Marginal Revolution

No abundance for *Abundance* - Marginal REVOLUTION Book clubs nationwide have been talking for months about whether you are “Abundance-pilled,” a reference to the recent book by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson that has made it into the lexicon of many public policy nerds. And public policy nerds happen to be everywhere in the District of Columbia. That is why the waitlist to borrow this book […]

No abundance for *Abundance* - Marginal REVOLUTION

Why the tariffs are bad - Marginal REVOLUTION I am delighted to see this excellent analysis in the NYT: Mr. Tedeschi said that future leaders in Washington, whether Republican or Democrat, may be hesitant to roll back the tariffs if that would mean a further addition to the federal debt load, which is already raising alarms on Wall Street. And replacing the tariff […]

Why the tariffs are bad - Marginal REVOLUTION

The Prime Minister of Sweden asks AI for advice in his job “quite often” - Marginal REVOLUTION Here is the Reddit discussion.

The Prime Minister of Sweden asks AI for advice in his job “quite often” - Marginal REVOLUTION

Sunday assorted links - Marginal REVOLUTION 1. The conservative women who are ‘having it all’ (WSJ).  I know more and more of such people. 2. Henry Mance on charisma (FT). 3. This ad was banned from UK TV? Is the Straussian read that it is actually an ad for Americans to view? 4. Ezra and Yoram Hazony (NYT).  Mostly I am […]

Sunday assorted links - Marginal REVOLUTION

Time Theft at the Terminal - Marginal REVOLUTION Travel expert Gary Leff on the billions in wasted time spent at airports: Maybe the biggest failure in air travel is something we don’t talk about at all. How is it possible that people are being told to show up at the airport 2.5 to 3 hours before their flight, and that isn’t considered a […]

Time Theft at the Terminal - Marginal REVOLUTION

Accra bleg - Marginal REVOLUTION Your suggestions would be most welcome.  In addition if you have any ideas for northern Ghana, most of all Tamale and Mole national park area… Thank you!

Accra bleg - Marginal REVOLUTION

Emergent Ventures winners, 44th cohort - Marginal REVOLUTION Adelya Makhanova, Stanford, AI for minerals exploration. Gleb Razgar, London, brain emulation. Stephen Webb, London, former civil servant, to write a book on how British government could work better. Dima Yanovsky, MIT, robotics. Aakarsh Vermani, Berkeley, summer support to live in Berkeley, computational biology. Kristine Petrov Pashin, Stanford, to ease the patent process. Eviella Sefu, […]

Emergent Ventures winners, 44th cohort - Marginal REVOLUTION

In which ways is the BLS biased? - Marginal REVOLUTION No, they do not sit around changing the numbers to serve the interests of Democratic presidents, or to harm Republican ones.  The system has too many different steps, too many checks and balances, and too many people who do not want to do the wrong thing.  In a sense, you could say that the BLS […]

In which ways is the BLS biased? - Marginal REVOLUTION

Saturday assorted links - Marginal REVOLUTION 1. GMU shuts down DEI. 2. Claims about GPTs. 3. A debate. 4. El Salvador allows for an indefinite extension of presidential terms. 5. “Sober sex can have big payoffs, too, Ms. Rademacher said.” (NYT). 6. Janan Ganesh on how to travel (FT). 7. Jason Furman on the BLS firing (NYT).

Saturday assorted links - Marginal REVOLUTION

The Indian Wedding - Marginal REVOLUTION Another great piece by Samir Varma on Indian marriages—where deep traditions endure, even as subtle revolutions unfold around the edges.. It starts with this kicker: When I told my mother I was marrying my girlfriend, an Italian Jew, she called all my friends in the US asking them to break us up. When that failed, […]

The Indian Wedding - Marginal REVOLUTION

*Taking Religion Seriously* - Marginal REVOLUTION By Charles Murray, now forthcoming, I expect it will be very interesting.  Due out October 14.

*Taking Religion Seriously* - Marginal REVOLUTION

The economics of the U.S. auto industry, a brief history - Marginal REVOLUTION From Adam Ozimek: The economic value of the cars being made has climbed substantially through the years. As a result, real value added and industrial production — two different ways of measuring actual output — are now at all-time highs. And this: What about jobs? The auto industry today employs 1 million workers. Between 1950 and […]

The economics of the U.S. auto industry, a brief history - Marginal REVOLUTION

UK (Google) fact of the day - Marginal REVOLUTION Google now spends more on physical capital like datacentres ($85 billion / year) than the entire UK defence budget ($79 billion / year). Here is the source.

UK (Google) fact of the day - Marginal REVOLUTION

Friday assorted links - Marginal REVOLUTION 1. Eduardo Fernandez playing Bach on guitar. 2. Lots of thriving life, 30,000 feet deep. 3. Toward a new theory of the Senate? If you do not find this puzzling, you are not paying attention. 4. Robert Wilson, RIP. 5. I thought “Oh, Hi!” was a better than expected retelling of “Before Sunrise,” except the […]

Friday assorted links - Marginal REVOLUTION

The Tragedy of India's Government-Job Prep Towns - Marginal REVOLUTION In Massive Rent-Seeking in India’s Government Job Examination System I argued that the high value of government jobs has distorted India’s entire labor market and educational system. India’s most educated young people—precisely those it needs in the workforce—are devoting years of their life cramming for government exams instead of working productively. These exams cultivate no […]

The Tragedy of India's Government-Job Prep Towns - Marginal REVOLUTION

More on the US-EU trade deal - Marginal REVOLUTION Here is my column from The Free Press: But the real exercise, and critique of the tariffs, has to be a comparative one. After all, it is estimated that the tariffs will bring in between $1.5 trillion and $5.2 trillion of revenue over the next decade. A good debate would be “the Trump tariffs” vs. “a more comprehensive […]

More on the US-EU trade deal - Marginal REVOLUTION

Taxes and tariffs - Marginal REVOLUTION Here is an NBER paper from May that I do not think I covered: We evaluate the aggregate effects of a change in tariffs on the US and world economies when tariff revenue is used to enact fiscal reform. Our model combines a standard international model of fiscal policy with taxes and a dynamic model […]

Taxes and tariffs - Marginal REVOLUTION

Berthold and Emanuel Lasker - Marginal REVOLUTION A fun rabbit hole!  Berthold was world chess champion Emanuel Lasker’s older brother, and also his first wife was Elsa Lasker-Schüler, the avant-garde German Jewish poet and playwright. In the 1880s (!) he developed what later was called “Fischer Random” chess, Chess960, or now “freestyle chess,” as Magnus Carlsen has dubbed it.  The opening arrangement […]

Berthold and Emanuel Lasker - Marginal REVOLUTION

Thursday assorted links - Marginal REVOLUTION 1. “Here, we apply econometric causal inference techniques to 740,249 hours of human discourse from 360,445 YouTube academic talks and 771,591 conversational podcast episodes across multiple disciplines. We detect a measurable and abrupt increase in the use of words preferentially generated by ChatGPT, such as delve, comprehend, boast, swift, and meticulous, after its release.”  I […]

Thursday assorted links - Marginal REVOLUTION

The Australian Josh Szeps interviews me - Marginal REVOLUTION Here is the video. It was too hot to Spinoza to make an appearance, alas.

The Australian Josh Szeps interviews me - Marginal REVOLUTION

Say it ain't so, Cecil... - Marginal REVOLUTION New British cars may have to be fitted with breathalyser technology and black box-style recorders under Labour plans to align with EU vehicle safety laws. The Government said copying European rules would drive down costs… Here is the full Telegraph article.  It seems more complicated than that, instead the car has to allow for the […]

Say it ain't so, Cecil... - Marginal REVOLUTION

What does consulting do? - Marginal REVOLUTION It is actually pretty useful: This paper provides the first systematic and comprehensive empirical study of management and strategy consulting. We unveil the workings of this opaque industry by drawing on universal administrative business-to-business transaction data based on value-added tax links from Belgium (2002-2023). These data permit us to document the nature of consulting engagements, […]

What does consulting do? - Marginal REVOLUTION

What should Evan Goldfine ask me about Bach? - Marginal REVOLUTION Here is Evan with 37 theses about Bach.  He now also has an all-Bach podcast, and he and I are recording tomorrow afternoon.  So what should he ask me?

What should Evan Goldfine ask me about Bach? - Marginal REVOLUTION

Indonesia monkey markets in everything - Marginal REVOLUTION At a cliff-side temple on the tropical island of Bali, an unexpected group of criminals is running one of the world’s most sophisticated scam operations. Every week, they steal dozens of phones, wallets and other valuables from tourists in broad daylight and exchange them for handsome rewards. It’s been going on for decades and nobody’s […]

Indonesia monkey markets in everything - Marginal REVOLUTION

Wednesday assorted links - Marginal REVOLUTION 1. NYT on human challenge trials. 2. Notes on spite. 3. Henry Oliver on Rear Window. 4. ” Alexandria – a free open source Great Books Library where you can talk to an AI tutor (“Virgil”) in the margins of the books.” 5. Indonesia climbing the value chain. 6. Anton Howes podcast on Henry VIII and the […]

Wednesday assorted links - Marginal REVOLUTION

Design Your Own Rug! - Marginal REVOLUTION For my wedding anniversary, I designed and had hand-woven in Afghanistan a rug for my microbiologist wife. The rug mixes traditional Afghanistan designs with some scientific elements including Bunsen burners, test tubes, bacterial petri dishes and other elements. I started with several AI designs, such as that shown below, to give the weavers an idea […]

Design Your Own Rug! - Marginal REVOLUTION

My 1988 Southeast Asia trip - Marginal REVOLUTION This was by far the longest trip I ever have done, at about seven weeks, and I did it by myself.  I had just taught one year at UC Irvine, and I thought time was ripe to learn something about the other side of the Pacific.  I just set out and decided to do it, […]

My 1988 Southeast Asia trip - Marginal REVOLUTION

The British Navy snapped up so many of the good personnel - Marginal REVOLUTION Circa WWI: Before the War Office had awoken to the demands of modern war, the Admiralty had. Put in its orders, protected its workers from conscription and claimed a large share of national steel production.  Of the 480,000 protected industrial workers in July 1915, 400,000 belonged to the Admiralty, which controlled three-quarters of the maritime […]

The British Navy snapped up so many of the good personnel - Marginal REVOLUTION

Tuesday assorted links - Marginal REVOLUTION 1. Chinese temples are being transformed into consumption opportunities, https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1017275 2. Andrew Batson visits India, https://andrewbatson.com/2025/07/27/india-and-the-invidious-comparison-with-china/ 3. New paper on the economics of stablecoins, https://www.nber.org/papers/w34066#fromrss 4. Dan Wang on Breakneck, a new letter, https://danwang.co/breakneck/ 5. What does YIMBY for Africa look like?, https://asteriskmag.com/issues/11/yes-in-my-bamako-yard 6. Ads in AI are OK, https://www.strangeloopcanon.com/p/yes-ads-are-inevitable-in-ai-its 7. It is not just […]

Tuesday assorted links - Marginal REVOLUTION

Red Flags for Waymo in Boston - Marginal REVOLUTION The British Locomotives Act of 1865 contained a red flag provision: …while any Locomotive is in Motion, [one of the three required attendants] shall precede such Locomotive on Foot by not less than Sixty Yards, and shall carry a Red Flag constantly displayed, and shall warn the Riders and Drivers of Horses of the Approach […]

Red Flags for Waymo in Boston - Marginal REVOLUTION