~marginalrevolution | Bookmarks (161)

On the road, I haven’t had a chance to read this paper yet, but I pass it along as a matter of interest: Theory predicts that global economic growth will stagnate and even come to an end due to slower and eventually negative growth in population. It has been claimed, however, that Artificial Intelligence (AI) […] The post Is an Economic Growth Explosion Imminent?...

Here is my blurb for the book: “Bryan Caplan is a pioneer in the use of graphic novels to expound economic concepts. His new book Build, Baby, Build is thus a landmark in economic education, how to present economic ideas, and the integration of economic analysis and graphic visuals. If you want to learn the economics, ethics, […] The post *Build, Baby, Build*, by Bryan Caplan...

Bryan Caplan has a good post on out-of-state tuition: [State schools] almost always charge students from their own state much lower tuition. In the most recent data, average out-of-state tuition for four-year colleges was $26,382, versus $9,212 for in-state — roughly a 3:1 ratio. I’ve argued for a long time that an enterprising lawyer ought to sue […] The post The Puzzling Law and Economics of...

By Anton Korinek and Donghyun Suh, in a new NBER working paper: We analyze how output and wages behave under different scenarios for technological progress that may culminate in Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), defined as the ability of AI systems to perform all tasks that humans can perform. We assume that human work can be […] The post Scenarios for the Transition to AGI...

He is a podcaster who mainly does transcripts.  Our discussion was largely but by no means entirely about climate change, here is one excerpt: Sam: And India also is building huge amounts of new renewable and other electricity generating capacity. They’re building electric rail networks. They seem to be hitting their stride in a way that […] The post My interview with Sam Matey appeared...

The full paper title is “Has Intergenerational Progress Stalled? Income Growth Over Five Generations of Americans,” by Kevin Corrinth and Jeff Larrimore.  Here is the abstract: We find that each of the past four generations of Americans was better off than the previous one, using a post-tax, post-transfer income measure constructed annually from 1963-2022 based […] The post New results on intergenerational progress appeared...

I am setting aside most of the cultural and “macro” issues, and just considering policy, in my latest Bloomberg column.  Excerpt: Consider agriculture. If you fly over Hispaniola, you can see a notable difference between the Haitian and Dominican sides of the border. The Dominican side has plenty of trees, whereas the Haitian side is denuded. Much […] The post Haiti vs. the Dominican Republic appeared...

Steve Sinofsky, former president of Microsoft’s Windows division and now a VC, has an excellent deep dive on the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA). The Act is very squarely aimed at Apple, despite the fact that Apple is not a monopoly and has a significantly smaller share of the phone market than Android. Apple’s history […] The post Gatekeeping is Apple’s Brand Promise appeared...

Thomas is at the Templeton Foundation, here is the link (with transcript), here is one bit: Tom: …So, I know that you’re a voracious reader, you’re immensely curious. Going back to your childhood, what were some of your favorite books during some of those formative years? Tyler: Well, when I was very small, my favorite books […] The post My podcast with Thomas Burnett appeared...

Here is an appreciation from Texas A&M. The post Thomas Saving, RIP appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.         CommentsI met Tom Saving a number of times at the Mont Pelerin Society ... by Mark SkousenI'm not sure whether Thomas Saving being appointed to manage ... by Brandon BergIn reply to mkt42. I think he came up with the .2% Medicare ... by Cancelled for...

Here is an outline of part of my lecture.  I presented “free trade” (NB: it wasn’t totally free), the classical gold standard, and some modicum of free immigration (not everywhere) as three successful and mostly stable pillars of 19th century classical liberal achievement.  Of course that was for limited parts of Western Europe and North […] The post Some triumphs of 19th century liberalism...

It’s really, right now, I think the profession is very inward-looking. It’s rewarding people who do things that are seen as hard. It’s really blurring the lines between theory and empirics was structural in a way that it is an experiment that I personally don’t think has worked out very well. And so, I think […] The post Steve Levitt on the future of...

The shock therapy administered by Milei and his economy czar Luis Caputo right after the Dec. 10 inauguration is showing results. In a severely recessionary context, inflation is slowing down (February prices rose 13.2% in monthly terms compared with 25.5% in December) while foreign reserves grew by more than $7 billion despite debt repayments. Deposits on local […] The post Milei update appeared first on Marginal...

Steve Levitt anecdote: economics has found its Bill Laimbeer.  Other excellent anecdotes in the thread.  And Levitt on publishing and academia, recommended.  This superb podcast episode is a real coup for Jon Hartley, transcript also at the link.  File under “too good to excerpt,” this is quite simply one of the best podcasts ever. The post Jon Hartley podcast episode with Steve Levitt appeared...

A charter city is a special zone with a charter granting significant autonomy from the host country’s regulations. Hong Kong, a succesful Chinese city operating under British law, was one early inspiration. Examples like this fueled criticisms that charter cities were “neo-colonial”. But Charter cities do not inherently require foreign legal frameworks. The fundamental purpose […] The post Indigenous Charter Cities appeared first on...

In latest @CapAndFreedom ep, Steve Levitt talks his career & retiring as @UChicago prof while still leading RISC & Freakonomics. We talk applied economics, Chicago econ dept (price theory failure, macro success, personalities), Freakonomics origin & more https://t.co/bdBKovL7PF — Jon Hartley (@Jon_Hartley_) March 13, 2024   The post Steve Levitt is retiring from academia appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.         CommentsWow, Steve Levitt's stories...

Contrary to some recent claims, the Canadian economy is not falling apart, and now I have a Bloomberg column on that point.  Excerpt: A chorus of doomsayers is pointing out that by some measures, Canadian per-capita GDP is in decline. While there is genuine room for concern, the bad news is much overstated. Canada has not altered […] The post The Canadian economy is a worthwhile...

TC: Let’s say you were Peter Boettke, and looking to pen a critique of Kirzner’s theory of entrepreneurship. You come from a slightly different branch of the Austrian school. How would you use that differential background to express your differences with the Kirznerian theory, which emphasizes alertness above all else as an entrepreneurial characteristic? “If […] The post Claude 3 Opus does Austrian economics...

The Hill has a good op-ed by Matt Cole and Chris Nicholson on how labor and DEI regulations are strangling the CHIPS act. It’s somewhat over the top, failure is overdetermined, but this is an important op-ed and directionally correct. The Biden administration recently promised it will finally loosen the purse strings on $39 billion of CHIPS […] The post DEI vs. the Chips Act appeared...

China’s admission into the WTO in 2001 heralded a new era of globalization, increasing both import competition in domestic markets and foreign opportunities for US firms. In the aggregate, the average annual profitability of US public firms during the post globalization period (2003-2019) increased by 11.5% of the corresponding pre-globalization period (1984-2002) profitability. This increase […] The post Which U.S. firms have grown in...

“The terms of trade argument for protectionism relies on specific assumptions about the elasticities of demand and supply for a country’s exports and imports. The key elasticity assumptions are: Inelastic foreign demand for the country’s exports: This means that when the price of the country’s exports increases, the quantity demanded by foreign countries does not […] The post What are the exact elasticity assumptions...

I agree with the anonymous email, and I’ve written about customers going off-grid or doing microgrids because I think customers will find them more appealing than existing utilities. It seems obvious that a lot of data centers will directly source their power. It’s not insurmountable now that there is a robust industry of independent power […] The post Austin Vernon on utilities (from my...

That is the topic of my latest Bloomberg column, here is one excerpt: From both a biomedical and economic point of view, the success of the new class of weight-loss drugs is something to behold. Not only are they a remarkable scientific achievement, but — in the case of Ozempic and Wegovy, both made by […] The post Small countries, big firms appeared first...

Here is the video, audio, and transcript, taped in his Apollo office in NYC.  Here is the episode summary: Marc Rowan, co-founder and CEO of Apollo Global Management, joined Tyler to discuss why rising interest rates won’t hurt Apollo’s profitability, why liabilities have traditionally been the weak spot in insurance, why the concept of liquidity […] The post My excellent Conversation with Marc Rowan...