Bookmarks (519)

The most shocking revelations were that soldiers killed civilians and dressed them up as guerrillas to inflate their body counts. In return, they received benefits and promotions. Last year, a tribunal identified more than 6,400 of these so-called “false positive” killings dating from the 2002-2010 rule of hawkish rightwing president Álvaro Uribe, who is under […] The post Colombian supply curves slope upwards appeared...

1. Podcast with Manhattan Institute. 2. “In contrast to many other growth models we find that the taxation of human capital has a substantial negative effect on its accumulation. This in turn reduces innovation and, consequently, the income growth rate.”  Link here. 3. The science fiction movies of 1982, quite the line-up (NYT). 4. The […] The post Saturday assorted links appeared first on...

Fancy Feast is expanding into feline-inspired human cuisine, with a New York City Italian restaurant designed to celebrate the company’s new line. Gatto Bianco, which means “white cat,” is described by Fancy Feast as an “Italian-style trattoria,” and will be open for dinner reservations on August 11-12 only, according to a news release from Purina, which produces Fancy […] The post Cat food markets in everything appeared...

1. Lilia Moritz Schwarcz, Brazilian Authoritarianism: Past and Present.  One of the best general books on where Brazil is right now, and yes it is sad that you can say that about a book on political authoritarianism.  Don’t forget that most of the slaves brought to the New World were brought to Brazil, and the […] The post What I’ve been reading appeared first...

Post title and everything, here I am just copying Greg Mankiw: “According to CBO: In calendar year 2022, enacting the bill would have a negligible effect on inflation, in CBO’s assessment. In calendar year 2023, inflation would probably be between 0.1 percentage point lower and 0.1 percentage point higher under the bill than it would […] The post The inflation impact of the Inflation...

1. The dissolution of the monasteries. 2. “By my count, at least 29 of the 605 NBA players who saw the court last season had fathers who played in the league—almost 5 percent, a ludicrously high figure, and enough to fill two teams’ rosters.”  About Bronny. 3. Trends for U.S. water infrastructure. 4. “Considering that […] The post Friday assorted links appeared first on...

We are making all the same errors with monkeypox policy that we made with Covid but we are correcting the errors more rapidly. (It remains to be seen whether we are correcting rapidly enough.) I’ve already mentioned the rapid movement of some organizations to first doses first for the monkeypox vaccine. Another example is dose […] The post Dose Stretching for the Monkeypox Vaccine...

Democrats opted to seek a new 1 percent tax on corporate stock buybacks, a move that would make up at least some of the revenue that might have lost as a result of the [Sinema-driven] changes. Here is further detail.  Something has to be taxed, and I don’t pretend to have a comprehensive ranking of […] The post The new tax on stock buybacks...

“India has made tremendous progress since 1990. … What would you expect about sex ratio at birth in India? I expected the following: It would have improved across the whole country. It would be worse in the north than in the south. It would be worse in rural areas than in urban areas. The law […] The post Sex ratio and infant mortality in...

Here is the CFTC announcement.  Permission to run this non-profit from New Zealand has been withdrawn.  “DMO has determined that Victoria University has not operated its market in compliance with the terms of the letter and as a result has withdrawn it.”  Perhaps today the case for crypto is marginally stronger? The post PredictIt seems to be closing? appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.        ...

The last two centuries witnessed the rise and fall of empires. We construct a model which rationalises this in terms of the changing trade gains from empires. In the model, empires are arrangements that reduce trade cost between an industrial metropole and the agricultural periphery. During early industrialisation, the value of such bilateral trade increases, […] The post The rise and fall of empires...

1. A summary of some crypto frustrations. 2. Tweet storm on The Book of Mormon.  Threaded here. 3. Advice for science funders: vary what you do. 4. Can chess and alcohol really be substitutes? Maybe in India? 5. Double-blind review at the AER lowers acceptance rates, and other results. The post Thursday assorted links appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.         CommentsIn reply to Formerly...

The shortage of vaccines to combat a fast-growing monkeypox outbreak was caused in part because the Department of Health and Human Services failed early on to ask that bulk stocks of the vaccine it already owned be bottled for distribution, according to multiple administration officials familiar with the matter. By the time the federal government […] The post How many times are we going...

I used to think there was such a thing as development economics. There are still richer and poorer countries, of course, but is there a “development economics,” a special type of economics for poor countries? I don’t think so. Maybe there once was. In the twentieth century, divergence in per-capita GDP increased big time and […] The post There is No Such Thing as...

I had a chapter on this topic in my 2007 book Discover Your Inner Economist, with much of the material based on blog posts from 2004-2006 or so.  No, I was not recommending particular charities, but rather considering how to think about giving more generally.  Since that time there has been so much discussion of […] The post My charitable giving advice from 2007...

1. New books expected out in the latter half of 2022. 2. 1960s British kids predict the year 2000. 3. Those new service sector jobs (and their pay). 4. “Harvard researchers account for about 5 percent of articles published in the top four medical journals, a larger share than Germany or Canada as a whole.” […] The post Wednesday assorted links appeared first on...

Connor Tabarrok on his series of engineering wonders of our world with #4, The Delta and Zuiderzee Works. Connor Tabarrok on the sinking Millenium Tower and the dangers of building on reclaimed land. Maxwell Tabarrok on David Deutsch and the infinity hotel and how the paradoxes of infinity apply to the prospects for growth The post Assorted Tabarrok Links appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION....

We’ve covered this before, but now it is out in the JPE and worthy of a repeat, because you won’t see its lessons promulgated in too many other places.  From Charles Jones: This paper considers top income taxation when (i) new ideas drive economic growth, (ii) the reward for successful innovation is a top income, […] The post Taxing Top Incomes in a World...

Big shout out to whoever it was that turned in 62 3D printed guns for $150 each at a Houston gun buy-back pic.twitter.com/QYUNxG0Jg6 — Xaniken (@Xaniken) July 31, 2022 Via Petr. The post Supply is elastic appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.         CommentsIn reply to The federal government does not care about things ... by CytotoxicIn reply to Rando. I am profiting (400$ to...

Are you an economist?Is the current fiscal policy in the US expansionary or contractionary? — Erik Brynjolfsson (@erikbryn) July 25, 2022 How did that happen?  Via Alex. The post Economist opinions on fiscal policy are now super-distorted appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.         CommentsIn reply to rsm. No No only basic micro by ACCIn reply to rsm. I am profiting (400$ to 500$/hr )online...

1. Kareem on Bill Russell. 2. Many DC exits have VIP exit doors. 3. 11 policy-relevant questions for innovation and tech — work on them! 4. Thomas Friedman on Pelosi and Taiwan (NYT).  Good piece. 5. “NRC to certify NuScale small modular reactor design for use in the US.”  Good news. 6. In memory of […] The post Tuesday assorted links appeared first on...

Exposure to lead especially in childhood can have a lifetime of negative consequences: According to the WHO, there is no known safe level of lead exposure. Relatively low levels of lead exposure that were previously considered ‘safe’ have been shown to damage children’s health and impair their cognitive development. Lead is a potent neurotoxin that, […] The post Get the Lead Out of Turmeric!...

That is the topic of my latest Bloomberg column, here is one part: The bill also has mercantilist elements, which are not ideal from a climate standpoint. The subsidies apply to North American vehicles only, and the battery components must be increasingly American over time, not allowing Chinese components. So to the extent the policy is effective, it […] The post Are the electric vehicle subsidies too...

It is more than ten percent less democracy at the AEA! There is only one candidate running for president of the association. And this is just hilarious: “Several colleagues have explained the reasons behind this, which I do not dispute. e.g. Eminent economists would not run for President if they had to compete.” And how […] The post Electoral sentences to ponder appeared first...