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Category Archives: Economics
PAINTING WITH UNSTABLE PAINT.
PAINTING WITH UNSTABLE PAINT. This article by Barbara Haislip at the Barron’s website deals with the economic problems for art collectors presented by the use by contemporary artists of unstable paint. It is entitled: “How Stable is Your Rothko?” Haislip … Continue reading
Posted in art, Economics, Science
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WRITE ABOUT WORK, NOT SEX.
WRITE ABOUT WORK, NOT SEX. The subjects of the bestsellers are, as measured by the algorithm, not what one might expect. Richardson gives some statistics: “In a sample of 5000 novels 0.001 per cent of the material was about sex; … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Literature
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AN ALGORITHM WHICH PREDICTS WHETHER A NOVEL WILL BE A BLOCKBUSTER.
AN ALGORITHM WHICH PREDICTS WHETHER A NOVEL WILL BE A BLOCKBUSTER. Jodie Archer and Matthew Jockers have used a computer to analyze 5000 novels and have developed an algorithm which they say can determine whether a book will be a … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Literature
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PLACEBO BUTTONS.
PLACEBO BUTTONS. I had never heard the phrase “placebo button”” until recently, but I find that it even has its own wikipedia entry. The entry says: “A placebo button is a push-button with apparent functionality that actually has no effect … Continue reading
RESEARCH SHOWING THAT WE WORK A LOT HARDER THAN OUR ANCESTORS DID.
RESEARCH SHOWING THAT WE WORK A LOT HARDER THAN OUR ANCESTORS DID. This article in the Daily Mail by Caroline McGuire describes research by Professor Juliet Schor which provides numbers for arguments I have posted on over the last ten … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, History
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NATURE DOESN’T RUN ENOUGH ELECTIONS.
NATURE DOESN’T RUN ENOUGH ELECTIONS. Arnold Kling’s meta-interpretation appeals to me because he uses an analogy to a problem that I have posted on before—that in economics—“Nature doesn’t run very good experiments.” (See this post from 2007, for example). There … Continue reading
EXPLAINING WHY TRUMP WON THE ELECTION.
EXPLAINING WHY TRUMP WON THE ELECTION. Why did Donald Trump win the election? The internet is full of explanations. This article by Gregory Krieg on the CNN site two days after the election compiled 24 different theories why Trump one. … Continue reading
A UTOPIAN FANTASY.
A UTOPIAN FANTASY. Marcia Angell, in a review of Alison Gopnick’s THE GARDENER AND THE CARPENTER in The New York Review of Books (November 10), writes: “Here is a question: Suppose the upper-middle class and the lower layer of the … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Literature, Politics
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USING THE WRONG ALGORITHM (COMMENT).
USING THE WRONG ALGORITHM (COMMENT). In a comment on yesterday’s post, Nick called my attention to a new book by Cathy O’Neil, WEAPONS OF MATH DESTRUCTION, which deals with the social and human costs of choosing the wrong algorithm as … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Politics, Science
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SHOOTING AT THE WRONG TARGET.
SHOOTING AT THE WRONG TARGET. I posted here about Goodhart’s Law: “once a social or economic indicator is made a target for the purpose of conducting social or economic policy, it will lose its value as a measure.” I wrote … Continue reading