In This Issue: Welcome to the January 2008 issue of Econ Journal Watch. EJW is a triannual peer-reviewed journal for scholarly commentary on academic economics. Our articles are organized into thematic Sections. Each Section can be accessed by clicking on the links running across the top of the page: Comments, Economics in Practice etc. Each Section contains articles in Adobe pdf format, which can be viewed individually. Or, click on the link at the bottom of this page to download and print the entire document as a single pdf file (134 pp). Table of Contents with links to articles (pdf) Comments Do Casinos Cause Crime? Yes, according to a REStat article by Earl Grinols and David Mustard. But that answer relies on several weak links, says Douglas Walker. Grinols and Mustard reply. Is Highway Penetration of Central Cities a Significant Cause of Suburbanization? Yes, according to a QJE article by Nathaniel Baum-Snow. But Wendell Cox, Peter Gordon, and Christian Redfearn say no, and look at Western Europe data. Baum-Snow replies. Regime Change Correlates with Growth Acceleration—NOT! Richard Jong-A-Pin and Jakob de Haan identify a serious problem in work by Ricardo Hausmann, Lant Pritchett, and Dani Rodrik in the Journal of Economic Growth. Earned Income Tax Credit: Paul Trampe replies to Hilary Hoynes on disentangling EITC effects. Challenging on Usury: In a work said to mark the beginning of the modern world, Jeremy Bentham schools the master. Economics in Practice The Lemmas Problem: Philip Coelho and James McClure give evidence that long chains of exact reasoning do better in statistical than in economic analysis. Distinguishing Model and Theory: Robert Goldfarb and Jonathan Ratner assay the hairy business. Character Issues Paul Krugman and the Have-Nots: Based on a comprehensive account of his New York Times columns thru 2006, Daniel Klein argues that Paul Krugman sacrifices poor people’s interests to certain ideological values. The Sounds of Silence: Individuals who probably should have replied. Download and Print Entire January 2008 Issue (134 pages, 1.6 MB)