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I don't have enough familiarity with this sort of research to evaluate it quickly, but I was a little curious about the authors' backgrounds: > Stan J. Liebowi

I don't have enough familiarity with this sort of research to evaluate it quickly, but I was a little curious about the authors' backgrounds: > Stan J. Liebowitz is the Ashbel Smith Professor of Economics at the Colloquium for the Advancement of Free Enterprise Education in the Jindal School of Management at the University of Texas at Dallas. > Matthew L. Kelly is a research fellow at the Colloquium for the Advancement of Free Enterprise Education in the Jindal School of Management at the University of Texas at Dallas. Here's another piece by them on net neutrality: https://www.insidesources.com/state-governments-drop-net-neutrality/ https://www.insidesources.com/state-governments-drop-net-neu... Here's the site for the "Colloquium for the Advancement of Free Enterprise Education": https://jindal.utdallas.edu/centers-of-excellence/capri/cafe/ https://jindal.utdallas.edu/centers-of-excellence/capri/cafe... Here's a press release about the founding of this entity, which includes some information on where the funding for it comes from: https://jindal.utdallas.edu/news/new-program-at-the-jindal-school-advances-freeenterprise-education https://jindal.utdallas.edu/news/new-program-at-the-jindal-s...

analog31 8y ago
"You tell me whar a man gits his corn pone, en I'll tell you what his 'pinions is." -- Mark Twain http://www.paulgraham.com/cornpone.html http://www.paulgraham.com/cornpone.html
- glup 8y ago
  Here's the some specifics on this particular corn pone: Reason Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization supported by donations and sale of its publications.[15] Its largest donors are the David H. Koch Charitable Foundation ($1,522,212) and the Sarah Scaife Foundation ($2,016,000), according to disclosures.[16] Other major donors are Donors Trust and Donors Capitol Fund, which in turn do not reveal their donors.[17] The Reason Foundation is part of the libertarian Atlas Network,[17][18], the State Policy Network and ALEC.[17] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reason_(magazine) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reason_(magazine) Gotta hand it to them, pretty brilliant to call anti-regulatory extremism, antipathy to public institutions, and outright rejection of structural inequality "reason." Guess I am unreasonable.
  - Fins 8y ago
    One could also try to, you know, read what they publish rather than scaremongering about the Evil Kocv Brothers. Not that anyone so far managed to point at anything particularly nefarious that Kochs do, other than them being rich and active.
    - analog31 8y ago
      Was anything nefarious suggested?
      - Fins 8y ago
        The final sentence in the GP seems to strongly suggest so.
        analog31 8y ago
        For all I know, the Koch brothers may identify with those things in a straightforward way.
        Fins 8y ago
        They might. Or might not. I think the question here is whether the Reason Foundation identifies with them.
    - jeieo3949 8y ago
      Does it need to be rehashed every time their name is invoked? If one speaks of THE Adolf Hitler, does it demand a replay of the historical record?
      - Fins 8y ago
        Are you comparing Kochs with Hitler? Seriously? That's a good way to godwin any discussion, but does not bring anything meaningful to the table.
    - 8y ago
philipodonnell 8y ago
From the press release: > a local donor — a UT Dallas graduate who wishes to remain anonymous From the article: > This is starkly illustrated by comparing Texas and Iowa. According to U.S. News and World Report, Texas, which ranks 33rd, is far surpassed in educational quality by Iowa, which ranks eighth. and later: > Think about that: White students do better in Texas than in Iowa. Black students do better in Texas. Hispanic students do better in Texas. Asian students do better in Texas. Given these facts, it is absurd for U.S. News to rank Iowa higher than Texas in terms of educational performance. So... an alumni from the University of Texas was so angry that Iowa was ranked above them in education they partnered up with the Koch brothers to fund an $840K institute at UT Dallas that would publish a study with an alternate way of doing the rankings that would put Texas above Iowa? That's some next-level rivalry right there.
nickthemagicman 8y ago
Terrifying. Thanks for pointing this out.
amadeuspagel 8y ago
I don't have enough familiarity with this sort of research to evaluate it quickly either, but the fact that an ad hominem is the top comment, that no one on HN found any serious criticism is enough for me.
- abathur 8y ago
  I think this is either an over-reaction or a bit disgenuine. I was careful not to suggest (and certainly not argue) their research be dismissed for any ad-hominem reason. The fact that they are members of some brand-new academic* unit that claims to be "for the Advancement of Free Enterprise Education" suggests that there's some non-zero chance they knew the conclusion about public spending on education before they started. I raised a small set of facts without making any claim/appeal/accusation of anything sensational or conspiratorial. If researchers at the Colloquium for the Advancement of Drink Your Damn Milk publish a study concluding you should drink your damn milk, it's reasonable to weight their conclusions accordingly until you see how others with more domain knowledge assess them.

analog31 8y ago

"You tell me whar a man gits his corn pone, en I'll tell you what his 'pinions is." -- Mark Twain http://www.paulgraham.com/cornpone.html http://www.paulgraham.com/cornpone.html

glup 8y ago
Here's the some specifics on this particular corn pone: Reason Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization supported by donations and sale of its publications.[15] Its largest donors are the David H. Koch Charitable Foundation ($1,522,212) and the Sarah Scaife Foundation ($2,016,000), according to disclosures.[16] Other major donors are Donors Trust and Donors Capitol Fund, which in turn do not reveal their donors.[17] The Reason Foundation is part of the libertarian Atlas Network,[17][18], the State Policy Network and ALEC.[17] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reason_(magazine) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reason_(magazine) Gotta hand it to them, pretty brilliant to call anti-regulatory extremism, antipathy to public institutions, and outright rejection of structural inequality "reason." Guess I am unreasonable.
- Fins 8y ago
  One could also try to, you know, read what they publish rather than scaremongering about the Evil Kocv Brothers. Not that anyone so far managed to point at anything particularly nefarious that Kochs do, other than them being rich and active.
  - analog31 8y ago
    Was anything nefarious suggested?
    - Fins 8y ago
      The final sentence in the GP seems to strongly suggest so.
      - analog31 8y ago
        For all I know, the Koch brothers may identify with those things in a straightforward way.
        Fins 8y ago
        They might. Or might not. I think the question here is whether the Reason Foundation identifies with them.
  - jeieo3949 8y ago
    Does it need to be rehashed every time their name is invoked? If one speaks of THE Adolf Hitler, does it demand a replay of the historical record?
    - Fins 8y ago
      Are you comparing Kochs with Hitler? Seriously? That's a good way to godwin any discussion, but does not bring anything meaningful to the table.
  - 8y ago

philipodonnell 8y ago

From the press release: > a local donor — a UT Dallas graduate who wishes to remain anonymous From the article: > This is starkly illustrated by comparing Texas and Iowa. According to U.S. News and World Report, Texas, which ranks 33rd, is far surpassed in educational quality by Iowa, which ranks eighth. and later: > Think about that: White students do better in Texas than in Iowa. Black students do better in Texas. Hispanic students do better in Texas. Asian students do better in Texas. Given these facts, it is absurd for U.S. News to rank Iowa higher than Texas in terms of educational performance. So... an alumni from the University of Texas was so angry that Iowa was ranked above them in education they partnered up with the Koch brothers to fund an $840K institute at UT Dallas that would publish a study with an alternate way of doing the rankings that would put Texas above Iowa? That's some next-level rivalry right there.

nickthemagicman 8y ago

Terrifying. Thanks for pointing this out.

amadeuspagel 8y ago

I don't have enough familiarity with this sort of research to evaluate it quickly either, but the fact that an ad hominem is the top comment, that no one on HN found any serious criticism is enough for me.

abathur 8y ago
I think this is either an over-reaction or a bit disgenuine. I was careful not to suggest (and certainly not argue) their research be dismissed for any ad-hominem reason. The fact that they are members of some brand-new academic* unit that claims to be "for the Advancement of Free Enterprise Education" suggests that there's some non-zero chance they knew the conclusion about public spending on education before they started. I raised a small set of facts without making any claim/appeal/accusation of anything sensational or conspiratorial. If researchers at the Colloquium for the Advancement of Drink Your Damn Milk publish a study concluding you should drink your damn milk, it's reasonable to weight their conclusions accordingly until you see how others with more domain knowledge assess them.