EconTech

Economist’s View: “Is Income Volatility Really Rising?”

This is the type of software that should be implemented for the library, especially with books being increasingly locked away. Recreating the browsing experience is something that has been (somewhat) done with some music apps and the flipping interface with album art. That is the kind of thing I was looking for with books. It [...]

The popularity of statistics?
Jennifer pointed me to this site, which states that “white people hate math” but “are fascinated by ‘the power of statistics’ since the math has already been done for them.” I’d like to believe this is true (the part about white people liking statistics, not the part about the math having already [...]

Levitt and Warsh have both commented on some of the issues surrounding the announced institute. I have a couple issues of my own. One is that ousting the university’s bookstore from its current location would be a shame. It does a great job of capturing the essence of the university’s culture in a nice little [...]

A Non-Socratic Dialogue on Social Welfare Functions: Archive Entry From Brad DeLong’s Webjournal

More Torture Info From Senate Committee

Economist.com: The Endowment Effect and Evolutionary Psychology

In China, Fascination With Obama’s Skin Color - washingtonpost.com

Global war deaths have been substantially underestimated

Research paper: 50 years of violent war deaths from Vietnam to Bosnia
Globally, war has killed three times more people than previously estimated, and there is no evidence to support claims of a recent decline in war deaths, concludes a study published on BMJ.com.
Current survey-based techniques used to estimate violent [...]

Marginal Revolution: Bottomfeeder
(tags: food)

Vinod Khosla - All Biofuels Are Not The Same - washingtonpost.com

Trying to solve the long-term nuclear waste storage problem
I hear a call for space elevators.
(tags: energy environment nuclear)

FT.com / Comment & analysis / Analysis - For Le Monde and the French press, the news is nearly all bad

Good surveillance: satellites watch for [...]

I always knew the prices were much higher than I was willing to pay (luckily, there is always a Walgreens, grocery, or liquor store nearby). I never suspected the larges were so large small though (Felix Salmon via Cowen):
Popcorn fact of the day
[Richard] McKenzie did a fair amount of real-world research on the popcorn front, [...]

Mr. Obama’s Neighborhood
I would not agree with all the characterizations made of HP, but overall, well written.

FT.com / Columnists / Christopher Caldwell - Web gossip is forever

Healthcare Economist · High Quality Hospitals Near You

Economist’s View: Is McCain Confused?

The Kozinski mess (Lessig Blog)
(tags: privacy media)

FT.com / Comment & analysis / Comment - Let the markets solve the energy crisis
(tags: energy economy oil)

Job creation? - Paul Krugman - Op-Ed Columnist - New York Times Blog

Some thoughts on the saying, “All models are wrong, but some are useful”

. . . Al Jazeera reports. My question is, has there ever been a situation where a country that was outside the international mainstream made a change in policy due to sanctions. There are the obvious major counter-examples (Cuba, North Korea, Iraq). I cannot think of any evidence that supports the notion that sanctions are [...]

Tyler Cowen argues that most anti-trade positions are driven by xenophobia. Dani Rodrik argues that differing rule-sets (labor laws and such) are a serious source of concern. Tyler and his co-blogger Alex respond. All of those posts are worth reading.
In my mind, this is definitely not an either-or situation. I hope that before I die [...]

The roots of sticky prices
Apparently the beasts are back in charge:
Now we’re beginning to find out that eBay’s seemingly revolutionary core - the online auction - may have been a fad all along. As Business Week reports, eBay’s auctions are “a dying breed.” Buyers and sellers are reverting to the traditional retailing model of fixed [...]