Academic

Weekend Links

By Kim Krawiec

In this iTunes podcast, Dan Ariely (of Predictably Irrational fame) interviews Duke law prof Barak Richman about Richman?s current research on insurance coverage of outpatient mental health services.

John Yoo and Academic Freedom:
Berkeley law dean Chris Edley at Balkinization, and
Room for Debate, featuring Brian Leiter, University of Chicago Law School; Kathleen Clark, Washington University School of Law; Cary Nelson, American Association of University Professors; Carlos Villareal, National Lawyers Guild; and Brad Wendel, Cornell University Law School.  (HT:  Brian Leiter)

Felix Salmon sets off a debate on the economics of Tattoos:

Felix Salmon: ?Businesses with tattooed employees are signalling to me that they have better service, and as a result I?m more likely to try them out.?

Economist.com: "The persistence of social conventions in hiring suggests that most people don't tend to see things the way Mr Salmon does, but rather take outward signs at face value. Most jobseekers do dress up for interviews. Most young people seeking professional work do not get large, visible tattoos.?

Henry, at Crooked Timber: On Diego Gambetta?s, Codes of the Underworld: How Criminals Communicate, which ?argues that criminals often cover themselves with tattoos precisely because they ruin the criminals? prospects to go straight; they allow the criminals to signal ?that defection would be not so much unprofitable as impossible.??

The New York Times on drugs and older athletes (Not ?older? like a 16-year old gymnast.  Older, as in the 400-meter, 90-95 year old Masters group).  Other recent Lounge posts on cheating, doping, and technology issues in sports are here, here, and here.

Depression-era headlines from the Joliet, Illinois paper, prematurely (really prematurely) predicting economic recovery.  Examples include:

June 20, 1930: Business Ill But Recovery Is Under Way

October 26, 1930: Recovery From Depression Is Seen for U.S.

March 2, 1931: Business On Mend, Hoover Survey Shows

(HT: Paul Kedrosky)

Prior Lounge coverage of depression-era news headlines is here and here.

Tom Bell at MoneyLaw on How Top-Ranked Law Schools Got That Way.

Concurring Opinions to provide a forum for book reviews:

We will accept submissions from our readers ? law professors, lawyers, law students, and academics in other fields are welcome to submit reviews.  The reviews we envision would be approximately the length of a New York Times book review ? somewhere between 500 to 2000 words.

Also at Co Op, Michael Kang revisits Moneyball, here and here.

And Patrick O'Donnell at Ratio Juris on the meaning(s) of ad hominem.

Full post as published by The Faculty Lounge on August 22, 2009 (boomark / email).