~marginalrevolution | Bookmarks (564)

I do not myself have a position on this issue, but I found this analysis by Ken Opalo interesting: The main argument below is that while the people of Somaliland deserve and have a strong case for international recognition, such a development at this time would very likely take away the very incentives that have set them […] The post Should the U.S. recognize Somaliland? appeared...

It is commonly assumed that the U.S. “acquiring” Greenland, whatever that might mean, will result in greater U.S. control of the territory.  Along some dimensions that is likely.  But it is worth pondering the equilibrium here more seriously. I observe, in many locations around the world, that indigenous groups end up with far more bargaining […] The post Some game theory of Greenland appeared...

1. Stephen Miran makes the case for twenty percent tariffs (WSJ).  You can run this one through o1 pro yourself. 2. The history of export controls on IP. 3. Jacob Trefethen, on reforming science funding. 4. In ex-Soviet States, the mental health of the young seems fine. 5. New Ashlee Vance sci-tech media venture.  Site […] The post Tuesday assorted links appeared first on...

It’s well known that the voting methods we use are highly defective, as they fail to meet fundamental criteria like positive responsiveness, the Pareto principle, and stability. Positive responsiveness (monotonicity) means that if a candidate improves on some voters’ ballots, this should not reduce the candidate’s chances of winning. Yet, many voting methods, including runoffs […] The post The Borda Count is the Best...

Yes, I will be having a Conversation with him.  Gregory Clark the economist.  Here is his Wikipedia page.  So what should I ask? The post What should I ask Greg Clark? appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.         CommentsIn reply to Atom. Ah, you've listed some thought-provoking ... by Windom EarleIn reply to Atom. is that it's a bunch of junk science. His ... by...

Is the top tail of wealth a set of fixed individuals or is there substantial turnover? We estimate upper-tail wealth dynamics during the Gilded Age and beyond, a time of rapid wealth accumulation and concentration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Using various wealth proxies and data tracking tens of millions of individuals, […] The post The circulation of elites, sort of...

14. You don’t do anyone any favors by lurking, put yourself out there! 15. If you don’t “get” a classic book or movie, 90% of the time it’s your fault. (It might just not be the right time for you to appreciate that thing.) 16. If you find yourself dreading Mondays, quit… 23. Doing things […] The post Principles, from Nabeel appeared first on...

1. Cairo norms and multiple equilibria? 2. Straussian, clever language though not as sharp as the Everly Brothers.  I wish them the best. 3. The declining influence of economists in policy circles (NYT). 4. ChinaTalk on DeepSeek. 5. Weird things going on in Romania, poorly understood. 6. One good way to prompt o1. 7. The […] The post Monday assorted links appeared first on...

Jay Martin writes a provocative post, Has Canada Become a Jamaican Bobsled Team? if Canada were to become a state, it would be the third poorest in the country, right behind Alabama. Everybody talks about the American debt issue, but Canadian households bear more debt relative to their income than any other G7 country. The average Canadian now spends 15% of their […] The post Canada’s Comparative Advantages appeared first on...

Here is Daron Acemoglu’s Project Syndicate piece, mostly critical on high-skilled immigration. Here is the first argument from Acemoglu: …one would expect corporate America’s growing need for skilled STEM workers to translate into advocacy for, and investments in, STEM education. But an overreliance on the H-1B program may have broken this link and made American […] The post The Acemoglu arguments against high-skilled immigration...

I would say we have not yet figured out what is the best U.S. policy toward Greenland, nor have we figured out best stances for either Greenland or Denmark. I am struck however by the low quality of the debate, and I mean on the anti-U.S. side most of all.  This is just one clip, […] The post The Greenland debates appeared first on...

I had fun, and Andrew writes: In this episode, I got a chance to talk with Tyler about quite a few of those topics: the extent of his libertarian ideology, why he’s less pessimistic about social media, what movies have influenced him, etc. Here is the Spotify link. The post My podcast with Andrew Xu appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.         CommentsComments 

1. Cracks in the silence about Havana Syndrome (Atlantic). 2. “As Rainer Zitelmann, a noted historian of the Third Reich, has pointed out, the AfD has long since abandoned its former economic liberalism for a Right-wing form of anti-capitalism. Its rhetoric is often indistinguishable from that of the far-Left Die Linke, or the Left populist […] The post Sunday assorted links appeared first on...

First, the labor market is no longer polarizing— employment in low- and middle-paid occupations has declined, while highly paid employment has grown. Second, employment growth has stalled in low-paid service jobs. Third, the share of employment in STEM jobs has increased by more than 50 percent since 2010, fueled by growth in software and computer-related […] The post Facts about U.S. employment appeared first...

From John Ruffalo. The post Canada’s missing entrepreneurs appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.         CommentsCommentsRelated StoriesFacts about U.S. employmentThe sick leave culture that is GermanEvolving Returns to Personality 

From Krzysztof Tyszka-Drozdowski: Every weekend, I try to go through interesting articles about Argentina. Here’s something from La Nación that surprised me: it discusses the relatively weak standing of Argentine companies internationally. (https://www.lanacion.com.ar/opinion/las-empresas-argentinas-ante-un-cambio-de-perfil-nid11012025/): – only 3 of the top 50 largest Latin American companies are Argentine (22 are Brazilian, 14 Mexican, and 8 Chilean). Moreover, only […] The post Companies in Argentina (from my email)...

As I kept watching, I was thinking “well, this is pretty good but it isn’t great.”  But by the time the final scene rolled around, I was convinced.  A few points: 1. The Hungarian wife is the best character. 2. The title “The Brutalist” does not refer solely to the architect. 3. The industrial landscapes […] The post *The Brutalist* (no real spoilers) appeared...

With Liz Wolfe and Zach Weissmueller: The link here contains the YouTube video, text description, and links to audio versions at reason.com: https://reason.com/podcast/2025/01/10/tyler-cowen-why-do-we-refuse-to-learn-from-history/ Youtube page for embedding is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-Kpyg2mFU8 Lots of about libertarianism and state capacity libertarianism, and The Great Forgetting, food at the end…interesting throughout! The post My podcast with Reason appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.         CommentsCommentsRelated StoriesMarthaOne early report on congestion pricing in...

Great talk from Sendhil Mullainathan. He discusses how machine learning differs from causal inference, how ML can be used to develop new and strikingly original hypotheses, why economists are necessary for the design of recommendation systems and algorithms. Deep but accessible. Provides a very important roadmap for how humans and AI can work together on science. The post Economics in the Age of Algorithms appeared...

1. A report on “killing with applause.” 2. Tacit knowledge videos. 3. Turkish chef recreates 8,600 year old Neolithic bread. 4. Boomerasking (not about Boomers, btw). 5. Peter Thiel publishes the word “struldbrugg” in the FT. 6. Who paid U.S. taxes in 1929? 7. Africa books of 2024, and forthcoming in 2025. 8. Kevin Bryan […] The post Saturday assorted links appeared first on...

Private companies are staking claims to radio spectrum on the Moon with the aim of exploiting an emerging lunar economy, Financial Times research has found. More than 50 applications have been filed with the International Telecommunication Union since 2010 to use spectrum, the invisible highway of electromagnetic waves that enable all wireless technology, on or […] The post Lunar spectrum markets in everything? appeared...

The best piece I have seen so far, here is one bit: Basically, the lessons I take away from the horrific L.A. fires are: The insurance industry as we know it is in big trouble. Climate change is making wildfires worse, but there’s not much we can do about that right now. Forest management needs […] The post Noah Smith on L.A: fire lessons...

1. Perhaps people do not view love as zero-sum. 2. The growing strategic significance of Greenland. 3. Changing building materials to improve carbon outcomes? 4. “The Danish West Indies—comprising the islands of St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix—were sold by Denmark to the United States in 1917. After decades of on-and-off negotiations between the […] The post Friday assorted links appeared first on...

New York’s new congestion fee appears to be reducing commuting times on key routes (see Tyler and this thread from Michael Ostrovsky). The toll only has two rates, however, on-peak (5 AM to 9 PM on weekdays and 9 AM to 9 PM on weekends) $9 and off-peak ($2.50). I like the way Vitalik Buterin […] The post Congestion Tolls versus Congestion Pricing appeared...