Marginal Revolution
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Barack Obama's economic advisors
via Marginal Revolution by Tyler Cowen on February 26, 2008
Here is the story, by Noam Scheiber of TNR, hat tip to Greg Mankiw. Excerpt:Like Bill Clinton in 1992, Obama's campaign boasts a cadre of credentialed achievers. Intellectually, however, the Obamanauts couldn't be more different. Clinton delighted in surrounding himself with big-think public intellectuals--like economics commentator Robert Reich and political philosopher Bill Galston....
Shared by: Jeffrey, Dan, Mike Reynolds, chiao,
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Rambo Inflation
via Marginal Revolution by Alex Tabarrok on January 22, 2008
Number of people killed per minute in the Rambo series.Rambo: First Blood (1982): 0.01Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985): 0.72Rambo III (1988): 1.30Rambo IV (2008): 2.59Hat tip to
Shared by: Yerameyahu, JoeMaMa, Mike Reynolds,
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Was there a Housing Bubble?
via Marginal Revolution by Alex Tabarrok on February 13, 2008
... around 110. Do you? If we don't see the massive drop back to "normal" levels then the run up in prices should be described as a shift to a new equilibrium. (It's an important question to ask what changed and why?). In the shift to the new equilibrium there was some mild overshooting, especially due to the subprime over expansion, but fundamentally there was no housing bubble.
Shared by: Tim, kevinDwhite, Yerameyahu,
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The Post-American World
via Marginal Revolution by Tyler Cowen on May 12, 2008
... system has lost the ability for large-scale compromise, and it has lost the ability to accept some pain now for much gain later on.That is from Fareed Zakaria's The Post-American World, a book remarkably full of common sense. It's #7 on Amazon and a good overall guide to globalization and why it matters that America no longer dominates the world, either economically or culturally.
Shared by: Geoff, kevinDwhite, chiao,
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Know Thyself
via Marginal Revolution by Alex Tabarrok on February 13, 2008
Felix Salmon points to the declining price of self-knowledge.Cost of sequencing Craig Venter's genome: $3 billion, over 10 years.Cost of sequencing James Watson's genome: $1 million, over 2 months.Cost of sequencing an anonymous African's genome: $100,000, over 1 month.
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Marginal Revolution?
via Marginal Revolution by Alex Tabarrok on February 17, 2008
A project founded by Los Angeles-based actress and writer TamaraKrinsky advocates a simple change that anyone can believe in: Byaltering the printing margin preference for Microsoft Word documentsfrom the standard 1.25 inches to 0.75 inch, Americans can save a wholelot of paper -- and trees, and money.Plus you don't have to kill your dog.
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London
via Marginal Revolution by Tyler Cowen on February 17, 2008
That's by Peter Doig, who has a big show on at the Tate.
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Library of Lost Dreams
via Marginal Revolution by Alex Tabarrok on February 22, 2008
Dutch, a kind of archaelogist of recent America, takes us through the abandoned Detroit School Book Depository. This is a building where our deeply-troubled public school system oncestored its supplies, and then one day apparently walked away from itall, allowing everything to go to waste. The interior has been ravagedby fires and the supplies that haven't burned have been subjected to...
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How poor does Cuba look?
via Marginal Revolution by Tyler Cowen on February 26, 2008
The question is why anyone might think Cuba is doing OK, relative to northern Mexico. Megan McArdle offers (more than) two points:3) Deep poverty is much more picturesque than moderate poverty. Poorcountries have their old colonial buildings still standing, because noone had the money (or the reason) to tear them down and put upsomething bigger. The countryside is dotted with adorable houses...
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Why Plurality Rule is a Bad Voting System
via Marginal Revolution by Alex Tabarrok on February 28, 2008
“Falling Slowly” from “Once”*“Happy Working Song” from “Enchanted”“Raise It Up” from “August Rush”“So Close” from “Enchanted”“That’s How You Know” from “Enchanted”Discuss.
Shared by: Yerameyahu, chiao,
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