The science fiction world has a lot of people doing seriously imaginative thinking.

Republican candidates had to appeal to their base, which is by and large elderly white people arguing with empty chairs.

I believe that the only important structural obstacles to world prosperity are the obsolete doctrines that clutter the minds of men.

I believe in a relatively equal society, supported by institutions that limit extremes of wealth and poverty. I believe in democracy, civil liberties, and the rule of law. That makes me a liberal, and I’m proud of it.

There has been plenty to criticize about President Obama’s handling of the economy. Yet the overriding story of the past few years is not Mr. Obama’s mistakes but the scorched-earth opposition of Republicans, who have done everything they can to get in his way - and who now, having blocked the president’s policies, hope to win the White House by claiming that his policies have failed.

The habit of disguising ideology as expertise has created a deficit of legitimacy.

Generous unemployment benefits can increase both structural and frictional unemployment. So government policies intended to help workers can have the undesirable side effect of raising the natural rate of unemployment.