~marginalrevolution | Bookmarks (551)

But Butcher relies on old-fashioned detective work and his 10-year-old working cocker spaniel. Together, the pair have recovered hundreds of pets. “I could work every single day of the week and every weekend there’s so much demand right across the board,” he said. “I probably get about on average 15 emails or calls just on […] The post Those new service sector jobs, Ace...

Here is the audio and transcript, here is the episode summary: Tyler and I spoke about view quakes from fiction, Proust, Bleak House, the uses of fiction for economists, the problems with historical fiction, about about drama in interviews, which classics are less read, why Jane Austen is so interesting today, Patrick Collison, Lord of the Rings… but […] The post My Shakespeare and literature podcast with...

1. The peso in Argentina is now overvalued (FT). 2. “More than 40 percent of South ­Koreans below the age of forty have stopped dating. The Korea ­Development Institute reports that, in 2020, more than 52 percent of South Koreans in their twenties preferred a childless marriage, up from about 30 percent in 2015. More […] The post New Year’s Day assorted links appeared...

This corridor of conflict stretches across approximately 4,000 miles and encompasses about 10% of the total land mass of sub-Saharan Africa, an area that has doubled in just three years and today is about 10 times the size of the U.K., according to an analysis by political risk consulting firm Verisk Maplecroft… Africa is now […] The post Africa facts of the day appeared...

Usually I am reluctant to criticize or even write about the recently departed, but perhaps for former Presidents there is greater latitude to do so. I never loved Jimmy Carter, and I saw plenty of him on TV and read about his administration on a daily basis in The New York Times. I fully appreciate […] The post Some Jimmy Carter observations from the...

This article is about the neural conundrum behind the slowness of human behavior. The information throughput of a human being is about 10 bits/s. In comparison, our sensory systems gather data at ~10^9 bits/s. The stark contrast between these numbers remains unexplained and touches on fundamental aspects of brain function: What neural substrate sets this […] The post The Unbearable Slowness of Being: Why...

1. Gary Marcus and Miles Brundage bet on AI.  And the Manifold odds.  And Samuel Butler’s Darwin Among the Machines. 2. Addiction predictions for 2025.  Includes GLP-1 predictions. 3. My podcast with Kevin Gentry on leadership and taking big chances and how much you can do. 4. “These results suggest that speech about committing murder […] The post Tuesday assorted links appeared first on...

I remain stunned at how poorly we are responding to the threat from H5N1. Our poor response to COVID was regrettable but perhaps understandable given the US hadn’t faced a major pandemic in decades. Having been through COVID, however, you would think that we would be primed. But no. Instead of acting aggressively to stop […] The post The Cows in the Coal Mine...

Here are my additions to the year’s “best of” movies list: The Return All We Imagine as Light A Real Pain (didn’t think I would like it, but it is very good) A Complete Unknown Green Border A strong finish, yes? I’ve also been listening to Two Star & the Dream Police, and Mount Eerie’s […] The post Updating the best of 2024 lists...

I argued a few days ago that attacks on less skilled immigration might spill over and through contagion effects cause negative attitudes about immigration more generally.  At which point I received the following from Joseph: Australia, I think, shows the contagion effects are a big deal. We have one of the most skill-biased immigration programs […] The post Joseph Walker on Australian migration (from...

I hate most biopics for their predictability, but loved this one.  The Dylan character was remarkable, including his musical abilities.  The film is willing to admit that Dylan might have been a jerk, no hagiography here.  The Pete Seeger and Joan Baez characterizations were at least as good.  It was a meaningful and instructive portrait […] The post *A Complete Unknown* appeared first on...

1. Emi Nakamura lecture. 2. “Technological innovations have made complaining easier.” 3. Can you visit Afghanistan now? (NYT) 4. Chicken gun. 5. Dwarkesh on China. 6. Encyclopedia Britannica is now a profitable AI company (NYT). 7. Andrew Batson on 2024 jazz. The post Monday assorted links appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.         CommentsComments 

“Which do you think is the best symphony which you never have heard?” It used to be the first two symphonies of Carl Nielsen, but yesterday I heard them.  They are good, probably not great, but in any case I never had heard them before.  I have heard more Haydn symphonies than you might think […] The post Questions that are rarely asked appeared...

You are right Tyler. Now [Milei’s chance of succeeding] it’s 51%. It’s a long way to October 2025 when the mid-term election will be the first test and much longer to October 2027 for the big test. I think there are three critical issues for the first test. The first one refers to the unification […] The post What are some remaining obstacles for...

1. Construction Physics year-end post. 2. Independence for New Caledonia? 3. Religion in the lives of some leading intellectuals, please note prophets of the Marginal Revolution. 4. Scott Sumner on immigration. 5. Schubert and his piano sonatas (NYT). 6. Trung Phan on 2024. 7. Galileo Jupiter moon discovery anniversary. 8. China’s best music of 2024? […] The post Sunday assorted links appeared first on...

The number one post this year was Tyler’s The changes in vibes — why did they happen? A prescient post and worth a re-read. Lots of quotable content that has become conventional wisdom after the election: The ongoing feminization of society has driven more and more men, including black and Latino men, into the Republican […] The post Top MR Posts of 2024! appeared...

Argentina’s bonds have already rallied dramatically. One gauge of the nation’s hard-currency debt, the ICE BofA US Dollar Argentina Sovereign Index, has generated a total return of about 90% this year. Meanwhile, the S&P Merval Index has risen more than 160% this year through Monday, far outpacing stock benchmarks in developed, emerging and frontier markets […] The post Argentina facts of the day appeared...

Perhaps you have noticed that India and Indians are receiving far more abuse on social media, most of all on X (Twitter).  This was spurred by a number of recent debates in the Republican Party.  All of a sudden, a new target was generated. Of course this is highly unfortunate and should be condemned.  Nonetheless […] The post India is having its moment appeared...

Here is a tweet from Elon, I won’t reproduce it directly on MR.  Suffice to say it is strongly worded on the visas issue.  Here is a summary of that debate.  Much of it is about who should rise or fall in status (duh). I have some simple, to the point free advice for the […] The post When should DOGE scream in public...

1. Very good Arun Rao reading list. 2. Data on AI improving the performance of human chess players.  And o1 vs. Stockfish. 3. The Nat Friedman plastics report. 4. South Korea poll of the day: “South Koreans now overwhelmingly support developing nuclear weapons, with 73% in favor, reports FristPost” 5. An app to turn economics […] The post Saturday assorted links appeared first on...

We explore how socio-economic background shapes academia, collecting the largest dataset of U.S. academics’ backgrounds and research output. Individuals from poorer backgrounds have been severely underrepresented for seven decades, especially in humanities and elite universities. Father’s occupation predicts professors’ discipline choice and, thus, the direction of research. While we find no differences in the average […] The post How Socio-Economic Background Shapes Academia appeared...

It is a common view, especially on the political right, that we should be quite open to highly skilled immigrants, and much less open to less skilled immigrants.  Increasingly I am wondering whether this is a stable ideological equilibrium. To an economist, it is easy to see the difference between skilled and less skilled migrants.  […] The post Is there an intermediate position on...

1. Which parts of America, apart from the coasts, will benefit from AI? (NYT)  Chattanooga! 2. DeepSeek on the move.  Here is the report.  For ease of use and interface this is very high quality.  Remember when “they” told us China had no interest in doing this? And Nathan sends me these links: https://old.reddit.com/r/LocalLLaMA/comments/1hmxjbn/deepseek_is_better_than_4o_on_most_benchmarks_at/ https://old.reddit.com/r/LocalLLaMA/comments/1hmm8v9/psa_deepseek_v3_outperforms_sonnet_at_53x_cheaper/ […] The post Friday assorted links appeared first on...

Read it here.  Recommended.  Excerpt: For me the clear standouts are Middlemarch, Bleak House, Karenina, and Life and Fate. I would enthusiastically reread any of them. If I had to choose just one to go to again, I would probably select Middlemarch. There’s something memorably compelling in Eliot’s affection and empathy for almost all of […] The post Patrick Collison on classic novels appeared...