Mark D. White

Writer, editor, teacher

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about

I’m a professor in the Department of Philosophy at the College of Staten Island/CUNY, where I teach courses in philosophy, economics, and law, and the author/editor/co-editor of several books.

Category: Policy

  • Dan Hausman on the limits of economics (in The New York Times)

    Mark D. White In today's installment of The Stone in The New York Times, Gary Gutting interviewed philosopher of economics Daniel Hausman about the role of economics in public policy and the media. Hausman usefully points out the limitations of economics in predicting the outcome of real-life crises (such as the current Greek crisis): Speaking…

  • Cost effectiveness is not the problem — government control of health care is.

    Mark D. White In today's "The Upshot" in The New York Times, economist Aaron E. Carroll bemoans the fact that health policymakers, regulators, and spokespeople are reluctant, and sometimes even forbidden, to discuss and make use of information regarding the cost effectiveness of particular treatments. The fear is that they will invoke the spectres of…

  • There Is Little Happiness to Be Found in Happiness-Based Policy

    Mark D. White Governments around the world are starting to measure happiness (or subjective well-being) with the goal of a more humane process of policymaking. According to supporters, happiness-based policy will focus governments’ attention on what really matters to their citizens, their essential well-being, better than economic measures such as gross domestic product or national…

  • The arbitrariness of well-being measures: family mealtimes and Facebook enrollment

    Mark D. White Last week I submitted the manuscript for a book that argues that all measures of well-being or happiness are arbitrary and reflect the judgments of those who designed them, rather than the interests of the people whose well-being is ostensibly measured. (A precis of sorts for the book appeared in this article,…

  • Another day, another article defending nudge (but missing the point)

    Mark D. White Recently it was David Brooks, today it's Peter Reiner writing at Slate, reporting that people are less opposed to nudges the more they align with their interests, and interpreting this as weakening the case for autonomy. Using the crowdsourcing website Mechanical Turk, we polled 2,775 people, asking them to what degree they…

  • David Brooks on libertarian paternalism and “nudge”

    Mark D. White In today's New York Times, David Brooks comments on libertarian paternalism in "The Nudge Debate." There is not a lot in his article that is surprising or unreasonable, but it does suffer from some vagueness and misunderstandings. For instance, Mr. Brooks conflates interventions of a paternalistic nature (such as nudging people into…

  • How to Stop “The Death of Economics”

    Mark D. White Recently, at The Weekly Standard, David M. Smick opined in a piece titled "The Death of Economics" on the decline of the field over the last 50 years, focusing on the last decade in particular and the increasing hubris among policy-oriented economists: For decades, hubris has been the common currency of the…

  • Response to Sarah Conly’s defense of paternalism in The New York Times

    Mark D. White At Psychology Today, I respond to the defense of paternalism offered this morning by Professor Sarah Conly (author of Against Autonomy) in her New York Times op-ed "Three Cheers for the Nanny State"—you can read my post here.

  • On Mark Bittman, the soda ban, and “making people think twice” about their decisions

    Mark D. White It is no surprise that The New York Times columnist Mark Bittman laments the judicial rejection of New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg's ban on large sodas. Unfortunately he resorts to slander when addressing its opponents: The argument that preventing us from buying 32 ounces of liquid candy in one container somehow…

  • State judge rejects Bloomberg’s ban on large sodas

    Mark D. White Earlier today, a state judge overturned New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg's ban on large sodas, citing their arbitary nature, copious loopholes, and uneven consequences. Of more significant concern are the ethical ramifications of such a ban, as I describe in The Manipulation of Choice–we can only hope that this played a role…