of an argument on Twitter with Ryan Avent about the future of self-driving cars. He thinks his infant daughter will never need to learn to drive because self-driving cars will be ready for prime … Continue reading →

Last week, Russ Roberts had libertarian tech policy scholar Tom Hazlett on his excellent EconTalk podcast to talk about the Google-vs-Apple battle in the mobile phone market, and the implications for open and closed platforms. One of my favorite things … Continue reading →

Reason.tv visits the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear: My favorite exchange: Woman: You don’t see reasonable people putting Hitler mustaches on peoples’ faces. Interviewer: So there were no people with “Bush is Hitler” signs like there are “Obama is … Continue reading →

While I’m lecturing people about disclosure, you can see my updated disclosure page here. The only major change is that my 2010-11 graduate work is being funded by Carl Malamud, who in turn is funded in part by Google. This … Continue reading →

In September 2005, I attended the 2005 State Policy Network annual convention in Charleston. SPN is a trade association of state-based free-market think tanks, and I was there as an employee of the recently-founded Show-Me Institute, Missouri’s free-market think tank. … Continue reading →

Earlier today, I tweeted that “voting by mail is a huge privacy and security risk, and states should be discouraging it a lot more.” This generated a number of confused responses, so I thought I’d elaborate a bit. When thinking … Continue reading →

“Development and socialization of the Implementation Plan with public and private sector stakeholders will leverage interagency processes and forums in place today to maintain momentum.” People actually write sentences like that. And they don’t seem to be doing it ironically.

With the rise of the Tea Party, it’s become fashionable for folks on the right to warn that the Obama administration’s policies are pushing us down the “road to serfdom.” Tea Party favorite Rand Paul, for example, warns that reckless … Continue reading →

In recent months, Matt Yglesias has had a series of excellent posts about the anti-competitive effects of regulations on barbers, dental hygienists, tour guides, and various other industries. And each post has been greeted by a chorus of condemnation from … Continue reading →

A few months ago, I began to notice that all the smart people I knew, including several readers of this blog, were recommending that I read James Scott’s Seeing Like a State. By happy coincidence, Cato’s monthly magazine, Cato Unbound … Continue reading →