Tom Ricks and the Right Metrics

I like Tom Ricks' blog, the Best Defense, even though I'm a natural-born civilian whose military career is 42+ years in the past.  He's included some discussion on various metrics useful in war (no, body count which was used in Vietnam is not useful), including stuff from Mr. Kilcullen which seems perceptive.

But this post focuses on how metrics should be used.  I think some of the observations would work for metrics used to measure bureaucracies.  I believe James Q Wilson observed that government bureaucracies often occur because their outputs aren't measurable; the idea being that if the output is measurable it could be sold in a market.  That's one reason why the various proposals for paying bureaucrats for performance are difficult.  It's also why it can be hard to motivate a bureaucrat. Job satisfaction comes from feeling you're accomplishing something, that you can see the results.

Dutch Dairymen and the Move to the US

  The Wall Street Journal has an article on the process by which Dutch dairymen have moved to the US and the problems some have faced. (Sounds like a combination of the boom, over enthusiasm, and some hype from an early mover, not that the farmers described represent all Dutch dairymen who've moved.

Hat tip: Farm Policy

Easy Data Collection

Megan McArdle alerted me first to the possibility, then there was a more elaborate post here.

What's the possibility?  Using a Google Docs spreadsheet/form combo to capture data.  In McArdle's case, she's using it to capture the name and addresses for her wedding invitees.  As a bureaucrat, I can't help but remember a number of occasions when I would have liked an ad-hoc report from state offices.  But trying to get Kansas City to gin up a short report was difficult.  Granted, in many cases the data I wanted was sitting in the county files and could be extracted by using Query/36 and uploaded, but there were some cases where asking the office to data load something would have been helpful.

Now, thanks to Google, it's available.  Or, to be realistic, it would be except undoubtedly the FSA hierarchy will put some limits and restrictions on using Google, like: "Do not ever use it."

"So Yesterday"?

Post has an opinion piece entitled: The Case Against Banning the Word "Retard".  It's a good discussion of changing terminology, "word fetishes", etc. But this struck me:

"The Ad Council and the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network have developed a Web site, ThinkB4YouSpeak.com, that, much like R-Word.org, encourages the public to sign a pledge to cease using the phrase. (The slogan: "Saying that's so gay is so yesterday."):"

As a man of yesterday (or even the day before), I protest this term as unfair.  It stereotypes people of a certain age as out of it and no longer a full participant in society; it establishes a hierarchy of those who are with it and those who are not; it demeans those who feel affection for the norms of yesteryear.

A Return to Supply Management

Actually not a return for dairy, because dairy has never had a mandatory supply management program, but a return for agriculture generally, because tobacco and peanuts did have such programs. There seems to be some support for instituting one, based on this Agweb post:

Maddox supports the Holstein association’s proposed supply management plan, known as the Dairy Price Stabilization Program. The plan calls for a national, mandatory program that sets a base for milk production and assesses producers a fee if they exceed it.

I don't recall, but I think other countries have had such plans.  And it might be bureaucratically possible.  The key to supply management is to have complete reports of product flow from the farm to the next step, such as the tobacco warehouse. Is it likely?  It would need legislation. And my gut answer is: "no", but we'll see.

ERS Food Environment Atlas

ERS has an interactive map here.  (Warning, I had a problem with Firefox 3.5.3, but not with Chrome or Firefox 3.6. And you may have to "reset the map")  It displays state level, and some county-level data, on various parameters relating to food: availability of supermarkets, availability of fast food, demographics, consumption per capita of various kinds of food, etc. etc.

I think I owe a hat tip to Obamafoodorama.

So Long Myer-Emco

The Post reported today that Myer-Emco, a high-end audio-video chain, is going out of business:

The death of MyerEmco can also be blamed on changing consumer behavior. In the past, specialty stores such as MyerEmco could charge more than big-box rivals, such as Best Buy, because they employed highly trained sales-and-service staff who were knowledgeable about the products they sold.

But with the proliferation of product information on the Internet, consumers are far less likely to walk into a bricks-and-mortar store and spend time speaking to an expert about a premium audio receiver than they once were. Consumers can learn about the receiver by consulting online experts and reading customer reviews. Then, they shop online for the cheapest price on the product, altogether bypassing specialist retailers. And even if prices at a specialist retailer were comparable to Big Box and online sellers -- as they were at MyerEmco in recent years -- the smaller stores carried a reputation for higher prices, and that perception has proved difficult to change.

The logic works for me.  But isn't this just a small example of a change in how information is handled in the economy? There's probably lots of instances where someone who used to know something others didn't has lost that edge.  I'm thinking of pharmacists, whose patients can now look up illnesses on the Internet; government operatives who deal face to face with customers, repairmen, etc.

Reid and Lincoln

For a while yesterday there was a bipartisan compromise jobs bill.  Then Sen. Reid decided to split the bill, bringing the jobs portion up for a vote earlier and delaying the rest until later.  This has the effect of screwing Sen. Lincoln, who's in trouble in her home state of Arkansas and who has been pushing for a disaster program for her farmers, who were too cheap to spring for the full deal on crop insurance.  Why?  Because her disaster program was in the big bipartisan package, but not in the trimmed down version.  See Chris Clayton and Lincoln's site.

Of course, including her package is the sort of logrolling which has earned some opprobrium recently, so Reid can claim to be adhering to good government principles and worrying about the deficit.

The Greater Value of Females

From an Extension post on the economics of sexed semen:

"Where bull calves may be worth only $50, heifer calves may be worth $450"

A Reason To Be Politically Incorrect

Dirk Beauregarde passes on an article about burqa-wearing robbers. (They held up a post office, not a bank.)