Dave, this was a great read. The concrete (and, extrapolating, Kafka-esque) outcomes that can result from a simple, reasonable-seeming accounting choice are wild. Drawing attention to it feels impactful—I’d love to read more approachable, counter-intuitive insights like this from your experience.
As a fellow Matt Levine enthusiast - love the concept and the piece itself walking step by step through a behind-the-scenes complex system. Very interesting way to attract more folks to the work itself too, perhaps? (I find that the more it's clear *exactly* how something works, and how it went wrong, the easier it is to get excited about ways to how to help.)
Dave, this was a great read. The concrete (and, extrapolating, Kafka-esque) outcomes that can result from a simple, reasonable-seeming accounting choice are wild. Drawing attention to it feels impactful—I’d love to read more approachable, counter-intuitive insights like this from your experience.
There's a recent congressional report on how to calculate a discount rate for Army Core of Engineers water projects that fits this bill: https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R44594
And the Boskin Commission in 1996 altered the CPI inflation rate formula in a way so as to cut the exact amount of money from the budget they were tasked with: https://slate.com/technology/2013/02/should-algebra-be-in-curriculum-why-math-protects-us-from-the-unscrupulous.html#:~:text=In%201996%2C%20five,exactly%20that%20amount!
Thanks Ian! This validation puts a bit of fuel in my tank. More to come.
I have a paper about SNAP and gig work coming out in AJPH soon, FWIW.
As a fellow Matt Levine enthusiast - love the concept and the piece itself walking step by step through a behind-the-scenes complex system. Very interesting way to attract more folks to the work itself too, perhaps? (I find that the more it's clear *exactly* how something works, and how it went wrong, the easier it is to get excited about ways to how to help.)