~marginalrevolution | Bookmarks (547)

Watch here.  (It’s happening.) The post The new Claude can run and direct your computer for you appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.         CommentsOld: clickbait that tricks humans New: clickbait that tricks ... by compromise is the death of innovationIn reply to Flex. Yes, that probably should have been the ... by JWattsIn reply to Gene de Murro. “When is sunrise at Golden Gate...

1. The importance of conditional risk in finance. 2. Brendan Greeley on how exclusive and inclusive institutions fit together (FT).  “Rather, this inability to see how London, Virginia and Barbados function within the same system is, ironically, an institutional problem within the profession of economics.” 3. Joseph Walker and Larry Summers podcast on AGI and […] The post Tuesday assorted links appeared first on...

Our second podcast on the 1970s titled Oil Shocks, Price Controls and War is now available! Here’s one bit: Tabarrok: …Sheikh Ahmed Yamani, in a famous statement, he was the oil minister for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, he’s a leader of OPEC, he says on October 16th, this is 10 days after the war […] The post The MR Podcast–Oil Shocks, Price Controls...

I loved this Craig Brown book, although many of you won’t.  A good biography typically brings a subject to life.  This biography sets out to convince you that Queen Elizabeth II could never be understood whatsoever, that she was a literal cipher and always was going to stand outside our typical categories.  She did love […] The post *A Voyage Around the Queen* appeared...

How does a person’s childhood socioeconomic status (SES) influence their chances to participate and succeed in science? To investigate this question, we use machine-learning methods to link scientists in a comprehensive biographical dictionary, the American Men of Science (1921), with their childhood home in the US Census and with publications. First, we show that children […] The post What predicts success in science? appeared...

If you ask them whether they are short the market, many will say there is no way to short the apocalypse.  But of course you can benefit from pending signs of deterioration in advance.  At the very least, you can short some markets, or go long volatility, and then send those profits to Somalia to […] The post A funny feature of the AI...

1. Grandmaster level chess without search, or how AI can learn from Stockfish directly.   And one possible interpretation. 2. Shakespeare on the wane. 3. Eric Budish on the limits of blockchains, now in the QJE. 4. A defense of surveillance capitalism. 5. The effects of the Dawes Act on American Indian mortality. 6. Stripe and […] The post Monday assorted links appeared first on...

You will find it here.  Rick asked me to give him my account of Russian classical music, “standing on one foot” as you might say.  With musical clips as well, played on Rick’s sound system.  So we started with Rimsky and Mussorgsky, and the European and folk/peasant music traditions as contrasting influences in Russian music.  […] The post My Russian classical music podcast with...

He was a nineteenth century Belgian economist, wonderful to read, and still neglected as a thinker.  Here is one excerpt from a short open access book by Benoit Malbranque, now on line: Gustave de Molinari himself was perhaps as much a traveler, a journalist and an historian, as he was a political philosopher. In fact, […] The post Gustav de Molinari, the first libertarian?...

Here is part of the segment on AI: Given the potential for AI to exacerbate inequality, how can we redirect technology? We need to actively steer technological development in a direction that benefits broader swathes of humanity.  This require a pro-human approach that prioritises enhancing worker productivity and autonomy, supporting democracy and citizen empowerment, and […] The post Acemoglu interview with Times of India...

1. Casey Handmer on the exoplanet telescope. 2. What is England? 3. What is it like to work on a mega-yacht? 4. Income inequality and sexy selfies. 5. FT podcast with Mark Koyama and Jared Rubin on economic growth. 6. Cuban power grid collapses again. 7. A short genetic history of Ethiopia. The post Sunday assorted links appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.         CommentsIn...

Administrators cannot discuss panda illness, death, disease or “any other important matters” without first consulting with their Chinese partners, whose views “shall be fully respected.” “In cases where release of related information to the outside world or acceptance of media interviews is necessary, it shall be implemented only after communication and consultation between the parties […] The post What do panda rental contracts look...

A great little video on over-regulation. The post Musk on Sharks appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION. Click the icon below to watch.         CommentsIn reply to blue jay. No doubt, the specifics of the story ... by Mark BahnerIn reply to Mark Bahner. Regulation with detail often lags ... by SignalIn reply to Bob. How so? The NHS puts their physician times ... by...

Saudi Arabia is preparing to begin construction work on its next giga-project: a cube-shaped skyscraper big enough to fit 20 Empire State Buildings. The Mukaab will be 400-meters on each side when construction is finished, which would make it the largest built structure in the world. The building will be the centerpiece of New Murabba, a […] The post Saudi construction project of the day...

Although it is widely acknowledged that high-skilled teachers are integral to service quality and young children’s well-being in child care settings, little is known about the qualifications and skills of the child care workforce. This paper combines data from multiple sources to provide a comprehensive assessment of the quality of individuals employed in the child […] The post The Declining Relative Quality of the...

1. “China’s top police officer has made a rare comment on economic matters with a call for better risk management and stability.” 2. “Who is the C.E.O. of Boar’s Head?” (NYT) 3. A very narrow skyscraper for Dubai. 4. Is tennis moving toward higher-variance strategies? 5. Claims about hiring. 6. U.S. start-up for embryo selection. The post Saturday assorted links appeared first on Marginal...

A man used homemade explosives, some of which he dropped from drones, to attack or intimidate in a dispute rooted in local politics in a community in northern Maine, law enforcement officials said. No one was hurt. Joshua Brydon, 37, of Woodland, appeared in court this week after authorities say he set off explosives near […] The post The protest culture that is Maine...

Iran is one of the few countries in the world to have eliminated the shortage of kidneys. A useful new paper looks at what donors are like, First some background: The adoption of a regulated market mechanism for kidney procurement in Iran started in 1988 in the absence of sufficient posthumous donations (Ghods and Savaj, […] The post Iranian Kidney Donors appeared first on...

I am usually skeptical of such efforts, but Journal of Health Economics is quite a serious outlet: Community water fluoridation has been named one of the 10 greatest public health achievements of the 20th century for its role in improving dental health. Fluoride has large negative effects at high doses, clear benefits at low levels, […] The post Fluoride revisionism? appeared first on Marginal...

This article reconciles conflicting views about the political landscape of corporate America with new data on the revealed political preferences of 97,469 corporate directors and executives at 9,005 different U.S. companies. I find that average ideology for these individuals has shifted meaningfully to the left over time, changing from modestly conservative in 2001 to roughly […] The post The Political Transformation of Corporate America,...

The Neom giga-project in Saudi Arabia is currently using one fifth of all the steel produced in the world, an official said on Monday. The futuristic city will be the world’s largest customer for construction materials for several decades, said Manar Al Moneef, Neom’s chief investment officer. She told the Global Logistics Forum in the King Abdullah […] The post Saudi claim of the day appeared...

1. Choose the right status hierarchies.  An excellent short essay. 2. How to solve America’s housing crisis. 3. Hugh Grant sides with Schelling and rebels against Adam Smith. 4. The new Sienese painting show at the Met (New Yorker). 5. Open Philanthropy looking for someone great to lead a new program on accelerating economic growth […] The post Friday assorted links appeared first on...

My values haven’t become more conservative — my desire for a more economically egalitarian and socially tolerant society has not diminished an iota. You won’t see me bellowing “I didn’t leave my party, my party left ME!!” and storming over to the GOP in a huff. But I have to say that I now doubt […] The post Noah Smith on the vibe shift...

That is the theme of my latest Bloomberg column, here is one excerpt: In the debates over Brexit almost a decade ago, it was periodically suggested that Britain’s higher trade barriers with the EU could lead to a beneficial upsurge in foreign direct investment, to serve the British market. So far Britain continues to languish […] The post Will Trumpian tariffs attract more foreign...