Said and Done | In the Media | December 2017
 

A section of Said and Done
Full December 2017 Edition

ECONOMICS
Tax bill favors adding robots over workers, critics say | Daron Acemoglu
“When you subsidize heavily the adoption of machines instead of people," says MIT economist Acemoglu, then you're putting your thumb on the scale against workers.
Story at NPR

ECONOMICS
Taxes are hard | Jonathan Gruber
“People are being bribed by the government [through the mortgage interest deduction] to buy exceptionally big homes,” says MIT economist Gruber. “The mortgage deduction has a precisely estimated zero effect on homeownership.”
Story at The Washington Post

ECONOMICS
Homebuying doesn’t hinge on the mortgage tax break | Jonathan Gruber
Gruber, MIT economics professor, opposes the GOP tax plan because it adds to the deficit at the benefit of the wealthy, but that the mortgage-interest deduction isn’t something that should be saved.
Story at Bloomberg

ECONOMICS
U.S. tax plan emboldens stock bulls while economists fret | David Autor
MIT economist Autor explains that “tax rates hardly seem to matter at the margin for economic growth in advanced countries with reasonable tax systems.”
Story at Bloomberg
 

David Autor, Ford Professor of Economics

POLITICAL SCIENCE
Threat From North Korea No Longer Hypothetical | Vipin Narang
“We now have to assume the entire continental U.S. is within range of the North Korean Hwasong-14,” Vipin Narang, associate professor in political science.
Story at Huffington Post
 

More stories featuring analysis from Vipin Narang
Analysis: N. Korea May Declare 'Victory,' Turn to Economy | New York Times
North Korea: What we know about the new missile | BBC News
North Korea is a nuclear state. But can the U.S. accept that? | Washington Post

POLITICAL SCIENCE
Trump Promises New Sanctions After North Korea's Latest Missile Test | Jim Walsh
Walsh, Senior Research Associate at MIT's Security Studies Program, talks to WBUR's Here & Now about North Korea's latest missile test.
Listen at WBUR


POLITICAL SCIENCE
Mugabe hangs tough, but Zimbabwe’s army is tightening the noose
“There are plenty of self-interested military officers,” says Philip Martin, PhD candidate in political science, “who … didn’t want to see someone like Grace Mugabe take power who might cut them out of those economic opportunities.”
Story at Daily Beast

PHILOSOPHY
The consolations of philosophy for the middle-aged | Kieran Setiya
“Even if it does not cure every midlife crisis, Setiya's book may change preconceptions about the dryness of philosophy. It will make readers think and smile, which is not a bad therapy in itself.”
Story at The Economist
 

A section of Said and Done
Full December 2017 Edition