~marginalrevolution | Bookmarks (45)

That is the subject of my latest Bloomberg column.  Here is one excerpt: The Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises is having a moment, especially in Latin America. Argentine President Javier Milei admires Mises, and he has adopted some Misesian ideas, such as the notion that “the middle of the road leads to socialism.” Milei used to be an academic […] The post The Ludwig von Mises comeback appeared...

…at least half of a population of ten million depend on the state in some way—35% are retirees, 10% government workers, and another 5% receive either unemployment benefits or integration benefits. They would see a country with less youth than they once saw; they would see what is in fact, after Italy, the second-oldest country in […] The post A portrait of Portugal appeared first...

Zimbabwe has introduced a new gold-backed currency called ZiG – the name stands for “Zimbabwe Gold”. It is the latest attempt to stabilise an economy that has lurched from crisis to crisis for the past 25 years. Unveiling the new notes, central bank governor John Mushayavanhu said the ZiG would be structured, and set at […] The post Zimbabwe launches new gold-backed currency appeared...

Africa's debt crisis is back to where it was in the late 1990s, with almost one fifth of government revenues now used to service foreign loans. The cost is being counted in crumbling clinics and schools, and economic stagnation pic.twitter.com/3zAGRC6ule — Patrick Watt (@WattPatrick) April 2, 2024 The post Is an African debt crisis returning? appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.         CommentsIs california yimby...

From the TxP Progress Prize: But then Tyler asked us, twice in a row, ‘what is your signature product?’ Being honest, we realised even if our pitch was strong at a high level, we’d essentially just submitted a laundry list of ideas for what we wanted to deliver, without much focus. We knew we had […] The post Applying to Emergent Ventures, and how...

Here is a good Substack essay by Nicolas Cachanosky, excerpt: Inflation expectations depend on what is expected to happen to the budget in the months to come. It is natural, then, to ask whether the observed surpluses are sustainable in the months ahead. Answering this question requires looking at two things. First, how was the fiscal […] The post How credible is the Milei plan?...

El Salvador’s Congress approved on Tuesday a reform to remove income taxes previously imposed on money from abroad, in a move to attract more foreign investment. Money flows from abroad in forms such as remittances and investments in companies will now be exempt from tax, lawmakers said. Prior to the reform, incomes equal to or […] The post The El Salvador tax reform appeared...

a16z has issued the talks from that event, and we are issuing it too, as a bonus episode of CWT.  But note it is shorter than usual, and not the typical CWT format — this was done for an audience of actual DC human beings! Excerpt: COWEN: Why is open-source AI in particular important for national […] The post Marc Andreessen and I talk AI...

You will find it here, 45 pp. of text plus lots of footnotes.  Overall it is a nothing burger.  You’ll find plenty of (justifiable) claims that there are no dead bodies, no alien spacecraft have been recovered, no technology is being reverse engineered, there is nothing to Roswell, and so on.  Here is from the […] The post The new UAPs report appeared first...

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...

The amount of new transmission line installed in the United States has dropped sharply since 2013, when 4,000 miles were added. Now, the nation struggles to bring online even 1,000 new miles a year. The slowdown has real consequences not just for companies but for the climate. A group of scientists led by Princeton University professor […] The post We need YIMBY for the U.S....

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...

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...

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...

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?...

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...

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...

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...