I would love to see this natural experiment, Isaac Asimov edition
Before the sparse audience, he vowed to run the city of Cheyenne exclusively with an AI bot he calls “VIC” for “Virtual Integrated Citizen.” …Standing behind a lectern with a sign that read “AI FOR...
View ArticleMy excellent Conversation with Nate Silver
Here is the audio, video, and transcript. Here is the episode summary: In his second appearance, Nate Silver joins the show to cover the intersections of predictions, politics, and poker with Tyler....
View ArticleHow do musical artists end up getting cancelled?
There is a new paper on that topic by Daniel Winkler, Nils Wlömert, and Jura Liaukonyte. Here is the abstract: This paper investigates how the consumption of an artist’s creative work is impacted when...
View ArticleWhat should I ask Musa al-Gharbi?
Yes, I will be doing a Conversation with him. Musa al-Gharbi is a sociologist and assistant professor in the School of Communication and Journalism at Stony Brook University. He is a columnist for The...
View ArticleWhy massive deregulation is very difficult
That is the topic of my latest Bloomberg column, just to clarify context for the newbies I think more than half of all current regulations are a net negative. Anywhere, here are some of the problems:...
View ArticleRawls Killed Marx
I found this Joseph Heath post very informative. In essence, Marx was about exploitation but when no theory of exploitation without gaping holes could be developed, the analytical Marxists shifted to...
View ArticleFrom the comments (on regulation)
I think that I am one of the few federal bureaucrats who openly engage in the comment section here. I have worked in two different federal agencies. At one agency, I was a rule writer. That is I...
View ArticleJohn Arnold on economic polarization
As divisive as the political rhetoric is, the policy divide between the two parties seems more narrow today than any time in recent memory. Bipartisan bills in immigration, energy permitting, and the...
View ArticleA simple theory of which thinkers support the elites, or not
I don’t agree with this theory as stated, but it can be worth spelling such things out, if only to see their weaknesses, or perhaps some strengths at some of the more unusual or less likely margins....
View ArticleElite Human Capital Is Not Just IQ
Here is a very good response to readers’ questions essay by Richard Hanania, excerpt: Although EHC [elite human capital] types can make a lot of mistakes, it’s inevitable that they will rule and it’s...
View ArticleHonduras and its disputes
More importantly, Honduras is not just locked in a dispute with Silicon Valley billionaires, as the authors would lead you to believe. Other claimants against Honduras at the International Center for...
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Equality Act 2010
The UK’s Orwellian sounding Equality Act 2010 is strikingly Marxist. It demands equal pay for work of equal value where these are defined as follows: A’s work is equal to that of B if it is like B’s...
View ArticleIndia and the US
Good op-ed from Arthur Herman and Aparna Pande: [H]ow America approaches its relations with India — the world’s largest democracy, its most populous nation and very soon its third-largest economy — may...
View ArticleState capacity and economic development
I do not in general trust such methods, but the conclusions are not unwelcome to me: I provide new empirical estimates of the effect of state capacity on economic development across countries over the...
View ArticleHow to persuade to YIMBY?
Recent research finds that most people want lower housing prices but, contrary to expert consensus, do not believe that more supply would lower prices. This study tests the effects of four...
View ArticleMexico political challenge of the day
When Mexicans arrive at voting booths next year to elect their judges for the first time, they face a unique and daunting task. In the capital Mexico City, voters will have to choose judges for more...
View ArticleIan Leslie on Olivier Roy and culture
Roy argues that culture in the sense we have understood it is being inexorably eroded. It’s not, as some of his countrymen believe, that one culture is being replaced by another – say, Christianity by...
View Article*Emancipation*
The author is Peter Kolchin, and the subtitle is The Abolition and Aftermath of American Slavery and Russian Serfdom. Here is one interesting excerpt of many: Despite the surge in schools and teachers...
View ArticleThe culture that is Washington, D.C.
Campaign-finance reports reveal that Republicans overwhelmingly outspend Democrats at every major steakhouse in the city… At the Capital Grille, Republicans have outspent Democrats nearly 13 to 1 so...
View ArticlePredicting future promotions from police cadets’ facial traits
From the results: Facial traits are the primary driver of subject perceptions of leadership ability, and those perceptions successfully predict promotional success later in the cadets’ careers. When...
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