Bookmarks (2419)

I am not giving away anything by telling you the basic premise of this film is that a Yiddish-speaking NYC Ellis Island arrival is time-traveled 100 years into the future to the current day, where he meets up with his great-grandson, and the two start hanging out together. At first it seems silly and slight, […] The post *An American Pickle* appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.

That is the topic of my latest Bloomberg column.  The evidence in favor of at least partial herd immunity continues to pile up, but still don’t get too cheery.  One worry is that herd immunity might prove only temporary: First, many herd immunity hypotheses invoke the idea of “superspreaders” — that a relatively small number […] The post Why herd immunity is worth less than you might think appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.

By Donald J. Harris, here is the abstract: Focused on the emerging conditions of industrial capitalism in Britain in their own time, the classical economists were able to provide an account of the broad forces that influence economic growth and of the mechanisms underlying the growth process. Accumulation and productive investment of a part of […] The post The classical theory of economic growth, by Donald J. Harris appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.

There have been few insights into what the Queen’s favourite film is but one might assume that it would be a black and white classic from her youth or perhaps Black Beauty. According to Brian Blessed, however, one of her favourite films is Flash Gordon, the 1980 high camp space opera in which the actor […] The post The film culture that is royal Britain appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.

1. Pre-dating communism, East German women have been more likely to give birth outside of a steady partnership. 2. Kris Gulati is now running a Progress Studies blog. 3. Piping Australian solar energy to southeast Asia? 4. Youyang Gu on Louisiana Covid, and other matters. 5. Where and how did Indian secularism fail? The post Tuesday assorted links appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.

What determines the success of a COVID-19 Test & Trace policy? We use an SEIR agent-based model on a graph, with realistic epidemiological parameters. Simulating variations in certain parameters of Testing & Tracing, we find that important determinants of successful containment are: (i) the time from symptom onset until a patient is self-isolated and tested, […] The post Which time lags matter for testing regimes? appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.

Whereas Australia has pursued a skills-based migration policy, the United States has privileged family-based migration. The key contrast between these migration regimes provides a rare test of how national immigration policy shapes immigrant selection and integration. Does a skills-based immigration regime result in a more select group of Asian immigrants in Australia compared to their counterparts in the United […] The post The U.S. selects better for Asian immigrants than does Australia appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.

But let’s start with the UK: The number of people in hospital with Covid-19 has fallen 96% since the peak of the pandemic, official data reveals. Hospital staff are now treating just 700 coronavirus patients a day in England, compared to about 17,000 a day during the middle of April, according to NHS England. Last […] The post Coming soon, to a country near you appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.

1. How safe is it to fly? (Bloomberg) 2. What is the share of the population with preexisting immunity?  Recommended. 3. And excellent David Wallace-Wells piece on the spread of herd immunity ideas and T-cell immunity (as more significant than had been thought) throughout the scientific community.  Also recommended. 4. Obesity and corruption. 5. Male […] The post Monday assorted links appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.

Abstract: Can attitudes towards minorities, an important cultural trait, be changed? We show that the presence of African American soldiers in the U.K. during World War II reduced anti-minority prejudice, a result of the positive interactions which took place between soldiers and the local population. The change has been persistent: in locations in which more […] The post The Contemporary Impact of Black G.I.s in Europe in WWII appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.

Good video with Michael Mina on rapid tests. See especially graph starting at 2:29. Here’s a good picture illustrating the difference between the PCR and Rapid Test. A PCR test will catch the virus at times when that the rapid test will miss but these are when there is too little virus to be transmissible […] The post Rapid Tests appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.

Those three areas are: 1. The history of the British Isles 2. The history of the Jews, and 3. The history of World War II Each area has attracted remarkable talent, mostly in English I should add, and you can always read yet another great book in these areas, even if you already have consumed […] The post Three areas where you never run out of great books to read appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.

That is the title of a new research paper by Kenneth S. Brower, focusing on the capabilities of the Israeli military against various potential adversaries.  I do not myself have particular opinions on these questions, but I found this piece interesting throughout.  Here is one excerpt: The simple and unarguable truth is that for decades […] The post “Israel Versus Anyone” appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.

1. Scathing but insightful piece about “the Right,” by Julius Krein. 2. Further results on cross-immunities.  And coverage from the NYT.  And another new paper. 3. Scale of Lebanon blast (photo). 4. Contrafreeloading and cats. 5. How much do the Chinese favor income inequality? 6. Bernard Bailyn obituary (NYT). 7. On the Executive Orders. The post Sunday assorted links appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.

Viking society wasn’t homogeneous. They had dealings with many different cultures and they lived in varied environments, from Danish and Swedish pasture to the sub-Arctic tundra of Norway and Iceland. In the early 11th century the best-travelled woman in the world must have been Gudrid Thorbjarnardóttir, whose remarkable journeys demonstrate the great distances the Vikings covered. […] The post Claims about Gudrid Thorbjarnardóttir appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.

We exploit changes in U.S. visa policies for nurses to measure brain drain versus gain. Combining data on all migrant departures and postsecondary institutions in the Philippines, we show that nursing enrollment and graduation increased substantially in response to greater U.S. demand for nurses. The supply of nursing programs expanded to accommodate this increase. Nurse […] The post No brain drain for Filipino nurses appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.

I am not convinced by the humidity hypothesis, as I don’t see it having much macro explanatory power globally, but I find the questions very important.  On New York City, I tend to blame all those cramped indoor spaces combined with bad ventilation systems, but that too is an unconfirmed hypothesis.  Anyway, here are the […] The post From the comments, on coronavirus and humidity appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.

Even exposure to the ill-defined term “fake news” and claims about its prevalence can be harmful. In an experimental study among respondents from Mechanical Turk, Van Duyn, and Collier (2019) find that when people are exposed to tweets containing the term “fake news,” they become less able to discern real from fraudulent news stories. Similarly, […] The post Don’t mention the fake news appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.