I have the RSS feed for Cato-Unbound on my homepage, and I occasionally read it, but the authors are often too long-winded for me to bear singularly – putting 3 or 4 reaction essays together makes it a chore. That said, there’s been a discussion there this week about the concept of coercion, as introduced by Daniel Klein. I’m reading Ed Glaeser’s response, Coercive Regulation and the Balance of Freedom. At first glance, it didn’t seem all that bad, just a little unsettling. Then I read it again. There are several instances in the first two or three paragraphs where he demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of the concept, which I think Klein introduced well-enough. Take the following examples, three: I am also in favor of limits on … Read entire article »