Signs and Wonders: One Nobel winner's conservatives ties

The company he keeps. When Eugene F. Fama won the Nobel Prize for economics on Oct. 14, the mainstream media discussed his research on the factors that determine the price of an asset, whether that asset is a stock, a bond, or a house. That work has helped to revolutionize the world of finance and played a huge role in the development of stock index funds. Most biographies of Fama, who has been called the “father of modern finance,” downplay his association with conservative ideas and groups. Fama is a member of the American Enterprise Institute’s (AEI) Council of Academic Advisers. The AEI is a conservative-leaning economic think tank. The council advises AEI President Arthur Brooks on the group’s research agenda, appointments, and publications. The council also selects the recipient of the annual Irving Kristol Award, AEI’s highest honor.

Now, that’s ironic. A study from the University of Texas-Arlington suggests that anti-bullying campaigns contribute to more bullying. “One possible reason for this is that the students who are victimizing their peers have learned the language from these anti-bullying campaigns and programs,” researcher Seokjin Jeong, said in a statement. To add to the irony: UT-Arlington was the site of the first ever White House LGBT Conference on Safe Schools and Communities, featuring Eric Holder and Valerie Jarrett. Once again, a government program gets involved where it has no business and proves the law of unintended consequences.

Campaigning? I was in New Orleans last weekend for a meeting of conservative activists and heard Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal give an interesting, funny, and thoughtful speech. The day before that speech, on Oct. 17, he announced the formation of “America First,” an organization that he hopes will transform the Republican Party from being “the party of NO” into one that provides conservative solutions to big problems such as energy, the economy, health care, and education. He’s still pretty coy about his intentions for 2016, but he sure looks like a guy running for president to me.

The shutdown continues. Not the government shutdown, but the shutdown of abortion facilities. Consider a recent story from the Columbus Dispatch: “With the closure of one abortion clinic and two more on the brink of shutting down, Ohio women will have fewer places to terminate pregnancies than perhaps any time since the immediate years after the Roe v. Wade ruling in 1973.” According to the Family Research Council, “since 2011, 58 of America’s abortion clinics—almost one in 10—have either pulled the plug on their abortion services or folded altogether.”