Laura Williams

The Global Market Miracle of the 99-Cent Pineapple 0
- Politics, Economics
- April 28, 2023
A few times a year, my local grocery store advertises whole, fresh pineapples for 99 cents. Yours probably does, too. Every time I see it, I can’t help but wonder at the progress of humanity. Pineapple isn’t new. It was first cultivated by the Maya and Aztec peoples in South and Central America, millenia ago.
READ MORE
Goodhart’s Law Explains Education Decay 0
- Politics, Education
- January 11, 2023
Everywhere in education, you see incentives at work. The incentives, though, are so far removed from the actual goals of education that they produce perverse results. Goodhart’s Law is usually stated, “When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.” Economics textbooks often use the allegory of a maker of nails,
READ MORE

Ninety-Three Vermont Towns Have No Public Schools, But Great Education. How Do They Do It?0
- January 31, 2020
In just a couple of weeks, 50 boys with learning disabilities will take to a stage in Vermont, one after the other, to recite the Gettysburg Address from memory. It’s a daring experiment undertaken each February at the Greenwood School and its population of boys who’ve struggled in public schools. Diagnosed with ADD, dyslexia, and
READ MORE
The Appalling Elitism of Dollar Store Bans 0
- Culture
- January 24, 2020
Should city governments dictate where you can shop for food? If your neighbors see a need for a store, and happily patronize it, should outsiders shut down that option? These are the battle lines of the emerging movement against dollar stores. Tulsa, Oklahoma, Mesquite, Texas, Dekalb County, Georgia, New Orleans, Louisiana, and other municipalities nationwide
READ MORE