A Bit Overdone, Perhaps,but frighteningly plausible

Steven Plaut wrote this column last October. It sets out, in an eerie parallel to the past, the potential horrors of appeasement and the seeking of "peace at any cost" in the Middle East.

If we believe that people respond to incentives, then a large part of policy-making must include trying to discern how much they respond and to which incentives. The only way to answer these questions is empirically, using experience and data from past events.