Category Archives: Economics

OTHER HUMBLE TECHNOLOGIES.

OTHER HUMBLE TECHNOLOGIES. The article by James Fallows that I referred to in yesterday’s post about the top 50 technology breakthroughs since the wheel contains some surprises. The printing press is first on the list, but Number 6 is paper … Continue reading

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF THE HUMBLE BARREL.

THE TECHNOLOGY OF THE HUMBLE BARREL. I posted here about an article by Wayne Curtis on the importance of the barrel to the flavor of whiskey. The issue of the Atlantic (November 2013) in which that article appeared also contained … Continue reading

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THE CONTAINER—“ONLY A SIMPLE METAL BOX”.

THE CONTAINER—“ONLY A SIMPLE METAL BOX”. One of the most important innovations of my lifetime in terms of economic resources saved is containerization, which is relatively little celebrated. This article in the Economist (May 18, 2013) calls the container “only … Continue reading

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WHICH CHANGED SOCIETY MORE—THE WASHING MACHINE OR THE INTERNET?

WHICH CHANGED SOCIETY MORE—THE WASHING MACHINE OR THE INTERNET? The economist Ha-Joon Chang claims that the washing machine changed society more than the internet did. He elaborated on his argument in an interview with David Pilling in the Financial Times … Continue reading

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WHY THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE INTERNET HAS HAD VERY LITTLE EFFECT ON GDP.

WHY THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE INTERNET HAS HAD VERY LITTLE EFFECT ON GDP. The chief determinant of economic growth is technological change. A problem in measuring growth is the difficulty of measuring quality change. A refrigerator is much better than … Continue reading

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THEFTS OF LARGE AMOUNTS OF FOOD.

THEFTS OF LARGE AMOUNTS OF FOOD. I have posted on the theft of a cast iron building, of a ferris wheel, of a gold bathtub, and of large quantities of maple syrup. These thefts seemed exotic to me because I … Continue reading

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A BLOG FROM THE YEAR 2000 THAT USES A BLACKBOARD.

A BLOG FROM THE YEAR 2000 THAT USES A BLACKBOARD. Annalisa called my attention to an item on Reddit which led to this blog post about Alfred Sirleaf, a journalist in Monrovia, Liberia, who has been operating a daily blog/newspaper … Continue reading

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AN ECONOMIC THEORY OF PIRACY.

AN ECONOMIC THEORY OF PIRACY. Professor Peter Leeson has authored a book about the economic theory of piracy: THE INVISIBLE HOOK. Professor Leeson was interviewed here by Ryan Hagen for the Freakonomics blog. The title of the book draws a … Continue reading

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A FINANCIAL REPORT ON THE PIRACY BUSINESS.

A FINANCIAL REPORT ON THE PIRACY BUSINESS. I posted here in 2011 on the recent successes in the piracy business, including the fact that the pirate stock exchange which had opened in 2009 in Harardheere, Somalia had listings for over … Continue reading

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LAPHROAIG—MAYBE IT’S THE ISLAY WEATHER, AFTER ALL.

LAPHROAIG—MAYBE IT’S THE ISLAY WEATHER AFTER ALL. The barrels that survived the tornado and were “REALLY good” are not the only indication that weather may be important to the taste of whiskey. For example, Curtis cites the “oft-noticed phenomenon” that … Continue reading

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