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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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Discussions from Marginal Revolution

🎭 Culture
January 31, 2026

David Hume update — “model this”

The tomb of the philosopher David Hume and two other memorials at a historic cemetery in Edinburgh have been vandalised with “disturbing occult-style paraphernalia”. A tour guide made the discovery at the Old Calton burial ground. It included a drawing of a naked woman pointing a bloodied knife at a baby with a noose around its neck, […] The post David Hume update — “model this” appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION. CommentsWell, if they are going to start an an “anti meta physical . by Matt...

United Kingdom
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🎭 Culture
January 31, 2026

What I’ve been reading

Adrian Goldsworthy, Augustus: First Emperor of Rome. A very clear and readable treatment of one of the most important Romans. Exactly what you would expect from the author. Indranil Chakravarty, The Tree Within: The Mexican Nobel Laureate Octavio Paz’s Years in India. Imagine a book that is interesting about both the cultures of Mexico and […] The post What I’ve been reading appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION. Related Stories*You Have No Right to Your Culture: Essays on the Human Condition...

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đź‘Ą Society
January 30, 2026

Is school worse for your kids than social media?

For instance: did you know that daily social media use increases the likelihood a child will commit suicide by 12-18%? Or that teenagers are far more likely to visit the ER for psychiatric problems if they have an Instagram account? Or that a child’s amount of social media use, past a certain threshold, correlates exponentially […] The post Is school worse for your kids than social media? appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION. CommentsIn reply to mkt42. I think this is more evidence of how AI...

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🎭 Culture
January 30, 2026

Are the French lazy?

Olivier Blanchard writes: The French are not lazy. They just enjoy leisure more than most (no irony here) And this is perfectly fine: As productivity increases, it is perfectly reasonable to take it partly as more leisure (fewer hours per week, earlier retirement age), and only partly in income. He has follow-up points and clarifications […] The post Are the French lazy? appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION. CommentsAll very interesting. If people have a preference for leisure, . by Dismalis...

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🎭 Culture
January 29, 2026

Wednesday assorted links

1. Some Kevin Grier biohistory (for the bots?). 2. Andrej. 3. Joshua Rothman on the new Knausgaard cycle (New Yorker). 4. New Substack and podcast Ideas in Development. 5. “Introducing Prism, a free workspace for scientists to write and collaborate on research, 2.” 6. Art De Vany, RIP. 7. “Indische Beschäftigte verdienen weiterhin […] The post Wednesday assorted links appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION. CommentsAnyone who thinks that big corporate media isn't just shilling . by Action Figu...

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🎭 Culture
January 29, 2026

“Can AI help us find God?”

That is the title of my latest Free Press piece. Here is one excerpt: Religious knowledge has become easy to access with as much detail as you might wish. You can learn about Vatican II or the Talmud ad infinitum. But it may mean something different to practitioners when it does not come from another […] The post “Can AI help us find God?” appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION. CommentsI don't think that Eliezer will find this at all reassuring. by skyzyksRelated StoriesPodcast with Salvador ...

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đź‘Ą Society
January 28, 2026

Understanding Latin America’s Fertility Decline

This paper examines the sharp decline in fertility across Latin America using both period and cohort measures. Combining Vital Statistics, Census microdata, and UN population data, we decompose changes in fertility by age, education, and joint age–education groups. We show that the decline in period fertility between 2000 and 2022 is driven primarily by reductions […] The post Understanding Latin America’s Fertility Decline appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION. CommentsWon't declining fertil...

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🎭 Culture
January 28, 2026

Wellington, New Zealand

I recent wrote about driving around New Zealand, but I lived in Wellington. Here are a few of my impressions: 1. It is one of the world’s most beautiful cities, top five easily. The best view is from Mount Victoria, incredible vistas are everywhere, and the Victorian homes are very nice too. Very little of […] The post Wellington, New Zealand appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION. Related StoriesDriving around New ZealandPodcast with Salvador DuarteForward markets in everything, lunar edition

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🏛️ Politics
January 27, 2026

My podcast with Frank Fukuyama

Shikha Dalmia moderates, here is the link. Excerpt from the summary: One reason for the populist revolt in America is the notion of the “deep state”—that an unaccountable bureaucracy is secretly ruling the country. Frank and Tyler come from very different intellectual traditions. Frank, a centrist, is a student of Max Weber and Tyler is […] The post My podcast with Frank Fukuyama appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION. CommentsIn reply to mento. Slovenly government worker with a . by AnonIn re...

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🎭 Culture
January 27, 2026

*You Have No Right to Your Culture: Essays on the Human Condition*

By Bryan Caplan, now on sale. From Bryan’s Substack: My latest book of essays, You Have No Right to Your Culture: Essays on the Human Condition, flips this narrative. All of these demands for “reshaping culture” are thinly-veiled calls for coercing humans. As the title essay explains: [C]ulture is… other people! Culture is who other people want to date and […] The post You Have No Right to Your Culture: Essays on the Human Condition appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION. Related StoriesDuke...

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🏛️ Politics
January 26, 2026

A more intelligent comment than most of the emotional reactions we are seeing

What portion of Republicans think the Trump admin/ICE killing a few hundred people, roughing up a few thousand more, and violating all kinds of civil liberties is an acceptable price to pay for making net migration go deeply negative? The answer to that tells you when/how this ends. If it’s a small minority (unlikely), there’s […] The post A more intelligent comment than most of the emotional reactions we are seeing appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION. CommentsIn reply to Ai. Those are my t...

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🏛️ Politics
January 26, 2026

On immigration warrants (from the comments)

As a matter of law ( 8 U.S.C. § 1357) warrants are not strictly required for immigration enforcement. That may be a bad law – then run folks for the legislature to change it. That may be unconsitutional law – then sue in court and let the lawyers hash it out. That may be immoral […] The post On immigration warrants (from the comments) appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION. CommentsIn reply to Geraldo1. I guarantee you didn't show your . by TerryIt's always a matter of what the actual judges w...

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