Author Archives: Brian Wolfman

Is the LSAT Administered in Violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act?

Yes, according to the U.S. Department of Justice and the California Fair Employment Department. They have sued the Law School Admission Council claiming that it has violated the Americans Disabilities Act in administering the Law School Admissions Test. Karen Sloane explains here. Here's an excerpt: A 29-year-old congressional aide claims his dyslexia impairs his ability […]

Tax Policy And Kids’ Learning Abilities

A new empirical economic study (go here and here) by Alexander Gelber and Matthew Weinzierl says that some tax policies that put more money in the pocket of low-income U.S. parents are associated positively with their children's academic abilities. This study comes at an interesting time given the recent debate about whether there should be […]

Morgan Stanley Sued Over Racially Discriminatory Home Lending Policies in Detroit

As described in this article by Emily Badger: In the years leading up to the housing crash, public data suggest that black would-be homeowners in Detroit were 70 percent more likely than white borrowers to receive a risky subprime loan from the now-defunct lender New Century Mortgage Company. This is the central statistic embedded in […]

Posner on Wealth, Luck, and Taxing the Rich

Read about it here. Check out this excerpt: The economic significance of the disagreement [between conservatives and liberals about the role of luck in financial success] has mainly to do with taxation. Taxing success that is attributable to pure luck does not have disincentive effects, and so is a cheap away of financing government. Taxing […]

The Constitutionality of the Contraception Coverage Mandate in the Affordable Care Act

The contraception coverage mandate in the Affordable Care Act is important to many consumers. Some of the mandate's opponents claim that it violates the First Amendment's Religion Clauses. This article by Brigham Young University law professor Frederick Gedicks concludes that the mandate is constitutional.

Does Taxing Unhealthy (In This Case, Fatty) Foods Improve Health?

This short piece in the British Medical Journal, focusing on a fatty-food tax in Denmark, says that the evidence is equivocal. One problem is that consumers may respond to a fatty-food tax by substituting cheaper (but still fatty) foods for more expensive fatty foods. Another problem, believe it or not, is that consumers may buy […]