July/August Magazine Contents
Up one levelRevenge of the Frosh-Seeking Robots
The smartest college kids are rushing to major in economics. NICK SCHULZ shows how Microsoft is trying to lure them back to computer science.
The Principled Entrepreneur
With a little help from Hayek, Mises, and Maslow, the CEO of America’s largest private company, Charles Koch, spreads the gospel of ‘market-based management.’
Blissfully Uneducated
Colleges lost their way in the 1960s, contends VICTOR DAVIS HANSON, a classics professor. Students now get a ‘therapeutic curriculum’ instead of learning hard facts and inductive inquiry. The result: we can’t answer the questions of our time.
Absolut Capitalism
The Swedes are selling off the most famous government-owned business in the world—the vodka that created a marketing revolution. And you thought they were socialists.
‘The Best Place in the World’
It’s summer camp, a phenomenon invented by a Prussian and now quintessentially American. AMITY SHLAES remembers Camp Martin Johnson and has the scar to prove it.
The Human Factor
Drug abuse causes hundreds of billions of dollars in economic losses and untold personal heartache. How to limit the damage? SALLY SATEL suggests we start by ditching the ‘brain disease’ model that’s popular with scientists and focus on treating addicts as people with the power to reshape their own lives. Despite its own prejudices, an HBO series transmits just this message of responsibility and optimism.
No Hesitations
A child of violence and poverty, ROLAND FRYER of Harvard goes where other economists fear to tread.
Abolish the SAT
The SAT got him into Harvard from a small Iowa town. But now, CHARLES MURRAY wants to abolish the test. It’s unnecessary and, worse, a negative force in American life.
Biz Ed
What's the best way for businesses to help fix education? Stop backing a system that doesn't work, smash the regulations, and support the entrepreneurs who will shake things up.
Question & Answer: The Truth About America's Schools
Is K–12 education really lagging badly, or have we ‘raised our sights’? DIANE RAVITCH answers the tough questions.
America’s Opera Boom
The U.S. now has 125 opera companies. That’s more than Germany or Italy, and roughly as many Americans attend live opera performances as attend NFL football games. JONATHAN LEAF examines a surprising phenomenon—beyond the Met.
The Sushi Economy
The journey of bluefin tuna from the waters of the Atlantic to the sushi bars of Tokyo in just a few days is a marvel of globalization, writes SASHA ISSENBERG. It’s a tale of taste, technology, and the power of markets.
Make Way for Japan
All eyes have focused on China lately, but Japan’s economy is nearly twice as large. More important, the ‘lost years’ of economic stagnation are over. Japan is back, and Japan is different. ROWAN CALLICK looks at why Japan changed, its new reform spirit in economics and politics, and its relations with the U.S. and with its obsession, China.