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Marginal Revolution

Marginal Revolution

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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

Culture

Toward a theory of uni-context

Here is a good dialogue between Derek Thompson and Agnes Callard, excerpt: Callard: In general, goodness is more context-dependent than badness. There isn’t really anything that’s good all the time for everyone independent of context. Happiness depends on your context and who you are. There isn’t anything that will always make a person happy. But there […] The post Toward a theory of uni-context appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION. CommentsShe claims death, pain, illness and violence are ne...

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Economy

Sub-Saharan Africa facts of the day

In aggregate its farmers are growing more cereals, such as maize (corn) and rice, than ever: nearly five times as much as in the 1960s, when many countries achieved independence. But most of those gains came from cultivating more land, which cannot go on for ever (see chart 1). Africa, once sparsely populated, is getting […] The post Sub-Saharan Africa facts of the day appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION. Related StoriesPersistent Inequality in Publishing in EconomicsThe wisdom of Conor Sen...

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Economy

Persistent Inequality in Publishing in Economics

This paper documents new facts about concentration in publishing in economics. First, the profession grows downward . The number of economists grew almost sixfold since 1990, but new entrants publish in lower-tier journals while incumbents hold the top. Second, there is high and persistent concentration at the top. Along with the downward growth, the top-1% […] The post Persistent Inequality in Publishing in Economics appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION. CommentsIn reply to Dismalist. OK, b...

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Culture

Creating your own religion in an AI-drenched world

Religious life, I think one thing we’ll see, and this is, again, pretty soon, it won’t be hard to create your own religion. I’m not sure many people will do this. I don’t think most people will. But they’ll be like accretions to the religions we have now. And I think with Fable 5, you […] The post Creating your own religion in an AI-drenched world appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION. CommentsAI created religions . by Joel“ Today, not only in peasant homes but also in city . by K.In reply to...

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Economy

Incentives matter, installment #1637

I had long wondered about this: Performance metrics can misalign individual and organizational incentives. We study a clean case: an NBA player holding the ball as a quarter expires must choose between a low-probability “heave” that can only help his team and protecting his shooting statistics. We model this decision as a metric-driven principal-agent problem […] The post Incentives matter, installment #1637 appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION. Related StoriesPersistent Inequality in Publis...

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Culture

*A Tale of Three Cities*

The author is Bob Harris, and the subtitle is The Life and Times of Lord Daer 1763-1794. Who is Lord Daer? Don’t worry about that! So many books on the Scottish Enlightenment cover one particular thing, but somehow fail to give the reader a proper sense of life on the ground. I found this is […] The post A Tale of Three Cities appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION. CommentsHe doesn't say anything about it being

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Politics

The Trump Administration’s Threat to Scientific Research

In The Nationalization of American Science I warned that the Trump administration’s rewriting of the seemingly mundane Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance was a tremendous threat to America’s historically successful decentralized system of science funding. Many others are now sounding the alarm. It’s not surprising that organizations like the AAAS oppose the rule, albeit with unusually […] The post The Trump Administration’s Threat to Scientific Research appeared first on Marginal REV...

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Healthcare

Mental health sentences to ponder

Christoph Henking and Ben Baumberg Geiger found that while there has been a steep rise in the share of young Britons reporting a mental illness, the share of people who say a mental health problem limits their day-to-day functioning has barely budged. …when asked if they would consider someone experiencing typical fluctuations in mood (described […] The post Mental health sentences to ponder appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION. CommentsIn reply to Tom Meadowcroft. “excuses for self pity” . ...

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Geopolitics

New space policy Substack from Mercatus

We are Rebecca, Max, and Aakrith. We are researchers at The Mercatus Center, a research organization dedicated to classical liberal ideas. Rebecca is a philosopher, Max is an economist, and Aakrith is a political scientist. Together, we are the Space Team, and this is our Substack. We’re here to persuade you that space policy is increasingly important. And that getting […] The post New space policy Substack from Mercatus appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION. CommentsIn reply to Tom Meadowcro...

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Economy

*Who Thinks Like an Economist?*

That is the title of a recent book by Beatrice Magistro. Some key results are: Economic knowledge consistently predicts higher support for welfare-enhancing policies (Eurozone membership, free trade, and EU immigration), independent on whether individuals stand to gain or lose initially from globalization. This challenges conventional self-interest accounts and instead highlights the role of economic […] The post Who Thinks Like an Economist? appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION. Related S...

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Politics

Andrew Hall is on a roll

He is one of the new(ish) thinkers on the rise, here is his latest piece. Excerpt: For most of the past decade, anti-billionaire language was a niche product. Democratic emails invoked billionaires in the mid-single digits through 2017 and 2018, spiked briefly to around 14 percent during the Warren and Sanders primary surge in 2019, […] The post Andrew Hall is on a roll appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION. CommentsFIXED LINK: AI is the Democratic Party's Next Villain. by RADThe problem with...

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Healthcare

Progress against dementia

Mr Stallard has been working for a decade to corroborate this revelation. His findings have, if anything, become even more striking. Last year he and some colleagues published research in the Journal of the American Medical Association showing that, whereas 40 years ago three in every ten Americans aged 85-89 had dementia, by 2024 just one in […] The post Progress against dementia appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION. Comments“Let's hope the ronanobots can rid us of these horrible . by Todd ...

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