Jim Manzi on the Stimulus and Epistemic Humility

I take great pleasure in reading Jim Manzi engage with his critics. When you compare Jim’s writing to that of his interlocutors, you soon realize that he is taking part in a very different kind of intellectual exercise. My impression is that Jim is less interested in political combat than in getting the questions and, to the extent possible the answers, right.

In his latest post at TNR, Jim also links to his thoughts on fiscal stimulus from February of last year, which I enthusiastically endorse. Briefly, Jim endorsed Alice Rivlin’s call for a targeted stimulus effort that leave long-term public investment to a separate bill; he called for off-setting entitlement reforms and cuts in military commitments and expenditures; a deregulation effort focused on enhancing economy-wide productivity; and, most interestingly, a very tough program of conditional transfers to state governments…

For more, see the original article at National Review.