~marginalrevolution | Bookmarks (551)

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...

Misha lives in Sydney and works in finance and is very smart.  Here is the audio, video, and transcript. Some bullet points: “[Agency has] one of the most skewed distributions I can think of” “You look like you have kids. I thought you would have kids.” “You’re going to drive Melbourne into the ground and […] The post Podcast with Misha Saul appeared first...

A new, AI-driven hotel is getting set to open in Las Vegas, highlighted by a major presence at CES. Philippe Ziade, CEO and founder of Growth Holdings, developer of the hotel, detailed the concept as we sat at the CES Otonomus booth display to discuss the venture. “This is the first truly AI-powered hotel,” said Ziade. […] The post AI-driven hotel planned for Las Vegas...

Germans are the “world champions in sick leave”, according to the head of the country’s biggest insurer, who was criticised for demanding that workers without a doctor’s note are unpaid for their first day off. With the economy slowing and the welfare system under pressure, Germany can ill afford its average per worker of 20 […] The post The sick leave culture that is...

1. How Japanese architecture adjusted to earthquakes. 2. Was the Berghisel ski jump the most significant building of 2002? 3. How long does it take to get approval for prescribed burns in California? 4. Why the space community should care about Arctic geopolitics: “Any satellite in a polar or sun-synchronous orbit, such as those in […] The post Thursday assorted links appeared first on...

Martha (Netflix): A compelling bio on Martha Stewart. Her divorce from Andrew Stewart happened more than 30 years ago so the intensity of her anger and bitterness comes as a surprise. With barely concealed rage, she recounts his affairs and how poorly he treated her. “But didn’t you have an affair before he did?” asks […] The post Martha appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION....

From Isaiah Taylor: In 2007 the Sierra Club successfully sued the Forest Service to prevent them from creating a Categorical Exclusion (CE) to NEPA for controlled burns (the technical term is “fuel reduction”). The CE would have allowed the forest service to conduct burns without having to perform a full EIS (the median time for […] The post Claims about fires? appeared first on...

Here is the audio, video, and transcript.  Here is the episode summary: Scott joins Tyler to discuss what reading Depression-era newspapers revealed about Hitler’s rise, when fiat currency became viable, why Sweden escaped the worst of the 1930s crash, whether bimetallism ever made sense, where he’d time-travel to witness economic history, what 1920s Hollywood movies […] The post My Conversation with the excellent Scott...

Here is one description: Yascha Mounk and Tyler Cowen discuss the likely economic futures of Europe, Asia, and Africa; how the United States should approach competition with China; and what role young people should ascribe to personal financial advancement in their career choices. Here is the Apple link.  Transcript here. The post My podcast with Yascha Mounk appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.         CommentsComments 

1. Martin Wolf on India and Singh (FT). 2. Britain has lost about one-third of its hedgehogs since 2000. 3. The woman who repairs the ASML machines (WSJ). 4. Traits that will cease to be valuable — good post, though I do not agree with each and every claim. 5. Canadian throat singing.  And from […] The post Wednesday assorted links appeared first on...

Nuclear deregulation. Yes, I know how that sounds but bear with me. As Koopman and Dourado write in the WSJ: The Atomic Energy Act of 1954 established a precise framework for nuclear regulation, requiring federal licensing only for facilities that either use nuclear material “in such quantity as to be of significance to the common […] The post Nuclear Deregulation appeared first on Marginal...

Weanalyze trends in labor-market returns to psychological traits using data from half a million Finnish men from 2001 to 2015. Cognitive skills’ value declined, while noncognitive skills’ value increased. Our novel findings show that extraversion drives this rise, while conscientiousness remains stable. Extraversion’s rising returns are most pronounced for lower earners and those on the […] The post Evolving Returns to Personality appeared first...

That is my latest Bloomberg column, here is one bit: The core version of the plan stipulates a $9 toll for drivers entering Manhattan below and including 60th Street. Implementation is by E-Z Pass, and the tolls can vary in complex ways. But if you don’t cross the line, you don’t pay. So residents below 60th Street are exempt, […] The post One early report on congestion pricing...

Ross has a new (and very good) book coming out Believe: Why Everyone Should be Religious.  I will be doing a Conversation with him, mostly about the book although not entirely.  Here is my first and second Conversation with Ross.  Here is my earlier exchange with Ross about belief in God, scroll back through the […] The post What should I ask Ross Douthat?...

1. Good Ukraine thread. 2. New Lyman Stone Substack. 3. Abbey Road console markets in everything. 4. Salim Furth and Matt Bruenig on congestion pricing and tax incidence theory.  True or false? 5. Jon Hartley podcast with Myron Scholes. 6. Carl Menger’s granddaughter is still alive, and speaks to us about her grandfather. 7. Surviving […] The post Tuesday assorted links appeared first on...

I have been reading Coby Lefkowitz’s Building Optimism: Why Our World Looks the Way It Does, and How to Make it Better.  I am most interested in chapter five “Why Does Everywhere Look the Same?”  That is another way of restating the puzzle that, at some point after WWII, the aesthetic quality of a lot […] The post Another hypothesis why building aesthetics have...

That is the topic of my latest Bloomberg column, here is one bit: But Poles did not privatize everything. They generally left water companies and electricity providers in the public sector, for example. This is the second category of privatizations: those that are uncertain in their impact. Water and electricity are two essential services where there is no easy […] The post Should America privatize the postal service?...