Link of the day: A take on the economics of the virus )
An interesting thought about the long term economic effects of the coronavirus is this: Much of the damage that could be done depends on intertemporal effects and whether companies are able to move cashflows through time. Imagine a small restaurant that is profitable, but loses customers in the short term due to the virus. Whether that restaurant will exist in two years time crucially depends on when … more
Link of the day: The gender pay gap in an anonymous online labor market
The gender pay gap is a subject that is both important and notoriously difficult to study. It is very hard to disentangle different effects as self-selection, societal expectations, market forces and discrimination all play a role. This piece I found very interesting because it looked at a market where active discrimination should be impossible since ’employers’ cannot know the gender of their ’employees’. Amazon Mechanical Turk… more
Link of the day: 95-percentile isn’t that good
Reaching 95%-ile isn’t very impressive because it’s not that hard to do. I think this is one of my most ridiculable ideas. It doesn’t help that, when stated nakedly, that sounds elitist. But I think it’s just the opposite: most people can become (relatively) good at most things.
Quite interesting post about how easy it is (or should be) for people to get better at things in life. Also a good introduction … more
Link of the day: Airborne Nitrogen Dioxide Plummets Over China
… moreNASA and European Space Agency (ESA) pollution monitoring satellites have detected significant decreases in nitrogen dioxide (NO2) over China. […]
“This is the first time I have seen such a dramatic drop-off over such a wide area for a specific event,” said Fei Liu, an air quality researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Liu recalls seeing a drop in NO2 over several countries during the economic
I previously tried to encourage donations to effective charities by making political bets or by offering to match your donations. Now I have another idea that I hope will help you as well as others around the world: I will offer myself for hire. The idea is simple: I help you with certain tasks, and in exchange for that you donate money. If you would like to take up the offer, just contact me.
Here is a non-exhaustive … more
Link of the day: Growthers, base-raters and the spread of coronavirus
… moreThe term growthers refers to the notion of exponential growth, and indeed the number of Covid-19 cases appears (by some accounts) to be following an exponential pattern. Some scientists have estimated that the number of cases doubles about every seven days. If you play that logic out, it is easy enough to see how people might be complacent at first, then in a few months there is a public
Link of the day: Seeing the Smoke
About one to two weeks before the stock market crashed, people I follow on Twitter discussed how a looming pandemic should affect the stock markets and where wondering why it didn’t react at all. I was wondering the same, thinking about whether to tell my mum to sell her stocks. In the end we sold some of them, but quite a bit too late and also probably too few. I still have the … more
Link of the day: People Born Blind Are Mysteriously Protected From Schizophrenia
… moreThese findings suggest that something about congenital blindness may protect a person from schizophrenia. This is especially surprising, since congenital blindness often results from infections, brain trauma, or genetic mutation—all factors that are independently associated with greater risk of psychotic disorders.
More strangely, vision loss at other periods of life is associated with higher risks of schizophrenia and psychotic symptoms. Even in healthy people, blocking vision for just
Link of the day: Captain Joe’s YouTube Channel
Recently, my friend Tobi showed me the YouTube channel of Captain Joe, a pilot who explains lots of very interesting details about planes and aviation. It’s a nerd’s dream come true. There is still a ton I haven’t watched, but some of my favorites so far are:
Link of the day: Nobel Price Laureate Paul Romer on the question whether economists do more harm than good
… moreIn the 19th century, when it became clear that the net effect of having a doctor assist a woman in child-birth was to increase the probability that she would die, western society faced a choice:
– Get rid of doctors; or
– Insist that they wash their hands.
I do not want western society to get rid of economists. But to
