Table of Contents: May/June 2007
Volume One, Number Four
Departments
From the Editor
Editor-in-Chief James K. Glassman introduces this month's issue of The American.
The American Scene
Paris Hilton, Shaquille O'Neal, and other overpaid stars; poorer countries like bigger business; plus doughnuts, Dorganism, and more.
The Young Economist
Justin Wolfers of Wharton, expert in prediction markets, searches for a bettor world.
By Caren Chesler
Interview
DataPoints
Fact and opinion on energy and the environment.
By Karlyn Bowman
Geopolitics
The costs, economic and otherwise, of staying in Iraq are terrible. The costs of leaving are much worse.
By Victor Davis Hanson
Techno-Ideas
Greener than wind or solar, geothermal energy gets little attention. A remedy.
By Nick Schulz
Q&A
The truth about the “energy independence” hoax.
By Steven Hayward
Futurology
The future of business, as seen by Bruce McCall.
Features
The Upside of Income Inequality
The widening income gap reflects the rising payoff to higher education. Overall, that’s healthy and beneficial, conclude a Nobel Prize winner and his colleague.
By Gary S. Becker and Kevin M. Murphy
All the Coal in China
Cheap and abundant, but also dirty and dangerous, the coal that powers China’s economy may be the world’s biggest environmental problem. How to set it right.
By Rowan Callick
Looking for Mister Micro
Everyone, right and left, loves microcredit, tiny loans to entrepreneurs in developing nations. Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh and his Grameen Bank even won the Nobel Peace Prize last year. But is it all a scam?
By Tom Bethell
Down with Corporate Democracy
Corporations should not operate as democracies, but maybe union pension plans should.
By Peter Wallison
Biofuels Bubble?
Venture capitalists in Silicon Valley and Cambridge are pouring cash into biofuels, such as ethanol made from corn and rougher stuff like switch¬grass. But if oil prices drop and political subsidies disappear, will the bubble collapse?
By Laura Vanderkam
A Dirty Myth
America’s air is cleaner and healthier than ever. So why doesn’t the public think so? Blame the media, regulators, and many scientists.
By Joel Schwartz
It’s a Sheep, It’s Super-Wool!
The cloth that goes into men’s suits keeps getting finer and softer. But are the clothes really better?
By Nicholas Antongiavanni
Economic Freedom, Political Freedom
You can have the first without the second. In fact, politically unfree countries are growing faster than politically free ones. There’s a reason.
By Kevin Hassett
COVER STORY
Club Dread
For the growing ranks of white-collar criminals, short, comfortable prison terms at Club Fed are a thing of the past. Listen to the chilling story of Prisoner No. 20532-050, who spent five years in Allenwood and Lewisburg.
By Luke Mullins
Water, Water Everywhere
But often, most of it is the wrong kind, in the wrong place. How to allocate scarce water? Heed Australia, which is suffering the worst drought in 1,000 years.
By Roger Bate
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