Economists on drugs

Please note that some of the answers are: I don't have a freaking clue.

http://www.igmchicago.org/igm-economic-experts-panel/poll-results?SurveyID=SV_56aH8qtNcQdaRve

Andrew Gelman on Freakonomics

http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/id.14344,y.0,no.,content.true,page.3,css.print/issue.aspx

Daron Acemoglu on inequality

Worth reading.


http://thebrowser.com/interviews/daron-acemoglu-on-inequality?page=1

Casey Mulligan on unemployment benefits

I like the style of Prof. Mulligan. The evidence is clearly stated and the argumentation is not misleading.

My caveat to his reasoning is: wouldn't we want to wait until bad times are passed to return to pre recession uemployment benefits?

Or is his argumentation deeper than what is exposed in the post and I have not realized?


Supply and Demand (in that order): Millions Caught by the Social Safety Net: Copyright, The New York Times Company Despite the severe recession, relatively few people saw their living standards fall into poverty, th...

Mind tricks

http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/myts7/what_is_a_mind_trick_you_know_of/

(via cheap talk)

Electoral fraud in Russia?

My friend Pau says:

What happened in Russia? In the 'x' axis we have the percentage of people who voted in a given district, in the 'y' axis we have the percentage of votes per party. Each dot is a district. Each color, the percentage of votes each party got. Blue is Putin's party. The other colors are other parties (we do not really care of that). What has happened??? (Thanks to Piotr!)

http://static.oper.ru/data/site/0002b6z9.png

What would a child’s drawing look like if it were painted realistically?

http://www.elezea.com/2011/12/realistic-childrens-paintings/

Foie gras

http://www.economist.com/node/21540983

A few links on "meritocracy, justice and equality of opportunity"

Every academic should be at least as earnest as Mr. Gelman

http://andrewgelman.com/2011/12/lamentably-common-misunderstanding-of-meritocracy/

Now should those who are more "talented" get more?

Andrew Gelman sketches his concerns:

I am bothered when pundits such as Zingales set up a self-contradictory ideal which conflates accidents of birth, talent, achievement, success, riches, and power—not to mention “hard work” and “virtue.” We all know that these traits don’t always go together in the real world, but it’s also a mistake to think that they could all go together. As a political scientist, I think it’s important to use my (small) megaphone to remind people of this and to correct people when they’re confused about it.

If you are interested in the topic, John Roemer has a "nice" theory about it:

http://www.bostonreview.net/BR20.2/roemer.html

You can also read the comments on his proposal in the Boston Review (it has received a lot of attention in academic circles, I just provide a link of "general interest")

http://www.bostonreview.net/dreader/series/equality.html

Of course this is one of many, I just happen to be more familiar with it.

He looks like a cool guy...

...but might just be favourable press coverage

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/gary-locke-is-star-in-china-as-first-us-ambassador-of-chinese-ancestry/2011/11/28/gIQA703DEO_story.html

Eurozone debt web: Who owes what to whom?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15748696


I cannot see very well the arrows but it is nevertheless interesting


(via: https://twitter.com/#!/fredudina)

Sorprisingly good talk on ambiguity in language

http://cheaptalk.org/2011/12/01/do-you-want-to-see-my-etchings-the-deliberate-use-of-ambiguity-in-language/


Some of the parts might feel like just a funny way of saying "obvious" stuff...but I think there is something a bit deeper in the talk.

PS: Maybe it has to do with allowing to save face?

Bright side of not having an iPhone...

http://pinterest.com/caroncecilia/ifun/

Zero deficit...why?

http://www.elperiodico.com/es/noticias/la-crisis-del-euro/francia-pretende-exigir-deficit-cero-eurozona-2016-1245321

http://www.lavanguardia.com/economia/20111129/54238654371/francia-revela-exigira-eurozona-deficit-cero-2016.html

Zero deficit, always? If that's the plan, please let me know on the basis of what eonomic reasoning...

(Not even XSM supports it...)

http://elcomentario.tv/reggio/crisis-27-colchon-constitucional-de-xavier-sala-i-martin-en-la-vanguardia/02/09/2011/

Evil or just absent minded corporations?

This is a nice post:

http://cheaptalk.org/2011/11/28/malice-creep/

However, I am not sure I buy it.

Indeed, to have a conscious policy of ripping off unsuspecting customers requires instructing somebody to do that, and leaving a paper trail. Even a truly evil corporation understands that this is the wrong way to do it. The right way to do it is to structure the organization in a way that facilitates malice creep.



This kind of reminds me of an old debate on certain companies "benefiting" from kids labor in developping countries. They claimed that they didn't know about it but that it was the "local company" they worked with that had been doing it behind their backs.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines01/1020-01.htm

PS: Corporations are not evil, they just let bad things happen (?)