Category: Uncategorized
Assorted links
1. Japanese video of the speech jammer.
2. Italy’s take on baseball for the blind.
3. What is it like being shot in the head?
4. Ryan Avent on whether we still tolerate innovation, and smart bed makes itself (Spanish export by the way).
The fiscal cliff, a reader request, and which new states will there be?
Celestus, a loyal MR reader, asks:
A couple suggestions:
(a) The “fiscal cliff.” Whether it should be avoided, and how it should be avoided assuming that politics requires it be so. [I did a search for “fiscal cliff” with no results; apologies if it has been covered using more generic language].
(b) Name the 51st through 55th U.S. states, including Gingrich Moon Colony or N/A as necessary.
The fiscal cliff has a few quite different components, ranging from expiration of the Bush tax cuts to the AMT to automatic spending cuts, and each year you can toss in the Medicare doc fix as well. Most economists agree the best solution is no fiscal contraction now, but fiscal consolidation later on. That said, most economists should recognize (but often do not) that “fiscal consolidation later” is very often a myth. If it were “now or never” should we do fiscal contraction and cause a recession but restore some fiscal sanity? The correct answer will boil down to your probability forecast for “fiscal contraction later.” It’s tricky, though, because for a low enough probability of “fiscal contraction later” you end up believing that “fiscal contraction now” isn’t possible either, and then what is the original question about anyway? The original question appears to be straightforwardly normative, but it embodies hidden assumptions about which counterfactuals one is willing to entertain. It’s the counterfactuals assumptions which are often doing the work in generating the fiscal policy recommendation. Many people writing on this topic don’t make that clear.
Ideally we should bring more and more taxpayers under AMT-like rules. As for the Medicare doc fix, I would cut reimbursement rates whenever I could, and without fear of much fiscal contraction. The health care sector is growing in any case and full of price discrimination and other price oddities.
I don’t think we will have extra states, but the most likely candidates are the obvious, starting with Puerto Rico (a very clear first choice), Alberta, and the Maritime Provinces. I would bet against all or any of those becoming states, if only because of the extreme status quo bias when it comes to sovereignty. Why give it up? Even bankrupt countries are reluctant to give it up.
Assorted links
1. How fast can you translate to the Finnish?
2. Two hundred years of hospital costs and mortality, as seen through the lens of one hospital.
3. Can Spain and Italy pursue an export-led recovery?
Assorted links
1. Where Chicago law and economics is at right now, and Bruce Lee plays ping pong (fake short video).
2. Via Chris F. Masse, iPads on the menu?
3. Why a bumper Indian wheat harvest isn’t leading to much good.
4. How the Greek bank jog is also a form of insurance, for some that is.
Assorted links
1. Species extinction and international trade (gated past the abstract).
2. New paper on Canadian inequality.
3. The case that China will do OK.
4. Bob Keleher has passed away at 67; he pioneered a market price approach to monetary policy.
5. Video games that adapt themselves to your Twitter feed and Facebook page.
Assorted links
Which are the best walking cities?
I will nominate London, Paris, and Buenos Aires as leading contenders. New York is for me too familiar for me to judge objectively and so I exclude it.
Reasonable safety is a prerequisite, and then we have the following dimensions:
1. Chance of seeing a striking yet non-famous piece of architecture. All three cities are strong here.
2. The right mix of broad boulevards and narrower streets. Ditto.
3. The chance of spontaneously encountering good bookstores or excellent dark chocolate: London wins the former, Paris and Buenos Aires win the latter.
4. Cheap, convenient cabs, and places to sit and drink sparkling water: Buenos Aires is #1 on these.
5. Strangers are willing to talk to you: Tough to call, though NYC would win hands down if it were in the running.
6. Strategic and frequent use of historic plaques: London wins; yesterday I saw “George Canning lived here” and “Clive of India lived here,” among others.
B.A. loses points for imperfect safety and also capital confiscation, though it has by far the warmest weather of the trio. Overall I am inclined to pick London as first, perhaps because I prefer English to French for bookstores. Paris offers fewer surprises, even if it has a higher average level of beauty. Paris is also worse for spontaneous cheap dining in restaurants, though it has far better food stores for urban picnics. Berlin is perhaps the best city right now for living, but it is too spread out, and with too many broad boulevards, to be the best walking city. It is an excellent city to take a cab in.
Walking cities on the rise: Istanbul. I suspect it’s long been splendid, it’s now reaping the gains of being modern.
Underrated walking cities: Moscow, Mexico City, Toronto, parts of northern England, Los Angeles.
Overrated walking cities: Budapest, Krakow, Munich.
Best city to take the subway through: Tokyo.
If I had to pick a fourth in line: Barcelona.
Assorted links
Assorted links
Gallego travel notes
The ATM gives you a choice of eight languages, including Catalan, Gallego, Valencia, and Euskara. At first the street signs appear to be in Portuguese, but that is a trick. Other times the dual Spanish and Gallego phrases on the signs are exactly the same.
Gallego as a province [Galicia] reminds some of Nantes, France, and the surrounding area, or of parts of southern Chile.
If you put together Keynesian economics and public choice theory, you get a very nice and indeed downright spacious airport in Santiago de Compostela. More infrastructure here will not jump start growth.
Counterintuitively, Santiago avoids the destruction of its authenticity by relying on tourism. The city has been a major tourist destination since at least the 9th century A.D., so the arrival of tourists — many of them have religious motives — is how the city’s past is preserved. It is the people who stay at home who are ruining the place.
Vigo, the largest city in Gallego, has lovely sea views, lots of refrigeration facilities in its port, and superb seafood. It is slow on a Sunday, especially for its size. Percebes looks like this, and it is a must-try.
“A Coruña is one of only eight pairs of cities in the world that has a near-exact antipodal city.” That would be Christchurch, New Zealand. A Coruña is supposed to be the most prosperous city in Gallego, yet it is scary how many abandoned or boarded up buildings are in the heart of downtown.
The city’s Roman lighthouse is still in use, and it is the world’s oldest active lighthouse.
It is very green in Gallego and it rains a lot, though not as much as in Bergen, Norway.
I strongly recommend a trip to Gallego. There are numerous reasons to go, and few reasons not to go, the only really good one being that you may wish to go somewhere else.
Doller Otaku, or the culture that is you-know-where
It is hard to pull out just one paragraph from this gem of an article, but here goes:
I like to think myself as a kigurumist [from kigurumi, costume] because I don’t only dress up as two-dimensional beautiful girls. I also dress up as fairies, furry animals and monsters too. I think that dollers dress up as dolls as an extension of cosplay and I don’t want to be categorized as a doller or a cosplayer because I don’t put on an act. I don’t change my character or personality to match my kigurumi as others do.
And:
What’s important is I can become something on the borderline between human beings and dolls. I like the idea of existing somewhere between the 2-D and 3-D worlds.
Why wear a mask when you’re so pretty?
I must admit, I think I’m the cutest girl in the world. But I want to keep on pursuing beauty.
The article is here, with photos, via a loyal MR reader.
Assorted links
1. Review of the new Chris Hayes book.
2. Garett Jones on speed bankruptcy (pdf).
3. The politics of Obama vs. Romney; politics isn’t about policy!
4. NYT presents 32 innovations that will change our world; are you impressed by their list? I like this one:
A team of Dutch and Italian researchers has found that the way you move your phone to your ear while answering a call is as distinct as a fingerprint. You take it up at a speed and angle that’s almost impossible for others to replicate. Which makes it a more reliable password than anything you’d come up with yourself. (The most common iPhone password is “1234.”) Down the line, simple movements, like the way you shift in your chair, might also replace passwords on your computer. It could also be the master key to the seven million passwords you set up all over the Internet but keep forgetting.
5. Are economics Ph.D programs teaching the right material?
6. More Paul Krugman on science fiction.
Assorted links
Questions from Nick_L
I believe he is a loyal MR reader:
1) What’s the most important economics question you ever asked? 2) How do economics professors negotiate their salaries? Do econ professors share notes on this? 3) Predictions for US economic policies if Obama is re-elected? 4) Where do you see the next boom/bubble/bust occurring? 5) Possible remedies for the continuing rise in Income inequality? 6) If you had to move overseas, which country would you most likely pick, and why?
My answers:
1) “What is the required type font for submitting this dissertation?”
2) Quietly. Angus adds comment.
3) Continued denial, no matter who wins.
4) We’re done with bubbles for a while, though I think Facebook may still be one.
5) Destroy American export capacity.
6) For living I think I would like Berlin, Singapore, and London, but the answer depends on my income and opportunities.