A Decent Start

The new Becker-Posner blog promises to give us an essay or two each Monday, after which we can comment away for the rest of the week. We'll see how long this can last.

The first pair of short pieces are on preventive war. Nothing earthshattering. Both Becker and Posner see it as acceptable, even wise, under the proper circumstances. Just as predictably, whenever Posner is introduced to a new audience, and pushes his economic analysis (as simplified as it is on a blog) in their faces, they mostly respond in the negative.

As I write this, Posner's mini-essay has attracted 112 comments and Becker's 41. (This may be because Posner's piece is the more recent, or it may be because he's better known than the Nobel Prize-winning Becker.) Color me envious.