The hottest Economics Substack posts right now

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The double-edged sword of tech in conservation

Technology, Environment, and Art • 0 implied HN points • 18 Jan 24
🌞 Climate & Environment Economics
  1. Conservation efforts are increasingly using advanced technology like sensors and genetic techniques, leading to researchers spending more time in labs than in the field.
  2. Technology can drive a disconnect from nature, turning conservation into a numerical academic exercise; an important aspect is the need for social changes alongside numeric conservation efforts.
  3. To move towards effective and ethical conservation, we must not only focus on numbers but also work towards changing attitudes to develop empathy and care for non-human organisms, distancing from the current human-centered economic gains.

And now for something completely different

Joshua Gans' Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 20 Aug 23
🔬 Science Economics
  1. Alex Leijonhufvud wrote a classic on the Econ tribe 50 years ago called 'Life Among the Econ,' which is recommended for those interested in economists.
  2. Joshua Gans has written an update called 'Return to the Econ,' exploring the changes in the Econ tribe over the past 50 years due to technology and a shift in societal values.
  3. The 'Return to the Econ' abstract discusses how the Econ tribe's practices and status hierarchy have been influenced by new icons, reflecting changes in societal energy.

Are Acemoglu and Johnson right about AI?

Joshua Gans' Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 19 May 23
🕹 Technology Economics
  1. Acemoglu and Johnson discuss how power in the economy is determined by persuasion and political institutions, not just by economic forces. They stress the importance of understanding and addressing these power dynamics.
  2. The authors argue that technology, including AI, is not predetermined to drive inequality; instead, it depends on the choices made by companies and powerful actors. This challenges the idea of inevitable inequality due to technological advancement.
  3. Acemoglu and Johnson express concerns about AI automation potentially leading to the loss of valuable human skills and expertise, emphasizing the importance of considering the long-term impacts of AI adoption. They caution against short-term views on worker contributions.

How much would a vax tax be?

Joshua Gans' Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 31 Jan 22
🏥 Health & Wellness Economics
  1. Economists support the idea of implementing a tax on the unvaccinated as it aligns with basic economic logic and can improve overall welfare by making individual choices reflect their social consequences.
  2. The level of a vaccine tax on unvaccinated adults might vary depending on factors like vaccine efficacy, infectiousness of Covid-19 variants, and the health costs imposed on others. The suggested tax could be around $1,500 per annum for Canadian adults without three doses of the vaccine.
  3. The purpose of the proposed tax is not necessarily to increase vaccination rates, but rather to ensure that those who impose costs on others through being unvaccinated are the ones paying for these costs, thus internalizing the harm caused to others.

Australia's Art of the Deal

Joshua Gans' Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 11 Jul 21
🏥 Health & Wellness Economics
  1. Negotiation strategies in deals should consider future promises and relationships, not just focus on the present moment.
  2. Australia's vaccine strategy, specifically with Pfizer, has put the country behind compared to some peers, highlighting the importance of making thoughtful deals.
  3. The global distribution of vaccines involves a complex 'grand deal' where richer countries pay for upfront costs, showcasing the economic considerations in allocating resources during a pandemic.
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The Triumph of Economists

Joshua Gans' Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 16 Jun 21
💼 Business Economics
  1. Macroeconomists in government played a crucial role in avoiding economic and societal collapse during the COVID-19 pandemic.
  2. The successful approach taken by economists involved keeping payments flowing, providing subsidies, and implementing programs to support workers and businesses.
  3. Despite challenges such as potential fraud and unbalanced interventions, the economists' actions in government are seen as a significant triumph for the system.

What Covid can teach us about entrepreneurship?

Joshua Gans' Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 25 May 21
💼 Business Economics
  1. Covid-19 led to shifts in entrepreneurial opportunities, with some ventures thriving (like online businesses) while others struggled (like physical stores).
  2. The pandemic allowed for some individuals to reevaluate their career paths and possibly pursue entrepreneurial endeavors, especially due to the pause it enforced and the time it provided for reflection.
  3. Research indicates that discrimination in lending markets may have made it difficult for certain neighborhoods, particularly those with higher proportions of black residents, to secure loans for new business ventures.

Running out of things to say

Joshua Gans' Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 19 Mar 21
🏥 Health & Wellness Economics
  1. The author of the newsletter is taking a break due to running out of things to say after consistent writing for a year, but shares interesting articles from other sources.
  2. The shared articles cover various topics related to Covid-19 such as the importance of data, testing failures, new testing methods like rapid screens, and the need for continued testing even with vaccines available.
  3. The post also links to a new book called 'Economics in One Virus' by Ryan Borne that takes an economic perspective on situations arising from the pandemic.

Is your professor alive? A Guide

Joshua Gans' Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 12 Feb 21
🚌 Education Economics
  1. Online education allows professors to scale and reach more students, but the reality is different from the initial hype.
  2. A story of a student unknowingly learning from a deceased professor emphasizes the challenges of discerning if a professor is alive or not in online classes.
  3. Universities might need to be more transparent about the faculty's status to avoid potential long-term issues, like unintentionally paying a deceased professor for years.

The weakest link

Joshua Gans' Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 08 Feb 21
🏥 Health Politics Economics
  1. Maintaining a Covid-Zero policy brings challenges due to the weakest link, like quarantine workers in hotels.
  2. Regular rapid testing and vaccinations for quarantine workers are crucial to prevent Covid-19 spread and lockdowns.
  3. Investing in safety measures for the weakest link, such as daily screenings and prioritized vaccinations, can mitigate costly leakages and lockdowns.

Uncomfortable vaccine decisions

Joshua Gans' Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 11 Dec 20
🏥 Health & Wellness Economics
  1. Vaccine distribution plans should consider region-by-region vaccination to achieve normality in some places earlier, rather than nationally all at once.
  2. Participants of vaccine trials who received placebos could be considered for early vaccination to encourage more trial participation.
  3. Vaccinating air travelers early could help reopen the airline industry sooner and reduce the need for government bailouts, despite initial dislike for the idea.

Economists "versus" epidemiologists

Joshua Gans' Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 25 Nov 20
🏥 Health & Wellness Economics
  1. Economists and epidemiologists have distinct biases, with the former focused on persuasive economic arguments while the latter often struggles to convince people to act on health advice.
  2. Epidemiologists tend to highlight worst-case scenarios to persuade action, which can sometimes lead to mistrust in projections and slower government responses.
  3. The tools of persuasion differ between economists and epidemiologists, with economists relying on data while epidemiologists are still evolving their policy-making approaches.

How often should you test?

Joshua Gans' Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 09 Sep 20
🏥 Health & Wellness Economics
  1. Frequent and rapid testing plays a key role in limiting the spread of viruses like COVID-19.
  2. The frequency of testing and the accuracy of the tests are crucial in determining how effectively infectious individuals can be isolated.
  3. Testing every two to three days with a moderate error rate can be more effective than testing less frequently with higher accuracy.

Covid-19 and Leisure at Scale

Joshua Gans' Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 02 Sep 20
💼 Business Economics
  1. Covid-19 has made workers more expensive for businesses, causing job losses, especially for poorer individuals.
  2. Covid-19 has made consumers more expensive for businesses, leading to changes in spending patterns and a shift towards more scalable leisure activities.
  3. The pandemic has disrupted the consumption of leisure, impacting both expensive and affordable leisure options, and potentially leading to long-term changes in leisure consumption habits.

How's Work From Home going?

Joshua Gans' Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 10 Aug 20
💼 Business Economics
  1. The forced work-from-home experiment during Covid-19 has led to longer work hours and increased meetings, possibly changing future work habits permanently.
  2. People have been surprisingly productive while working from home, leading to businesses reevaluating the necessity of physical office spaces.
  3. While working from home can be beneficial, there are disparities between richer and poorer individuals and impacts on businesses in city centers.

Covid-19 and 'Forced' Experimentation

Joshua Gans' Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 07 Aug 20
💼 Business Economics
  1. Due to Covid-19, the entertainment industry is experimenting with online movie releases, which may lead to permanent changes in distribution practices.
  2. The economics of movie distribution involve factors like physical distribution costs, risk aversion in trying new strategies, and revenue-sharing agreements with theaters.
  3. If successful, the shift to online releases could mean higher quality home viewing experiences, changes in consumer choices, and potential scaling back of traditional movie theaters.

Hey Apple! Apple’s App Store Controversies

Joshua Gans' Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 20 Jun 20
🕹 Technology Economics
  1. Apple's App Store policies regarding in-app purchases have sparked controversy, with Hey.com's app being halted for not offering in-app subscription purchases and wanting to avoid Apple's fees.
  2. Apple's 30 percent revenue cut from in-app purchases is seen as a form of price discrimination that could potentially lower iPhone prices by redistributing costs.
  3. Concerns have been raised about developers' fear of publicly criticizing Apple's rules, highlighting a potential issue of stifled voice that should be addressed for a healthy ecosystem.

Smart Contracting’s Fine Print

Joshua Gans' Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 04 Jan 19
🕹 Technology Economics
  1. Blockchain technology has the potential to revolutionize smart contracts by using a distributed ledger with a 'Turing complete' virtual machine.
  2. Smart contract applications are currently limited, with a few examples being used as substitutes for escrow services or for generating controlled lists.
  3. Economic innovation is crucial for the success of smart contracts on the blockchain, as they need to incentivize human action effectively to ensure contract performance.

Breaking through hurdles set by economists

Joshua Gans' Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 08 Oct 18
🔬 Science Economics
  1. The work of economists Bill Nordhaus and Paul Romer in integrating innovation and climate with economic growth has played a significant role in breaking down barriers and pushing for policy action.
  2. Nordhaus's approach helped quantify the costs of climate change mitigation, showing that the costs were manageable and shifting the debate from denial to action.
  3. Romer's endogenous growth theory emphasized the importance of science and innovation in driving economic growth, highlighting the need for systems to promote research and development.

What’s a Bitcoin worth?

Joshua Gans' Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 20 Dec 17
💰 Finance Economics
  1. Bitcoin's value is subjective and relies on what people believe it's worth, creating uncertainty in determining its true value.
  2. Theories suggest Bitcoin could replace gold as a store of value and possibly reach a value of $47,755 or $38,000 per Bitcoin if it were to happen.
  3. Another theory proposes Bitcoin as a USD substitute, potentially reaching a value of $100,000 per Bitcoin if it becomes the world's reserve currency.

The Bitcoin Bubble Post Mortem

Joshua Gans' Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 08 Dec 17
💰 Finance Economics
  1. Bitcoin is the first purely digital bubble, making it different from previous bubbles that involved paper assets.
  2. Bitcoin's global accessibility allows anyone from anywhere to purchase it without needing traditional financial infrastructure.
  3. Although bitcoin transactions have low entry costs, they are slow and result in high transaction fees, indicating potential risks of speculation.

Ken Arrow: The Greatest

Joshua Gans' Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 22 Feb 17
🚌 Education Economics
  1. Ken Arrow made significant contributions to economics and won the Nobel Prize in 1972, being one of the youngest recipients.
  2. Ken Arrow was known for his exceptional intelligence and quick thinking, leaving a lasting impact on economic science.
  3. Despite his brilliance, Ken Arrow remained humble, approachable, and had a humorous side, making him a unique and revered figure in the field.

Scholarly Publishing and its Discontents

Joshua Gans' Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 02 Feb 17
💼 Business Economics
  1. Scholarly publishing faces challenges with market power despite attempts like boycotts and open access to change the status quo.
  2. The book discusses economic theories related to scholarly publishing and suggests untried options like reverse price discrimination and unlocking knowledge inside journals.
  3. The aim of the book is to be a valuable read on the economics of scholarly publishing, focusing on roots of market power and proposing alternative solutions.

The Simple Economics of Machine Intelligence

Joshua Gans' Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 17 Nov 16
🕹 Technology Economics
  1. Economists suggest that technological revolutions often involve a drop in the cost of certain activities, like communication or prediction.
  2. As machine intelligence becomes cheaper, tasks that were not historically prediction-based will start being viewed as prediction problems.
  3. With the decreasing value of prediction skills due to machine intelligence, the importance and value of human judgment skills will rise.

The Disruption Dilemma

Joshua Gans' Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 23 Aug 16
💼 Business Economics
  1. Disruption in business can stem from new technological opportunities that incumbent firms fail to take advantage of, leading to their downfall.
  2. The concept of Creative Destruction from Joseph Schumpeter describes how capitalism thrives on constant innovation and change, challenging the idea of long-term profitability for established businesses.
  3. Innovation that disrupts industries can come in different forms, like customer-disruptive innovations that initially underperform but later improve, and architecturally-disruptive innovations that change the fundamental design of products or services.

Creative Destruction and Inequality

Joshua Gans' Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 04 Jan 16
🔬 Science Economics
  1. Entrepreneurship can decrease inequality if things are working as they should. However, it involves complex factors like income distribution changes and wealth management.
  2. Innovation and entrepreneurship can impact top income inequality positively, but can also lead to social mobility. The relationship between innovation and inequality is influenced by various barriers.
  3. Entrepreneurship and innovation may increase income inequality by displacing successful entrepreneurs from the past, leading to a decrease in the overall growth rate. The complex relationship between growth, risk, and income distribution needs more research.

Of Homo Economicus and Superintelligence

Joshua Gans' Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 21 Dec 15
🔬 Science Economics
  1. Bostrom's work on superintelligence explores the challenges of regulating AI and the potential risks it poses to humanity, raising crucial questions about AI's impact and our ability to control it.
  2. Economic theories suggest that co-existence with superintelligences may be possible, with the concept of general equilibrium offering insights into managing interactions and maintaining balance.
  3. Policy considerations such as property rights, violence prevention, and AI self-regulation can play key roles in shaping a future where superintelligences and humans can coexist peacefully.

It's hard to change people

Hypertext • 0 implied HN points • 27 Mar 24
🚌 Education Economics
  1. It's easier to change people's environment than to change people themselves.
  2. Many criminal justice programs aim to change preferences rather than incentives or constraints, leading to challenges in their effectiveness.
  3. Hot-spot policing is an example of an intervention that changes constraints and has shown a significant impact on crime reduction.

Advantage diminishing

Model Thinking • 0 implied HN points • 04 Dec 22
💰 Finance Economics
  1. Comparative advantage in economics explains why all countries benefit from trade, not just the most efficient ones. It also applies to trade between individuals.
  2. Visualizing comparative advantage on a production possibility frontier helps illustrate the maximum possible production of goods. It shows the optimal ratio of goods to produce and how diminishing marginal returns can limit the benefits.
  3. In determining optimal populations and trade decisions, the effects of comparative advantage may be near-insignificant with only two goods, but could be more substantial with a larger variety of goods. Free trade brings benefits beyond comparative advantage due to increased returns to scale.

A short note about Venture Capital in France

Venture Prose • 0 implied HN points • 06 Jun 18
💼 Business Economics
  1. Venture Capital involves taking risks to support talented entrepreneurs with the aim of creating successful companies and generating significant returns in the long run.
  2. The Venture Capital landscape in France was initially driven by tax incentives, leading to behaviors focused on avoiding risk rather than embracing it, unlike the UK where higher discounts allow for more risk-taking.
  3. There is a lack of meritocracy and professionalism among French early-stage investors, but the increasing quality of French entrepreneurs is attracting international investors and motivating local investors to improve or exit the market.

Thoughts on pre-modern family economics

Tom Thought • 0 implied HN points • 08 Jan 24
🎭️ Culture Economics
  1. A single person in pre-modern times could grow more food than they needed, allowing for the support of non-working dependents as well.
  2. Labor was not typically the bottleneck for agricultural output in households, leading to significant labor surpluses.
  3. In pre-modern societies, women were responsible for a large portion of non-agricultural activities within the household, especially in manufacturing clothing.

Attila Haraszti: The Dire, Bullshit Economics of Twitch Creators

Do Not Research • 0 implied HN points • 15 Feb 22
🕹 Technology Economics
  1. The majority of Twitch creators do not earn enough to reach the Euro-American minimum wage, relying on additional sources like patrons and sponsorships to make a living.
  2. There is a small percentage of creators on Twitch, approximately 0.117%, who are on track to earn the minimum wage in 2021, highlighting the challenges many creators face in achieving sustainable incomes.
  3. The creator economy includes around 50-60 million 'aspiring' content creators worldwide, but only a fraction of them, about 1 million, are considered 'professionals' who can make at least the minimum wage from social platforms.

Jak Ritger: The MLM Project Log 3: Zombie Capitalism

Do Not Research • 0 implied HN points • 19 Mar 21
🎭️ Culture Economics
  1. MLMs can lead to transformation of social relationships into a zombified version, causing participants to accumulate unsold products, reflecting a zombie form of capital logic.
  2. Historical examples like the Dust Bowl and modern instances like the Human Futures Market show how zombie capital drives extraction beyond limits, resulting in ecological disasters and social anxieties.
  3. MLMs and markets like the Human Futures Market reflect a post-human desire for more accumulation, pushing past logic and exhausting resources.

9/23 TBC Insider Digest

Tech Buzz China Insider • 0 implied HN points • 24 Sep 21
🕹 Technology Economics
  1. The Chinese government balances central and local power, essential for daily operations but challenging to maintain unity.
  2. China faces a disparity between city and agricultural land ownership, leading to surging real estate costs and urban-rural divides.
  3. Local governments in China depend on special government-owned companies for fundraising due to restrictions on debt issuance.

Data Leadership #3 Understanding Open Source and Open Core

The Orchestra Data Leadership Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 13 Oct 23
🕹 Technology Economics
  1. Not all open source software is equal; some may have hidden dependencies and limitations.
  2. Open source software is like a public good, free for all to use, and can benefit society by encouraging contributions for the greater good.
  3. Open-core projects, although open-source to an extent, operate with a profit motive by offering certain features as paid, leading to potential vendor lock-in and disappointment for users.

Stakeholder capitalism

The Jolly Contrarian • 0 implied HN points • 09 Jun 23
💼 Business Economics
  1. Shareholder capitalism emphasizes maximizing profit for shareholders as the primary goal of corporations.
  2. Stakeholder capitalism has gained popularity, shifting focus towards considering the interests of all stakeholders, not just shareholders.
  3. The conflict between shareholder and stakeholder capitalism lies in prioritizing monetary interests over ethical values, and the need for corporations to stay focused on generating profits.

Trade and Jobs

Japan Economy Watch • 0 implied HN points • 28 Oct 17
💼 Business Economics
  1. Manufacturing job loss is mainly due to automation, not trade.
  2. Modern machinery has significantly increased productivity, requiring fewer workers to produce the same output.
  3. The lack of rise in workers' wages is not because of globalization, but due to power dynamics in Washington.