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Marginal Revolution

Marginal Revolution

Newsletter | United States | Centre-Right
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Economics blog by Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok covering economics, culture, and ideas.

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Articles

Discussions from Marginal Revolution

Economy

Trade and the End of Antiquity

What was the role of trade, and how did economic activity evolve at the End of Antiquity, when political power shifts away from the Mediterranean towards northern Europe and the Middle East? To answer those questions, we assemble a database of hundreds of thousands of ancient coins from the fourth to the tenth century, estimate […] The post Trade and the End of Antiquity appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION. CommentsIn reply to Bill Allen. Wow. You really flushed out the . by MikePMeanwhile,...

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Culture

What should I ask Martha Nussbaum?

Yes, I will be doing a Conversation with her. Most of all focusing on her recent book The Republic of Love: Opera and Political Freedom. So what should I ask her? The post What should I ask Martha Nussbaum? appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION. CommentsIn reply to EBUG. You do not misunderstand her. Nussbaum's . by epocheIn reply to Dismalist. Very helpful. We just had a talk today . by Michael TinklerIn reply to celestus. Yes, Minister on Opera. Four minutes. by DismalistThoughts on Glass' ...

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Healthcare

Is psychotherapy underdiscussed these days? (from my email)

I listened to your recent conversation with Arthur C. Brooks and found myself struggling with his core premise. His framing of happiness seems to reduce it to something like a biological or behavioural optimisation problem, which feels quite far from how psychotherapy traditionally and historically understands it. I tried to find where he engages with […] The post Is psychotherapy underdiscussed these days? (from my email) appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION. Related StoriesWhat should I as...

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Culture

*Last Evenings with Teresa*

The author is Juan Marsé, this novel is set in 1956, first published in Spain in 1966, and only now appearing in English. Here is the Amazon link. Marsé is one of the handful of great authors who has no real presence in the Anglo world, Bioy Casares would be another. You can think of […] The post Last Evenings with Teresa appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION. CommentsIn reply to Gman. “Renowned artist “ trafficking in . by GmanRelated StoriesRyan Avent’s new book In Good FaithCapitalism ...

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Culture

What makes art great?

That is the title of the new and very stimulating essay by Nabeel Qureshi. It is difficult to summarize, but here is one excerpt: 2. Great art contains multiple overlapping layers of echoes. This is often harder to spot in verbal artifacts, but it is this feature that I think distinguishes really good works of […] The post What makes art great? appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION. Related StoriesReading blegThe Marcel Duchamp show at MOMAThe Raphael show at the NYC Met

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Society

My NPR debate on whether science is too risk-averse

This coming Tuesday at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, here is the event information, with three others as well. With debate partner Brandon Ogbunu I will be arguing the “yes” side, science is too risk-averse. Self-recommended! Here is the Open to Debate Substack. The post My NPR debate on whether science is too risk-averse appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION. CommentsIs there room to discuss the scientific process at the FDA when . by SnarkyIn reply to rayward. What they're risk ave...

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Economy

Words of wisdom, on China shock 2.0

Michael Pettis frequently claims that, by running large surpluses, China is forcing “the demand-suppressing cost of their policies onto their trading partners.” The idea here is relatively straightforward: by disincentivizing consumption within China, China’s policies are reducing domestic demand, which, ceteris paribus, reduces global demand. The problem with this logic should be fairly obvious: ceteris is not in fact paribus. It assumes other countries […] The post Words of wisdom, on China...

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Environment

Pro-Development Environmentalists

The Breakthrough Institute (BTI) found that “just 10 organizations initiated 35% of the total NEPA cases brought by NGOs.” The Sierra Club and its local chapters alone were responsible for more than 14% of these lawsuits. The dominance of a small number of groups is more pronounced in forest management and energy cases; only 10 […] The post Pro-Development Environmentalists appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION. CommentsGood post Alex. However I know people who worked very hard . by Wayfaring...

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Society

The collapse of teen fertility in the digital era

Teen fertility collapsed globally starting around 2007. This affected countries across the income and policy spectrum. This paper argues that smartphones changed how teens spend time with each other, and that this change in turn drove the collapse in teen fertility. Once enough teens are on the phone, being on the phone is where the […] The post The collapse of teen fertility in the digital era appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION. CommentsIn reply to Scott Sumner. I guess it's time we promo...

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Economy

Capitalism and Modernity

Jesús Fernández-Villaverde, one of the few economists in the world equally at home solving stochastic dynamic optimization problems as with sociological theory and history, has an excellent series of twitter posts on capitalism and modernity. JFV: I have been reading (and re-reading) a lot of social theory. What strikes me is that most critics of […] The post Capitalism and Modernity appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION. Related StoriesHUD Says It’s Legal to Tell the TruthOn health care pric...

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Business

My very charming Conversation with Craig Newmark

Here is the audio, video, and transcript. Here is part of the episode summary: Tyler and Craig discuss why webpage design has gotten worse for 30 years, what Craig’s “obsessive customer service disorder” taught him about human nature, why trusting people and maintaining a nine-second rule for scams aren’t as contradictory as they sound, why […] The post My very charming Conversation with Craig Newmark appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION. CommentsThe very opposite of Ray Dalio energy. There'...

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Technology

talkie: an LM from 1930

Here is the link, with explanation. The post talkie: an LM from 1930 appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION. CommentsUser which country is most likely to aggressively invade a . by vimspotIn reply to Etalon d’Silomar. Almost as if there was a . by JPIn reply to Seth Green. The project creators say their next . by Jon BUser: How old is the Earth? talkie-1930: The earth is . by Jumfrey Tuckins, President of TexasWhat if you asked an LLM trained on economics up to 1987 what . by rsmPlus 10 more.R...

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