Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Is Your Writing Edited?

Nancy Gibbs, former editor in chief of Time magazine, often quipped, “every word has to earn its place in a sentence, every sentence has to earn its place in a paragraph, and every idea has to earn its place in a text.” And it turns out we’re not very good at deleting when we edit. One study […]

Learn More September 15, 2023

Is Your Charity Playing Soccer or Basketball?

In The Numbers Game the authors analyzed soccer teams and determined it’s a weak-link sport, the path to success comes not from investing more in top players but shoring up your weakest ones. Basketball is the opposite, a strong-link sport, you need a superstar or two to have any chance. Science is or should be a […]

Learn More September 13, 2023

Deceptive? Manipulative? Brilliant? Destructive? You Decide.

The post-Labor Day tide of political email is on the rise and, if the past is prologue, will reach its high water mark a year from now then very slowly ebb toward Election Day 2024. This growing digital dog-pile, excreted by local, state and federal candidates and PACs, will […]

Learn More September 5, 2023

No Heavy Lifting

We’re taking the day off in deference to our U.S. readers coping with the official end of summer after a long Labor Day weekend. Enjoy … and welcome back to the grind! Kevin and Roger

Learn More September 4, 2023

Japanese Taxes, Premiums and Unintended Consequences

The Japanese can take free welding lessons near Mt. Fuji or test drive a Porsche or serve as mayor for a day. The catch? Give these locales some of your tax dollars. Japan has cooked a system letting taxpayers redirect some of their local taxes to towns or cities where they don’t live—and receive a […]

Learn More September 1, 2023

The U-Shaped Giving Curve

Much academic ink has been spilt dancing on the head of a pin while debating the U-shaped giving curve. What U-shape you ask? The one showing rich, and poor give a greater percentage of their income than the middle class. This phenomenon is real and until now, practically uninteresting since the explanation hinges on external […]

Learn More August 30, 2023