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Author Archives: F. E. Guerra-Pujol
Live Piracy Map
Check out this amazing live piracy map generated by the Commercial Crime Services of the International Chamber of Commerce. (Below, for example, is a partial version of the live piracy map from 2011 identifying the location of all piracy incidents during that … Continue reading
The tragedy of the outer space commons?
Check out this fascinating paper Earth Orbit Debris: An Economic Model in which the problem of space debris is modeled as a negative externality. What is the optimal number of space satellites, and who decides? Do you believe there are already too many … Continue reading
Another example of “reciprocal altruism” in nature?
The evolutionary biologist Robert Trivers published his influential theory of reciprocal altruism in 1971 to explain the emergence of cooperation in nature. For his part, Richard Dawkins memorably described Trivers’ theory a few years later in a single sentence–“You scratch my back, I’ll ride yours.” … Continue reading
“Do you know … bees have no judges or lawyers?”
This iconoclastic quotation — from the private correspondence of the late great evolutionary biologist W. D. “Bill” Hamilton — appears on page 46 of Nature’s Oracle, Professor Ullica Segerstrale’s masterful biography of the life and work of the man. Professor Hamilton spent … Continue reading
A beautiful five-minute film
This film speaks for itself …
Byzantium = Constantinople = Istanbul
Let’s say you want to rename a large metropolitan city with an ancient and long-established name. By way of example, let’s say you want to rename the historic city of “Constantinople” in Asia Minor (modern Turkey) to “Istanbul”. How would you … Continue reading
Mr. Monopoly has a Facebook page
Note: this post was revised and expanded during the morning of 26 March 2014. Did you know that Mr Monopoly — the iconic, mustachioed, round little man in a top hat and coattails who also happens to be the official … Continue reading
Why do criminal defendants get to plead the Fifth?
Put differently, if you could turn back the clock or re-write the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution, would you take out the right against self-incrimination? If you care about truth, or about the victims of crime, the answer has … Continue reading
Do women attorneys dress too sexy?
According to this recent report by Slate staff writer Amanda Hess, a lot of judges (most of whom are male, by the way) apparently seem to think so. But as Ms Hess notes in her report, the dress code for … Continue reading
Economists are not scientists
Sorry Professor Mankiw, but economics is not really a science. Economics is politics and normative value judgements all the way down, and you yourself end up admitting as much in your most recent essay in the Sunday Times. So why do … Continue reading
prior probability 