#marginalrevolution — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #marginalrevolution, aggregated by home.social.
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"Tyler and Joel discuss European corporations vs. Chinese clans, why the Catholic Church became obsessed with cousin-marriage, how persistent cultural trends really are, why Chinese cities became so populous relative to Europe, why it took so long for European living standards to surpass China’s, [...] how disruptive winning a Nobel is, and much more."
My Conversation with the excellent Joel Mokyr
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/07/my-conversation-with-the-excellent-joel-mokyr.html#JoelMokyr #history #economics
#TylerCowen
#MarginalRevolution -
"Tyler and Joel discuss European corporations vs. Chinese clans, why the Catholic Church became obsessed with cousin-marriage, how persistent cultural trends really are, why Chinese cities became so populous relative to Europe, why it took so long for European living standards to surpass China’s, [...] how disruptive winning a Nobel is, and much more."
My Conversation with the excellent Joel Mokyr
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/07/my-conversation-with-the-excellent-joel-mokyr.html#JoelMokyr #history #economics
#TylerCowen
#MarginalRevolution -
@Sir_Osis_of_Liver @Chigaze @PapyrusBrigade
Is there a similar phenomenon with extreme left-wingers swamping comment sections at the Toronto Star, let's say? I rarely read comments (other than at #MarginalRevolution) — there's not much value-added. -
@Sir_Osis_of_Liver @Chigaze @PapyrusBrigade
Is there a similar phenomenon with extreme left-wingers swamping comment sections at the Toronto Star, let's say? I rarely read comments (other than at #MarginalRevolution) — there's not much value-added. -
"This is not a secret. It has been documented by the New York Fed, by Beth Akers, by basically anyone who has looked at the data without an ax [sic] to grind. But the affordability discourse cannot metabolize the finding, because the finding implies that the standard policy menu—more aid, more forgiveness—is the cause of the problem, not the solution."
The essay describes similar phenomena in American healthcare and housing.
Via #MarginalRevolution .
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"This is not a secret. It has been documented by the New York Fed, by Beth Akers, by basically anyone who has looked at the data without an ax [sic] to grind. But the affordability discourse cannot metabolize the finding, because the finding implies that the standard policy menu—more aid, more forgiveness—is the cause of the problem, not the solution."
The essay describes similar phenomena in American healthcare and housing.
Via #MarginalRevolution .
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#MattYglesias: "Trump’s under-appreciated masterstroke is that by demonstrating to the Iranians that they can successfully deter aggression by closing the Strait of Hormuz, he’s greatly reduced the incentive to actually build a nuclear weapon as opposed to just a ton of cheap drones." | nitter
https://nitter.net/mattyglesias/status/2066674154003120335#mVia #MarginalRevolution .
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#MattYglesias: "Trump’s under-appreciated masterstroke is that by demonstrating to the Iranians that they can successfully deter aggression by closing the Strait of Hormuz, he’s greatly reduced the incentive to actually build a nuclear weapon as opposed to just a ton of cheap drones." | nitter
https://nitter.net/mattyglesias/status/2066674154003120335#mVia #MarginalRevolution .
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"Sao Paulo as a city is much improved. The murder rate has plummeted, and the nice neighborhoods are very nice and are growing in size. The business community is strong, interesting architecture abounds, and there is a real arts scene. It is arguably Latin America’s number one city, with only Mexico City as a rival. It has, along with Mexico City, evolved into a “must know” global city, though it is rarely treated that way by outsiders."
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/06/sao-paulo-notes.html
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A number two comment on #MarginalRevolution: "So many writings about Proust disproportionately discuss the first book, the first page, the first sentence. It would be interesting to see a chart of where people who take up the book stop reading."
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/05/sunday-assorted-links-569.html#comments
#Proust #ALaRechercheDuTempsPerdu #RemembranceOfThingsPast #InSearchOfLostTime
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A number two comment on #MarginalRevolution: "So many writings about Proust disproportionately discuss the first book, the first page, the first sentence. It would be interesting to see a chart of where people who take up the book stop reading."
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/05/sunday-assorted-links-569.html#comments
#Proust #ALaRechercheDuTempsPerdu #RemembranceOfThingsPast #InSearchOfLostTime
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Interesting conversation recently in the comments at #MarginalRevolution about whether it's rational to consider #prostitution to be repugnant: https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/05/repugnant-economics.html ; Prof. Tabarrok suggests that it isn't.
As usual, I think Sure has a lot of wisdom.
(This is, to be clear, a different question than if or how society ought to regulate prostitution.)
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Interesting conversation recently in the comments at #MarginalRevolution about whether it's rational to consider #prostitution to be repugnant: https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/05/repugnant-economics.html ; Prof. Tabarrok suggests that it isn't.
As usual, I think Sure has a lot of wisdom.
(This is, to be clear, a different question than if or how society ought to regulate prostitution.)
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Socialism Has a Future. Central Planning Doesn’t.
https://jacobin.com/2026/05/central-planning-soviet-union-socialismVia https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/05/hayek-in-jacobin.html
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Socialism Has a Future. Central Planning Doesn’t.
https://jacobin.com/2026/05/central-planning-soviet-union-socialismVia https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/05/hayek-in-jacobin.html
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Spain just became one of Europe's cheapest power markets. Here is how.
https://janrosenow.substack.com/p/spain-just-became-one-of-europes(Wind and solar.)
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Spain just became one of Europe's cheapest power markets. Here is how.
https://janrosenow.substack.com/p/spain-just-became-one-of-europes(Wind and solar.)
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Dominic Pino (@DominicJPino): "Imagining explaining to the Founding Fathers that the president imposed tariffs without an act of Congress and then removed them at the request of the King of England"
https://nitter.net/DominicJPino/status/2049926201267962110 -
Dominic Pino (@DominicJPino): "Imagining explaining to the Founding Fathers that the president imposed tariffs without an act of Congress and then removed them at the request of the King of England"
https://nitter.net/DominicJPino/status/2049926201267962110 -
"If we find that you actually have multiple obstructing stones and we need to go deeper into the biliary tree, then those are different CPTs. Regardless, we do what is medically indicated, document the codes used. At this point, unless your physician keeps billing fully in house, those get handled by a processer. Often, bills from multiple providers get handled by one processor who in turn gives insurance companies bills to their specifications."
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/04/on-health-care-price-transparency-from-the-comments.html
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#MarginalRevolution -
"If we find that you actually have multiple obstructing stones and we need to go deeper into the biliary tree, then those are different CPTs. Regardless, we do what is medically indicated, document the codes used. At this point, unless your physician keeps billing fully in house, those get handled by a processer. Often, bills from multiple providers get handled by one processor who in turn gives insurance companies bills to their specifications."
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/04/on-health-care-price-transparency-from-the-comments.html
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#MarginalRevolution -
Taufiq Rahim (@taufiqzrahim): "My overall view of the provisional ceasefire agreement:
1. It is a good thing. If the war continued it would be devastating for all.
2. This war should not have been started in the first place, when it was started. The timing was wrong and its objectives could have been acheived in a different way."
[Mr. Rahim makes 16 points in total.]
https://nitter.net/taufiqzrahim/status/2041687818225787386#mVia #MarginalRevolution , https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/04/two-assorted-links.html
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Taufiq Rahim (@taufiqzrahim): "My overall view of the provisional ceasefire agreement:
1. It is a good thing. If the war continued it would be devastating for all.
2. This war should not have been started in the first place, when it was started. The timing was wrong and its objectives could have been acheived in a different way."
[Mr. Rahim makes 16 points in total.]
https://nitter.net/taufiqzrahim/status/2041687818225787386#mVia #MarginalRevolution , https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/04/two-assorted-links.html
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The CA Minimum Wage Increase: Summing Up
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/04/the-ca-minimum-wage-increase-summing-up.htmlWhat was the consequence of California raising the #MinimumWage for fast food workers? More money for some, job loss for others, more expensive food for customers. "[P]rices rose, quantity demanded fell, and that’s what killed the jobs—not robots replacing workers. Not today, anyway."
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The CA Minimum Wage Increase: Summing Up
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/04/the-ca-minimum-wage-increase-summing-up.htmlWhat was the consequence of California raising the #MinimumWage for fast food workers? More money for some, job loss for others, more expensive food for customers. "[P]rices rose, quantity demanded fell, and that’s what killed the jobs—not robots replacing workers. Not today, anyway."
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"We only have preliminary, widely ranging estimates for the 2024–2025 flu season. But we can say that there were roughly 2-3x the number of flu to Covid hospitalizations and about five times the number of flu infections, comparing the low and high ends of each estimate to one another. On the low end, death counts were about equal, but on the high end, flu deaths were more than double."
https://theprogressnetwork.substack.com/p/covids-quiet-retreat
#covid19 has added to the stock of human misery even so.
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"We only have preliminary, widely ranging estimates for the 2024–2025 flu season. But we can say that there were roughly 2-3x the number of flu to Covid hospitalizations and about five times the number of flu infections, comparing the low and high ends of each estimate to one another. On the low end, death counts were about equal, but on the high end, flu deaths were more than double."
https://theprogressnetwork.substack.com/p/covids-quiet-retreat
#covid19 has added to the stock of human misery even so.
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"I think Elon Musk’s judgment started to worsen sometime around 2020. He was always mercurial, somewhat impulsive, prone to setting unrealistic timelines, and at times needlessly combative. However, I held hope that his positive qualities, which helped lead Tesla and SpaceX to tremendous success, would win out and he would reign in his worst tendencies. Sadly, the opposite happened, and now I no longer trust his leadership of Tesla."
https://strangecosmos.substack.com/p/self-driving-cars-arent-nearly-a?triedRedirect=true
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"I think Elon Musk’s judgment started to worsen sometime around 2020. He was always mercurial, somewhat impulsive, prone to setting unrealistic timelines, and at times needlessly combative. However, I held hope that his positive qualities, which helped lead Tesla and SpaceX to tremendous success, would win out and he would reign in his worst tendencies. Sadly, the opposite happened, and now I no longer trust his leadership of Tesla."
https://strangecosmos.substack.com/p/self-driving-cars-arent-nearly-a?triedRedirect=true
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#MarginalRevolution's most popular posts of 2025. Here's one to consider:
"I am myself (largely) a cultural liberal [... but] let us be clear what is going on. The right-wing populists are gaining ground in so many countries because the cultural liberals in various parliaments and congresses are extremely reluctant to meet the preferences of their median voters. On the immigration issue most of all. And then they wish to talk about threats to democracy!"
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#MarginalRevolution's most popular posts of 2025. Here's one to consider:
"I am myself (largely) a cultural liberal [... but] let us be clear what is going on. The right-wing populists are gaining ground in so many countries because the cultural liberals in various parliaments and congresses are extremely reluctant to meet the preferences of their median voters. On the immigration issue most of all. And then they wish to talk about threats to democracy!"
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A Very Big Fight Over a Very Small Language
"Among the surviving Romansh idioms, Sursilvan reigns in the upper Rhine Valley; Sutsilvan in the posterior Rhine Valley; Surmiran in the Albula Valley and Oberhalbstein; and Puter and Vallader in the Engadine."
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A Very Big Fight Over a Very Small Language
"Among the surviving Romansh idioms, Sursilvan reigns in the upper Rhine Valley; Sutsilvan in the posterior Rhine Valley; Surmiran in the Albula Valley and Oberhalbstein; and Puter and Vallader in the Engadine."
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That's from an essay about Sir #TomStoppard : https://www.commonreader.co.uk/p/tom-stoppards-ordinary-magic
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That's from an essay about Sir #TomStoppard : https://www.commonreader.co.uk/p/tom-stoppards-ordinary-magic
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On discute la #polqc sur #MarginalRevolution cette fin de semaine, en particulier la nouvelle loi sur la laïcité.
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2025/11/saturday-assorted-links-537.html
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On discute la #polqc sur #MarginalRevolution cette fin de semaine, en particulier la nouvelle loi sur la laïcité.
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2025/11/saturday-assorted-links-537.html
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"Mexico is now the world’s top buyer of U.S. goods, according to data released by the U.S. government on Wednesday, outpacing Canada for the first time in nearly 30 years."
#Mexico is also the top exporter to the US; Canada is number 3.
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2025/11/mexico-facts-of-the-day-6.html
See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_largest_trading_partners_of_the_United_States , but note that the table is more up-to-date than the graphic.
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"Mexico is now the world’s top buyer of U.S. goods, according to data released by the U.S. government on Wednesday, outpacing Canada for the first time in nearly 30 years."
#Mexico is also the top exporter to the US; Canada is number 3.
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2025/11/mexico-facts-of-the-day-6.html
See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_largest_trading_partners_of_the_United_States , but note that the table is more up-to-date than the graphic.
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#MarginalRevolution points to a new paper claiming that increased housing costs are responsible for "51% of the total fertility rate decline between the 2000s and 2010s" in the US. Some interesting comments too.
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2025/11/housing-costs-and-fertility.html
(Polls show that women want to have more children than they actually do have. We should learn what the impediments are.)
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#MarginalRevolution points to a new paper claiming that increased housing costs are responsible for "51% of the total fertility rate decline between the 2000s and 2010s" in the US. Some interesting comments too.
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2025/11/housing-costs-and-fertility.html
(Polls show that women want to have more children than they actually do have. We should learn what the impediments are.)
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In "The world turned upside down" Searle related this conversation with Foucault about Derrida:
'Michel Foucault once characterized Derrida’s prose style to me as “obscurantisme terroriste.” The text is written so obscurely that you can’t figure out exactly what the thesis is (hence “obscurantisme“) and then when one criticizes it, the author says, “Vous m’avez mal compris; vous êtes un idiot” (hence “terroriste“)."
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2025/09/monday-assorted-links-528.html#comments
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In "The world turned upside down" Searle related this conversation with Foucault about Derrida:
'Michel Foucault once characterized Derrida’s prose style to me as “obscurantisme terroriste.” The text is written so obscurely that you can’t figure out exactly what the thesis is (hence “obscurantisme“) and then when one criticizes it, the author says, “Vous m’avez mal compris; vous êtes un idiot” (hence “terroriste“)."
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2025/09/monday-assorted-links-528.html#comments
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"The right-wing populists are gaining ground in so many countries because the cultural liberals in various parliaments and congresses are extremely reluctant to meet the preferences of their median voters. On the immigration issue most of all. And then they wish to talk about threats to democracy!"
A median voter theory of right-wing populism
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2025/08/a-median-voter-theory-of-right-wing-populism.html1/2
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"The right-wing populists are gaining ground in so many countries because the cultural liberals in various parliaments and congresses are extremely reluctant to meet the preferences of their median voters. On the immigration issue most of all. And then they wish to talk about threats to democracy!"
A median voter theory of right-wing populism
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2025/08/a-median-voter-theory-of-right-wing-populism.html1/2
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"Walking around Mumbai it’s common to see some lovely, older buildings (circa 1920s perhaps) that are rentcontrol1in a great state of disrepair. A well maintained building can last for hundreds of years so why are these buildings falling apart? The answer is rent control. Bombay passed a rent control act in 1947 that froze rents at 1940 levels."
"[E]ven today there are thousands of flats where tenants are paying rents of 400-500 rupees"
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"Walking around Mumbai it’s common to see some lovely, older buildings (circa 1920s perhaps) that are rentcontrol1in a great state of disrepair. A well maintained building can last for hundreds of years so why are these buildings falling apart? The answer is rent control. Bombay passed a rent control act in 1947 that froze rents at 1940 levels."
"[E]ven today there are thousands of flats where tenants are paying rents of 400-500 rupees"
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"Low-cost micro-units, often called single-room occupancies, or SROs, were once a reliable form of housing for the United States’ poorest residents of, and newcomers to, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and many other major U.S. cities. Well into the 20th century, SROs were the least expensive option on the housing market, providing a small room with a shared bathroom and sometimes a shared kitchen"
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"Low-cost micro-units, often called single-room occupancies, or SROs, were once a reliable form of housing for the United States’ poorest residents of, and newcomers to, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and many other major U.S. cities. Well into the 20th century, SROs were the least expensive option on the housing market, providing a small room with a shared bathroom and sometimes a shared kitchen"
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"Yes, there are those still predicting rapid intelligence takeoff, along both quasi-utopian and quasi-dystopian paths. But as A.I. has begun to settle like sediment into the corners of our lives, A.I. hype has evolved, too, passing out of its prophetic phase into something more quotidian — a pattern familiar from our experience with nuclear proliferation, climate change and pandemic risk, among other charismatic megatraumas."
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/20/opinion/ai-technology-chatgpt.html?smid=tw-share
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"Yes, there are those still predicting rapid intelligence takeoff, along both quasi-utopian and quasi-dystopian paths. But as A.I. has begun to settle like sediment into the corners of our lives, A.I. hype has evolved, too, passing out of its prophetic phase into something more quotidian — a pattern familiar from our experience with nuclear proliferation, climate change and pandemic risk, among other charismatic megatraumas."
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/20/opinion/ai-technology-chatgpt.html?smid=tw-share
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Peak cinema - by Scott Sumner - The Pursuit of Happiness
https://scottsumner.substack.com/p/peak-cinema"In this post, I’ll argue that the period from 1958 to 1963 is the artistic peak of filmmaking."
I have to confess that I've watched barely a handful of the films in this list — but the ones I watched were good. Someday...
Via #MarginalRevolution , https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2025/08/scott-sumner-is-still-the-greatest-movie-critic-in-the-world.html#comments
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Peak cinema - by Scott Sumner - The Pursuit of Happiness
https://scottsumner.substack.com/p/peak-cinema"In this post, I’ll argue that the period from 1958 to 1963 is the artistic peak of filmmaking."
I have to confess that I've watched barely a handful of the films in this list — but the ones I watched were good. Someday...
Via #MarginalRevolution , https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2025/08/scott-sumner-is-still-the-greatest-movie-critic-in-the-world.html#comments
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How to Tell if Something is AI-Written
"Again, you may notice that no specific idea or image or word springs to mind when you’re reading AI-generated words."
https://hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/how-to-tell-if-something-is-ai-written
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How to Tell if Something is AI-Written
"Again, you may notice that no specific idea or image or word springs to mind when you’re reading AI-generated words."
https://hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/how-to-tell-if-something-is-ai-written
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derek guy on X: "Have you ever noticed that people dressed better in the past? Even in the summer, when it was scorching hot? Why is this? 🧵 https://t.co/m9GBXFRobM" / X
https://x.com/dieworkwear/status/1955756224030630264Via https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2025/08/thursday-assorted-links-515.html#comments