Sam Bowman

Homepage of newest issue of Works in Progress magazine, featuring pieces on through running, redrawing cities, animal drug regulation, inflation targeting, and more.

The latest issue of Works in Progress is out today!

- One weird trick to build a metro
- The FDA's secret liberalisation of animal drugs
- How Japan builds infrastructure through cities
- Brain-computer interfaces
- How NZ invented inflation targeting

And more! worksinprogress.co

Works in Progress Podcast Technology Podcast · Works in Progress is an online magazine devoted to new and underrated ideas about economic growth, scientific progress, and technology. Subscribe to listen to the Works in Progres...

Works in Progress has (finally) come to podcasting. Our new series launched today, Hard Drugs, focuses on medical innovation – episode one is about a new drug that might allow us to eradicate HIV worldwide. It’s presented by Saloni Dattani and Jacob Trefethen.

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w...

Also, strongly recommend turning on extended thinking. I wish it showed the chain of thought like with DeepSeek, because once you can see that you can really intuit how AGI might happen using the basic tech we have now.

I’ve found Claude’s “Projects” to be quite helpful for writing, since they allow you to keep research and writing help all in the same place. I hope they add some kind of notepad function as well and it could end up replacing Google Docs / Obsidian for my early drafts.

Posting this here because it seems like a great job people should see, working for @stuartjritchie.bsky.social at Anthropic. If you’re a brilliant writer on economics and society and want to help the world understand AI better, consider applying.

boards.greenhouse.io/anthropic/jo...

I am no longer monitoring this website. Please follow me on x.com/s8mb for all the latest news and views from me!

Great post!

Great to have @jessesingal.com on the platform!

Why housing shortages cause homelessness - Works in Progress Why do high-cost cities have more homelessness? It's not just about rents — it’s also about the rooms friends and family can’t afford to share.

It’s widely accepted *that* less expensive housing markets see less homelessness, but this important piece shows *why*: family & friends have more space to spare worksinprogress.co/issue/why-ho...

Thank you!

Thank you! I think the biggest factor by far here is that the barriers we put up to investment mean the returns to investments are low, so saving rates end up being low (higher returns to saving, higher savings rates). There are other factors too but that is the most significant imo.

What’s wrong with Britain’s economy? With Sam Bowman Is the UK failing to build for its future?

What’s wrong with Britain’s economy? I appeared on the FT’s Economics Show with @soumayakeynes.bsky.social to talk about why banning investment in housing and infrastructure might be at the root of our problems. on.ft.com/3ZcCgwp

What’s wrong with Britain’s economy? With Sam Bowman The Economics Show with Soumaya Keynes · Episode

If you’re looking for a podcast today, make it this one! @sambowman.co discusses his coauthored lengthy “manifesto” ukfoundations.co
Lots of British problems are also Irish problems, especially regarding infrastructure and housing

Surely it's not a real name?!

OK, this is now Information I Can Discuss In Public, so: new project!

For the next ~year, I will be writing a living literature review on migration, a la @mattsclancy.bsky.social’s New Things Under the Sun and funded by Open Philanthropy

First post coming Tuesday on the Mariel Boatlift!

Marvellous – what a great project, and a great pairing.

How to end the free speech crisis | Fred de Fossard | The Critic Magazine The free speech crisis in Britain has become an international news story. To many — particularly American — observers, the defining image of modern Britain is the fact that the British state…

Good piece by Fred De Fossard (I presume a pseudonym) on the four laws that lead to people being jailed for unpleasant tweets and harassed by police for signs saying “Love Muslims, hate Islam”. Any future Conservative govt should plan to repeal these ASAP.

thecritic.co.uk/how-to-end-t...

As I say, I approve of it!

The best thing about Bluesky is the restoration of high follower accounts to their rightful place as the most important accounts on the platform. Twitter’s egalitarianism under Musk, where a tweet by someone with 30 followers could go viral with enough engagement, was a Jacobinist disaster.

Real economic resources are being used if your niece does work for you. Taxing that in one case but not another would be distortionary. Whereas a transfer given without anything in return doesn't involve any economic cost. And we DON'T currently tax any other transfer like that, even betting wins.

Yes, all that is taxed exactly as much as if you do it for yourself. Whereas your assets are taxed at a 40% marginal rate if you leave it to your children, but not at all if you consume them all for yourself.

Urbanists often look to places like zoning-free Houston, the private places of St Louis, and privately-developed exurban communities like Irvine. There we see rules about land use emerge between residents and via developers.

I wrote about another example.

theceme.substack.com/p/private-pl...
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Certainly you shouldn't be able to avoid tax just by dying. I'm not really convinced that a tax on house price gains is desirable, but if we had one, it should apply in the same way to homes transferred at death. But *only* taxing houses transferred at death is crazy!

Don't we have "market forces" to do that? Why would we want an extra tax?

Life's too short for this, sorry.

I don't think income taxes are especially distortionary, and capital gains taxes at least have the benefit of avoiding income being concealed at capital income.

Oh right. And what if I'm inheriting from a non-couple? Do I think a 40% marginal tax rate on what I leave to my kids reduces my ability to give them the stuff I've earned in life? Amazed you need me to clarify that, but yes, I do.

If we could tax veblen goods specifically then it might be a good move, but a lot of luxury goods consumption isn't conspicuous consumption, and a lot of conspicuous consumption isn't via luxury goods!

No more distorting than one where you, the owner, get the benefit of that windfall. Inheritance tax is a terrible way to try to address that kind of problem.

Kicks in at £2m? Think you need to look at the thresholds again.