~marginalrevolution | Bookmarks (92)

🇦🇷Milei's has hit the limits of his reform agenda w/ the govt being forced to rescind all of the articles in the omnibus reform bill related to fiscal matters. A sticking point: provinces oppose the increase & expansion of the scope of export taxeshttps://t.co/9o4uOU0CBN — Nicolás Saldías (@NicSaldias) January 28, 2024 The post Milei update, a further report will be pending appeared first on...

Published in the journal Conflict and Health last April, the report suggests that the world’s deadliest humanitarian crisis in 2022 was not in Afghanistan, Ukraine, or other places featured regularly in the news — but in CAR. The Central African Republic has neither reliable birth and death registries nor regular censuses. To figure out how […] The post Central African Republic estimate of the...

That is the focus of my latest Bloomberg column, 2x the normal length.  I cannot cover all the points, but here is one excerpt: The larger theme is becoming evident: AI will radically disrupt power relations in society. AI may severely limit, for instance, the status and earnings of the so-called “wordcel” class. It will […] The post What are the actual dangers of...

Here is the audio, video, and transcript, here is the episode summary: Rebecca F. Kuang just might change the way you think about fantasy and science fiction. Known for her best-selling books Babel and The Poppy War trilogy, Kuang combines a unique blend of historical richness and imaginative storytelling. At just 27, she’s already published five novels, and her […] The post My Conversation with Rebecca F. Kuang...

1) From the recent annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene (abstract 6949) we learn that the R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine maintained it’s efficacy over 4 seasons. …Importantly, maintained high efficacy over four malaria seasons with only four doses is demonstrated, with no concerns to date of rebound in those who have […] The post Two Updates on the Value of...

Map of the TFRs by US state for 2023, based on recently released birth data from January-September 2023. The TFR declined to around 1.62 kids per woman last year, but there are important regional differences. Values range from 1.99 in South Dakota to 1.19 in Washington DC. pic.twitter.com/xXXzKm1kT6 — Birth Gauge (@BirthGauge) January 22, 2024 […] The post South Dakota is trying to hold...

Ryan Bourne has a good rundown on rent controls in Argentina. In 2020 Argentina introduced a relatively mild form of rent control; rent increases during tenancy were capped at a weighted average of inflation and wage growth, tenancy was a minimum of 3 years and it became very difficult to end a tenancy. In ordinary […] The post Rent Controls appeared first on Marginal...

I won’t double indent, but this is not by me, though I agree with it: “I agree with your read re Argentina’s history of fiscal stability. From this paper (unclear if the data is accurate), here is Argentina’s deficit from 1960 to 2016 or so: [See Figure 3 here] Notice 2003-2009 is the only time […] The post Quick tour of Argentina’s fiscal deficit...

I give him a 30-40% chance, which is perhaps generous because I am rooting for him.  Bryan Caplan, who is more optimistic, offers some analysis and estimates that Milei needs to close a fiscal gap of about five percent of gdp. I have two major worries.  First, if Milei approaches fiscal success, the opposing parties […] The post Will Milei succeed in Argentina? appeared...

Miss America, Miss United States and Miss USA are three different people. The post Miss Information appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.         CommentsIn reply to rsm. Yes. You have to be a very sheltered ... by MikePIn reply to kavu. Kavu. How in the world did you get there ... by JbdIn reply to kavu. Are you saying that the hostility to woke ......

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology now has almost eight times as many nonfaculty employees as faculty employees. In the University of California system, the number of managers and senior professionals swelled by 60 percent between 2004 and 2014. The number of tenure-track faculty members grew by just 8 percent. The column (NYT) is on the mark throughout, and it […] The post David Brooks on bureaucracy appeared first...

Latin America has two-thirds of world lithium reserves and about 40 per cent of its copper. It accounts for 45 per cent of global agrifood trade, according to the EU, and its abundant stock of farmland and water could allow that to grow much further. It is home to the world’s largest surviving rainforest, the […] The post Positive noises about Latin America appeared...

In September I alerted you to a crowdfunding campaign to produce a dominant assurance contract/refund bonus platform. Many of you stepped up and it’s now and up and running! The platform is called EnsureDone. It’s starting up small, with just a few projects, but already the projects are quite interesting. MakeSunsets, for example, had a […] The post World’s First Dominant Assurance Contract Platform...

Why do today’s dishwashers typically take more than 2 hours to run through a normal cycle when less than a hour was common in the past? The reason is absurd energy and water “conservation” rules. These rules, imposed on dish and clothes washers, have made these products perform worse than in the past, cleaning less […] The post Back to the Future: Power Dishwashers!...

I was wondering if you would consider writing a post about the German debt brake in light of recent developments? Personally, I am not a huge fan of discussions about fiscal policy (or even worse, austerity…), as I feel they are mostly Rorschach test without much deep thinking. But I did find the recent developments […] The post Kamil Kovar on the German debt...

US Intelligence Shows Flawed China Missiles Led Xi to Purge Army China missiles filled with water, not fuel: US intelligence And: …vast fields of missile silos in western China with lids that don’t function in a way that would allow the missiles to launch effectively Here is more from Bloomberg. The post Okie-dokie… appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.         CommentsIn reply to RT. A...

Bari Weiss interviews myself, Niall Ferguson, John McWhorter, Peter Attia, Nate Silver, and others about the year to come.  I am not so pessimistic! The post Predictions for 2024 appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.         CommentsIn reply to M. Dumb people have trained themselves to think ... by TashaIn reply to Ari. Based Jew. The thing is, the reason nobody ... by The Scary...

In the past five years, the number of applications to connect to the electricity grid — many of them for solar energy generation and storage — has increased tenfold, with waits of up to 15 years. The underinvestment is restricting the flow of cheap energy from Scottish wind farms to population centers in England and adding to […] The post Why Britain’s economy is failing appeared...

And at what margin? A new ideological struggle is brewing, yet we have not yet recognized it as such.  The question is to what extent cities are for tourists, or for their current residents.  Here is a report from Vermont: A Vermont town known for its autumn foliage has closed its roads to the public […] The post Are cities for tourists or residents?...

Arizona now uses 3 percent less water than it did in 1957, despite having a population that’s mushroomed more than 555 percent since then. That is from Tom Zoellner in the NYT.  It is a good piece more generally, and it helps explain why real estate prices in the Southwest have proven robust in light […] The post Arizona fact of the day appeared...