~marginalrevolution | Bookmarks (95)

From an MR reader: Good story here about one man in Washington state fighting the battle against the progressive tide. He single handedly got six initiatives on the ballot to repeal progressive reforms over the past few years. These include a police pursuit law that prevents police from chasing criminals in most cases, and a […] The post Tide turning in Washington State? appeared...

Eduardo Costantini, a billionaire property developer, supports Milei’s plans but describes his handling of Congress as an “unforced error”. “The legislative strategy he had clearly didn’t work,” he says. “He came away from this first round practically empty-handed.” Nicolás Pino, head of agribusiness lobby La Sociedad Rural Argentina, says cutting spending without also delivering deep […] The post A pessimistic account of the Milei...

Distraction is everywhere. As I write this post, I pause to check twitter. Phones are omnipresent and demand our attention. Dopamine hits rule. Yet, despite the potential for greater distraction, a large study finds that on a standardized test, the ability to concentrate is up (modestly) for adults. In the present cross-temporal meta-analysis, we investigate […] The post The Ability to Concentrate is Increasing?!...

It is too soon to say, as I express in my 2x the usual length Bloomberg column.  It is amazing how many people are swallowing this one whole.  Here is the simplest point: The biggest problem is that it’s not yet clear these investments are going to pay off. They are being paid for with […] The post Is Bidenomics working? appeared first on...

BREAKING: Queen Camilla is taking a break from public duties for some "downtime", which means that NONE of the four most senior royals – King Charles, Queen Camilla, Prince William and Kate Middleton – are working right now. All is not well with the Royal Family. 💁‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/2sgSrM0Otz — Cillian (@CilComLFC) March 2, 2024 In […] The post Kind of like the NBA All-Star...

*NEW* Canada's GDP grew by 1.1% between the 4th quarter of 2022 and 2023, while its population grew by 3.2%. That means GDP per capita is now falling at 2% annually (roughly the difference). Zero economic growth in more than 6 years. pic.twitter.com/SrGGKPZjNx — Mikal Skuterud (@mikalskuterud) February 29, 2024 The post Canada fact of the day appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.         CommentsIn...

At $US15,000, BYD’s new Qin EV is already being touted as a “Corolla killer”, as the world’s second largest EV maker continues to disrupt the global auto market. Launched earlier this week in China, the all-electric Qin Plus has five variants priced between 109,800 RMB to ($A23,300) to 139,800 RMB ($A29,700). The Qin Plus comes with […] The post Solve for the equilibrium? appeared first...

Here is Fareed’s home page, here is Wikipedia: Fareed Rafiq Zakaria…is an Indian-American journalist, political commentator, and author. He is the host of CNN‘s Fareed Zakaria GPS and writes a weekly paid column for The Washington Post. He has been a columnist for Newsweek, editor of Newsweek International, and an editor at large of Time. He was managing editor of Foreign Affairs at age 28, briefly […] The post What should I ask Fareed Zakaria?...

I’ve chatted with a lot of Iranians online in the past few years (they’re in Iran). Some of their takes (always subject to the “plural of anecdote is not “data”)… 1. Islam is seen by younger people as the doctrine of a failed government staffed by a bunch of crooks. 2. And it’s a foreign, […] The post Claims about Iran (from the comments)...

Egypt has agreed to a $35bn deal with the United Arab Emirates to develop the town of Ras el-Hekma town on its northwestern coast, Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly announced on Friday after weeks of speculations. Madbouly said at a news conference, which was attended by Egyptian and Emirati officials, that Egypt will receive an advance amount of $15bn […] The post Why don’t nations buy and sell...

Here is my episode with @patrickc We discuss: – what it takes to process $1 trillion/year– how to build multi-decade APIs, companies, and relationships– what's next for Stripe (increasing the GDP of the internet is an open ended task, and the Collison brothers are just… pic.twitter.com/Wx52cJI9Ve — Dwarkesh Patel (@dwarkesh_sp) February 21, 2024 The post Dwarkesh Patel with Patrick Collison appeared first on Marginal...

GDP declined by an annualised 19.4 per cent compared with the third quarter. On a pure quarter-by-quarter basis, the economy contracted 5.2 per cent compared with the previous three months. The sharp drop was caused in part by the call-up of 300,000 reservists, who had to leave behind their workplaces and businesses to embark on […] The post Israel facts of the day appeared...

After the discovery of oil in the mid-1990s, per capita income soared and catapulted the country into the club of high income countries (it peaked at over $35,000). Meanwhile, living standards stagnated at deplorable levels — from education attainment, to infant mortality rates, to poverty rates, and more. Primary school enrollment has declined since peaking in […] The post Equatorial Guinea facts of the day...

I have been following only snippets of the debate over whether Biden should step down as the Democratic nominee, for instance here Josh Marshall responds to Ezra Klein (NYT).  Most of all, I am struck by how little faith some of the commentators have in democratic processes.  Let’s consider a few possible arguments why Biden […] The post Well-functioning democracy for neither me nor...

That is the topic of my latest Bloomberg column: The worldwide dominance of US equities is increasingly obvious. Of the top 10 components of the MSCI global stocks index — which itself now consists of about 70% US stocks — eight are US technology companies. The S&P 500 has breached the 5,000 level. On most days, Apple or Microsoft alone is […] The post U.S. equity market dominance appeared first...

Iran, eager to disrupt U.S. and Israeli interests in the Middle East but wary of provoking a direct confrontation, is privately urging Hezbollah and other armed groups to exercise restraint against U.S. forces, according to officials in the region. Israel’s brutal war on Hamas in Gaza has stoked conflict between the United States and Iran’s […] The post Is some deterrence being restored? appeared...

The dating site Tinder reports that, in 2023, 41 percent of Gen Z users were open to or seeking non-monogamous relationships, and 26 percent were open to ‘hierarchical polyamory’. Here is the link.  On the AI side, from the London Times: What all my AI girlfriends have in common is that they foster pseudo-intimacy at […] The post Average is Over, love and romance...

But in the case of Madrid, the last 25 years have been a clear move towards higher degree of tax competitiveness, smart regulation, and an overall liberal policy in the economic sense. And then our society is fairly open and tolerant and recognized to be what we would broadly described as a free society, an […] The post How did Madrid become the capital...

“We will continue to do what we can as a company to solve the low birth issue,” Lee Joong-keun, the chairman of Booyoung Group, a Seoul-based construction company, said last week after awarding a total $5.25 million to his employees for 70 babies born since 2021. Both male and female employees at Booyoung are eligible […] The post Markets in everything, Korean opening bid...

I don’t usually blog on “candidate topics,”or “Trump topics,” but a friend of mine asked me to cover this.  As you probably know, Trump threatened to let NATO countries that failed to meet the two percent of gdp defense budget obligation fend for themselves against Putin (video here, with Canadian commentary).  Trump even said he […] The post Trump’s threat to let Putin invade...

WEF 2002: The world could face lithium shortages by 2025, the International Energy Agency (IEA) says, while Credit Suisse thinks demand could treble between 2020 and 2025, meaning “supply would be stretched”. Reuters 2023:  Lithium producers are growing anxious that delays in mine permitting, staffing shortages and inflation may hinder their ability to supply enough […] The post Lithium appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION....

Governments around the world are intensifying scrutiny on the building of data centres over fears that their huge energy usage is putting excessive pressure on national climate targets and electricity grids. Ireland, Germany, Singapore and China as well as a US county and Amsterdam in the Netherlands have introduced restrictions on new data centres in […] The post Be long energy infrastructure, find the...

Shanhong Luo, a professor at Fayetteville State University, studies the factors behind attraction between romantic partners, including the norms that govern relationships. In a paper published in 2023 in Psychological Reports, a peer-reviewed journal, Dr. Luo and a team of researchers surveyed 552 heterosexual college students in Wilmington, N.C., and asked them whether they expected men or […] The post Sticky norms appeared first on Marginal...

From Scott Sumner: Matt Yglesias directed me to a new CBO report, which confirms that immigration explains the recent GDP boom: In our projections, the deficit is also smaller than it was last year because economic output is greater, partly as a result of more people working. The labor force in 2033 is larger by […] The post How much of our boom has...