~marginalrevolution | Bookmarks (372)

Very few people are looking closely at the illegal sand system or calling for changes, however, because sand is a mundane resource. Yet sand mining is the world’s largest extraction industry because sand is a main ingredient in concrete, and the global construction industry has been soaring for decades. Every year the world uses up […] The post The economics of illicit sand markets...

1. Mexican investment is doing just great. 2. In praise of double majors. 3. How to do things if you don’t have talent (does this mean you do have talent?). 4. The coming of numeracy to 17th century England.  And a new project Death by Numbers. 5. Those new service sector jobs: “After years shepherding […] The post Monday assorted links appeared first on...

Since the mapping of the human genome in 2004, biologists have demonstrated genetic links to the expression of several income-enhancing physical traits. To illustrate how heredity produces intergenerational economic effects, this study uses one trait, beauty, to infer the extent to which parents’ physical characteristics transmit inequality across generations. Analyses of a large-scale longitudinal dataset […] The post Hot parents, richer kids? appeared first...

Recently a new drug to extend lifespan was granted conditional approval by the FDA–the first drug ever formally approved to extend lifespan! (By the way, the entrepreneur behind this breakthrough, Celine Halioua, is an emergent ventures winner for her earlier work rapidly expanding COVID testing. Tyler knows how to spot Talent!) Great news, right? Yes, […] The post Conditional Approval for Human Drugs appeared...

Forthcoming in ReStud, I haven’t had the chance to read it yet: To analyze climate change mitigation strategies, economists rely on simplified climate models — so-called climate emulators — that provide a realistic quantitative link between CO2 emissions and global warming at low computational costs. In this paper, we propose a generic and transparent calibration […] The post An important new paper on the...

1. Glenn wants to ask it “why should I listen to my parents?” 2. What Soderbergh saw and read in 2023. 3. Hermit crabs are wearing our plastic. 4. The Giving Pledge. 5. Cowen’s Second Law: “Extreme metal guitar skills linked to intrasexual competition, but not mating success.” 6. Why strip malls are having a […] The post Sunday assorted links appeared first on...

Yes I will be doing a Conversation with him.  Here is one outdated bit from his home page: Benjamin Moser was born in Houston. He is the author of Why This World: A Biography of Clarice Lispector, a finalist for the National Book Critics’ Circle Award and a New York Times Notable Book of 2009. For his work bringing Clarice […] The post What should I ask Benjamin Moser?...

From Ollie: Our podcast chat went live today – it was fun listening back, so thanks! Here’s a Podfollow link (linking to multiple players) And here are links for Apple and Spotify, depending on your preference. I’ve also just written a LinkedIn post to promote it. I know you’re more of a Twitter man, but here’s the post in case you […] The post My podcast with Ollie Henderson appeared...

1. America’s wealthiest metropolitan areas in 1949. 2. Twins stolen at birth reunited by TikTok video. 3. Which immigrants to America end up most right-wing/left-wing? 4. “The [New Zealand] airport has since penguin-proofed its perimeters.”  A small blue penguin, of course. 5. Markets in everything those new service sector jobs the culture that is Japan […] The post Saturday assorted links 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...

1. Who invented butter chicken? 2. What tech fashion looks like. 3. What top Finnish conductors earn.  Amazing that they even have a list of ten. 4. Arc is still underrated, but the world is waking up. 5. 1517 Fund has a new science support program. 6. Why might a public authority use the word […] The post Friday assorted links appeared first on...

Yes I will be doing a Conversation with her.  Here is from Wikipedia: Marilynne Summers Robinson (born November 26, 1943) is an American novelist and essayist. Across her writing career, Robinson has received numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2005, National Humanities Medal in 2012, and the 2016 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction. In 2016, Robinson […] The post What should I ask Marilynne Robinson?...

1. Human Go play quality improves after AlphaGo debuts.  Or is that just picking up more cheating? 2. How does exogamy shape economics and culture?, by Alice Evans. 3. How groups of birds got their names. 4. MIE: “This New Doritos Liquor Is More Than Just a Cheesy Gimmick.” 5. Neom construction update on YouTube. […] The post Thursday assorted links appeared first on...

Polarization in the traditional sense is not very important: …this study examined the criminal codes of the six largest deep red states and the six largest deep blue states – states in which a single political party has held the governorship and control of both legislative bodies for at least the past three elections. It […] The post How and why do legal codes...

Have you ever wondered why empty storefronts in major cities stay empty for so long?  There is a new and still in the works paper by Daniel Stackman and Erica Moszkowski, and it provides valuable information about one piece of the puzzle.  Here is the abstract: We document the rise of storefront vacancies in prime […] The post The Contractual Origins of High-Rent Urban...

1. Short speed climbing video. 2. On David Graeber. 3. Vincent Geloso on the Piketty controversies. 4. Morgan Stanley values Tesla. 5. Guyana has the world’s highest oil reserves per capita, by far. 6. $2500 Macmillan teaching innovation award.  And $2500 student award. The post Wednesday assorted links appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.         CommentsIn reply to Hazel Meade. It worked out well for...

1. Arnold Kling on Hotelling and Julian Simon. 2. “President Vladimir Putin derided those “jumping around without pants,” at a party, while some guests have tried to make amends through donations and adopting a cat.” (NYT) 3. Oklahoma skyscraper gets redesign to become USA’s new tallest building. 4. “Critically, 3% reported that Replika [a chatbot] halted […] The post Tuesday assorted links appeared first on...

Not anytime soon, as I argue in my Bloomberg column, here is one of the arguments: The desire to diversify is another limiting force. Once you have a considerable sum of money, it makes sense to spread your assets widely. Gates, for example, sold a good deal of Microsoft stock early on, presumably with diversification […] The post When will the world have its...

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...

1. Noah Smith on the California Forever Project. 2. Corporations defending DEI. 3. More on ice deposits on Mars? (speculative) 4. Larry speaks the truth about Harvard. 5. “A rich literature explores gender differences between men and women, but an increasing share of the population identifies their gender in some other way. Analyzing data on […] The post Monday assorted links appeared first on...

Let us say you favor policy X, and take steps to see that policy X comes about. Under many conditions, people who favor non-X will take additional countervailing steps to oppose X.  And in that case your actions in favor of X, on average, will lead to nothing.  In the meantime, you and also your […] The post Social improvements that don’t create countervailing...

There is: Poor Things The Delinquents [Los Delincuentes], from Argentina, tragicomedy. The Teacher’s Lounge All of Us Strangers Anselm 3-D The Zone of Interest Of course many of those came out in their respective foreign markets before 2024, but that is not the point.  Rather it seems cinema has turned a corner and is vital […] The post 2024 is already an incredible year...

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...