Here’s a fact that astounds many of my friends: the average person in 1800 was not materially better off than his counterpart 10,000 years earlier. Prior to about 1776, wellbeing measured by food, clothing, shelter, and heat varied across societies, but was generally miserable. Last April, Yale Press published historian Emily Cockayne’s Hubbub: Filth, Noise, […]

Title IX of a law passed in 1972 bans discrimination on the basis of sex in schools receiving federal funds. It has received wide attention when applied to college sports for it mandates equality of treatment and numbers in arenas long dominated by males. Positive reforms, however, often have negative implications, some serious. When the […]

I occasionally meet truly remarkable individuals. Sometimes, I have the good fortune to work with them. Rarely is it over decades. When such folks pass on, America is a lesser place. Such a loss occurred when Myron Vinger died April 12. He was a top hand, a real mensch, a good friend, and a patriotic […]

Thirty years ago a few colleagues and I created an environmental policy institute at MSU. With the support of several foundations, we brought academics, business leaders, environmental professionals, and journalists to Bozeman. Some stayed for a week or more. I am pleased that so many commented on the friendliness and courtesy they experienced in our […]