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Category Archives: Economics
Markets, the regulation of data, and the future of low-wage work
Companies like Google, Facebook, and Uber have created new markets and improved our lives by reducing search costs, but at the same time, these firms collect massive amounts of data from their users. Who owns this data, and what legal … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Law, Web/Tech
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What is the optimal length of a copyright?
Copyright is a property right in favor of creators of original works. According to the map below, all countries protect a creator’s copyright to his or her original work for the duration of the creator’s life, but how long should … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Law, Maps
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Cars are far more dangerous than AR-15s
We understand all the fuss over “gun control,” especially after the recent tragic events in our home city Orlando, Florida, but statistically speaking, my fellow Floridians should worry more about pedestrian safety and the level of texting and driving on … Continue reading
Posted in Bayesian Reasoning, Economics, Law
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30,000 days
Check out this interview with Drew Houston, the CEO of Dropbox. Among other things, Mr Houston notes that the average human lifespan lasts about 30,000 days … so watch less TV, read more, learn and do new things, and make every … Continue reading
Posted in Bayesian Reasoning, Economics
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Brexit odds
As a public service, let’s translate these betting odds into plain English. If a bettor wagers £10 that a majority of voters in Britain will vote to leave the European Union (“leave”), odds of 6/1 implies that the bettor stands to make … Continue reading
Posted in Bayesian Reasoning, Current Affairs, Economics, Law, Politics, Probability
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Most stolen books
"Most Stolen Books" shelf: Congrats to #HarukiMurakami, @BretEastonEllis, @chuckpalahniuk, #KurtVonnegut & others pic.twitter.com/c7uEGztajF — Vintage Books & Anchor Books (@VintageAnchor) June 3, 2016
Posted in Bayesian Reasoning, Cheating, Culture, Economics
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Prisoner’s dilemma everywhere: weekend email from your boss edition
As our friends and fellow “forty-something” bloggers at Cheap Talk like to point out, prisoner dilemmas are everywhere. Suppose you are a junior manager at a large Fortune 500 corporation or a junior attorney/accountant at a firm. Your boss sends … Continue reading
Posted in Cooperation, Deception, Economics, Game Theory
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A three-bathroom solution?
The State of North Carolina recently enacted a controversial law limiting the legal rights of “transgender individuals.” The law prevents such persons from using public restrooms that don’t correspond with the gender (male or female) on their birth certificates. (By … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Current Affairs, Economics, Law
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In defense of Paul Krugman (Earth day edition)
Economist Paul Krugman recently wrote up a short and provocative essay in the N.Y. Times on “Econ 101 boosterism” or the naive application of textbook economics to real-world moral and legal problems. In his essay, Krugman compares the pros and … Continue reading
Posted in Current Affairs, Economics, Law
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prior probability 