Attention Economy


Saturday, July 31, 2021

Affirmative Action, Standardized Tests, and College Admissions


The University of California Is Lying to Us
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/07/why-university-california-dropping-sat/619522/
Caitlin Flanagan notes:
There is only one group of students who are “overrepresented,” to use the chilling language of social engineering, at the university: Asian Americans. Twelve percent of K–12 students are Asian or Pacific Islander, compared with 34 percent of UC undergraduates. Aligning enrollment with state demographics would require cutting the share of those students by almost two-thirds. It would mean getting right with contemporary concepts of anti-racism by reviving one of California’s most shameful traditions: clearing Asians out of desirable spaces.
In the 19th century, Chinese people were beaten and lynched in California, in a prelude to the state’s successful campaign for the Chinese Exclusion Act, which cut off immigration from China. In 1906, San Francisco tried to force all Chinese, Korean, and Japanese public-school children to go to a separate “Oriental School.” And in 1942, the first internment camps for Japanese Americans opened in California. The UC has an established history in this dirty art. In the 1960s, Asian enrollment at UC Berkeley was strong, and it soared through the ’70s. But in the ’80s, it plummeted mysteriously. Berkeley was investigated by the Department of Education, and in 1989, the chancellor apologized and pledged that this would never happen again.
Related:
UC admits largest, most diverse class ever, but it was harder to get accepted
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-07-19/uc-admissions-new-diversity-record-but-harder-to-get-in

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The Smartphone Trap

This Is Our Chance to Pull Teenagers Out of the Smartphone Trap
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/31/opinion/smartphone-iphone-social-media-isolation.html 

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Friday, July 30, 2021

Some Thoughts on the Treasury Bond Market


Related:
In an upside-down world of financial markets, expected returns after inflation are at record lows.

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The Fed and the US Housing Market

The Housing Market Is on Fire. It Doesn’t Need More Fuel.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/29/opinion/the-fed-housing-market.html 

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Thursday, July 29, 2021

Vaccines, Mandates, Politics, and the Return to Normal

Time for Covidnomics
Government has done what it can. Now we need to use the power of free markets to fight the pandemic.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/07/vaccine-covidnomics-free-market/619620/
 
How to End the Pandemic
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/how-to-end-the-pandemic-by-william-a-haseltine-2021-07

How Behavioral Economics Views Mask Mandates
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-07-27/how-behavioral-economics-views-mask-mandates
What we know from behavioral economics suggests that universal mask requirements will undermine the effort to get as many people as possible vaccinated.

Vaccinated Americans are more likely to die from a lightning strike than covid. Don’t bring back restrictions.

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US Economic Rebound Continues

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New Zealand - A Safe Bet

The best place to ride out a global societal collapse is New Zealand, study finds
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/07/29/new-zealand-collapse/ 

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Is the Washington Consensus Still Relevant?

Spence, Michael. 2021. "Some Thoughts on the Washington Consensus and Subsequent Global Development Experience." Journal of Economic Perspectives, 35 (3): 67-82.
https://www.aeaweb.org/articles/pdf/doi/10.1257/jep.35.3.67
 
Chari, Anusha, Peter Blair Henry, and Hector Reyes. 2021. "The Baker Hypothesis: Stabilization, Structural Reforms, and Economic Growth." Journal of Economic Perspectives, 35 (3): 83-108.
https://www.aeaweb.org/articles/pdf/doi/10.1257/jep.35.3.83
 
Goldfajn, Ilan, Lorenza Martínez, and Rodrigo O. Valdés. 2021. "Washington Consensus in Latin America: From Raw Model to Straw Man." Journal of Economic Perspectives, 35 (3): 109-32.
https://www.aeaweb.org/articles/pdf/doi/10.1257/jep.35.3.109
 
Archibong, Belinda, Brahima Coulibaly, and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. 2021. "Washington Consensus Reforms and Lessons for Economic Performance in Sub-Saharan Africa." Journal of Economic Perspectives, 35 (3): 133-56.
https://www.aeaweb.org/articles/pdf/doi/10.1257/jep.35.3.133 

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Acemoglu Interview

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Wednesday, July 28, 2021

Facebook and the Dangers of Social Media


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Hyper Education

‘Hyper Education’ Review: Studying Hard and Blamed for It
https://www.wsj.com/articles/hyper-education-review-studying-hard-and-blamed-for-it-11627338475
An “immigrant mentality,” Mr. Dhingra says, plays a role in such academic ambition. Many parents worked hard in their native countries in order to make it here, and they are trying to pass along a work ethic to their children. Some parents are fearful of what will happen if their residency status wobbles (say, their visas expire) and their children must return home to compete with, say, fellow Indians. Other parents are in less remunerative jobs and need their children to get into a good college and have a lucrative career to shore up the family’s resources. As one Russian immigrant mother tells Mr. Dhingra: “I cannot afford to produce stupid kids.” 

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Top Global Cities for University Students

The Guardian reports:
London remains the best city in the world to be a university student, according to an international ranking of higher education centres that placed it ahead of rivals such as Tokyo, Boston and Berlin.
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/jul/28/london-remains-best-city-in-the-world-to-study-in-new-rankings 

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Excessive Heat and the Human Body

Beyond human endurance
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2021/climate-change-humidity/
When it comes to heat, the human body is resilient — but humidity makes it harder to cool down. And humidity, driven in part by climate change, is rising. 

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Tuesday, July 27, 2021

CFA Level 1 Pass Rate Plummets

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America's Inefficient Bureaucratic Structure

The IRS has a big opportunity to fix the way Americans file taxes
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/22596072/irs-turbotax-hr-block-free-file-tax-return

THE TIME TAX

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China's Big Tech Crackdown

China’s Sweeping Crackdown on Big Tech Is a Wake-Up Call for the U.S.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/08/chinas-sweeping-crackdown-on-big-tech-is-a-wake-up-call.html



Stephen Roach notes:
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/chinese-tech-crackdown-crushes-animal-spirits-by-stephen-s-roach-2021-07
The Chinese government has taken dead aim at its dynamic technology sector, the engine of consumption-led economic rebalancing. The authorities' recent actions are symptomatic of a deeper problem: the state’s battle to control the energy of animal spirits could sap the confidence of households and businesses. 

Related:
China Targets Costly Tutoring Classes. Parents Want to Save Them.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/30/business/economy/china-education-tutors.html

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Monday, July 26, 2021

Intel and the Battle for Chip Supremacy

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Rigid Dogmas

Price and Prejudice: Another Kind of Fundamentalism
https://www.milkenreview.org/articles/price-and-prejudice 

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Science, Misinformation, and Public Trust

How Science Lost the Public’s Trust
https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-china-media-lab-leak-climate-ridley-biden-censorship-coronavirus-11627049477
The British science writer Matt Ridley draws a pointed distinction between “science as a philosophy” and “science as an institution.” The former grows out of the Enlightenment, which Mr. Ridley defines as “the primacy of rational and objective reasoning.” The latter, like all human institutions, is erratic, prone to falling well short of its stated principles. Mr. Ridley says the Covid pandemic has “thrown into sharp relief the disconnect between science as a philosophy and science as an institution.”
 
Disinformation for Hire, a Shadow Industry, Is Quietly Booming
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/25/world/europe/disinformation-social-media.html

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US Stock Trading Boom

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Sunday, July 25, 2021

Cascade of Disasters - Historical Perspective

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International Affairs - Interesting Items

Pakistan’s Pyrrhic Victory in Afghanistan
Islamabad Will Come to Regret Aiding the Taliban’s Resurgence
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/afghanistan/2021-07-22/pakistans-pyrrhic-victory-afghanistan
 
Afghan resistance to the Taliban needs U.S. support — and a big morale boost
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/07/25/afghanistan-taliban-resistance-fighters-american-support-morale/
 
China is a habit that Pakistan cannot break
https://asia.nikkei.com/Opinion/China-is-a-habit-that-Pakistan-cannot-break
 
Time to Cut Egypt Off
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/middle-east/2021-07-16/time-cut-egypt 

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Saturday, July 24, 2021

Politics, Vaccination, and the Pandemic

American Dysfunction Is the Biggest Barrier to Fighting Covid
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/24/opinion/coronavius-vaccine-masks.html

Persuasion vs. Coercion: Vaccine Debate in Europe Heats Up
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/23/world/europe/france-covid-vaccine-coercion.html
 
Forget Mask Mandates. Vaccines Are the Only Answer for Fighting Covid-19.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/23/opinion/covid-vaccine-masks-lockdown-mandates.html


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Impact of Bad Policies

How Blue Cities Became So Outrageously Unaffordable
How did the party of big government become the party of paralysis?
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/23/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-jerusalem-demsas.html

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Competition for High-Skilled Talent

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Friday, July 23, 2021

Etiquette in Academic Settings

Etiquette Matters

Re: Your Recent Email to Your Professor
https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2015/04/16/advice-students-so-they-dont-sound-silly-emails-essay
 
Daniel W. Drezner, Professor of International Politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, notes:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/07/21/my-completely-uncontroversial-take-what-call-your-professor/
So, my clarified advice to novices in the university: When first contacting your professors, begin by calling them “professor.” It’s the risk-averse play. In many settings the honorific will be set aside — but not always. And no matter what anyone tries to sell you, never forget that the academy is a hierarchy. 

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Selecting a College Major


Highest Paying Jobs with a Bachelor’s Degree
https://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report/majors-that-pay-you-back/bachelors
 
The Most Predictive Factors of Post-Graduation Wages
https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/01/the-most-predictive-factor-of-post-graduation-wages/514286/
 
Six Myths About Choosing a College Major
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/03/education/edlife/choosing-a-college-major.html
 
The Economic Value of College Majors
https://cew.georgetown.edu/cew-reports/valueofcollegemajors/
To make money, study Math or Economics at a top university
https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2019/11/26/to-make-money-study-maths-or-economics-at-a-top-university
Related:
https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2019/01/26/the-cost-of-studying-the-arts-at-oxbridge
 
 
In the US, many elite universities (e.g., Harvard) do not offer undergraduate business degrees, and, consequently, economics is a popular choice for a major:
The 3 most popular majors at every Ivy League school
https://www.businessinsider.com/most-popular-ivy-league-major-2017-4
Profile of Cornell’s Dyson School:
https://poetsandquantsforundergrads.com/school-profile/cornell-universitys-dyson-school/
“The Dyson Cornell SC Johnson College of Business and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania are the only two undergrad business programs of all seven Ivy League schools. And they are the most selective schools in the United States, with only 7.1% of applicants gaining admission to Wharton and an astoundingly low 2.93% getting the nod from the gatekeepers at Cornell…What does that curriculum entail? “We are heavily quantitative applied economics- and science-driven because of our heritage,” Wooten says. “So throughout the four-year experience, much of the curriculum is similar to what you would see in other business schools, but our distinction is smaller classes, the high-touch, and our students have to take a lot of science classes and math classes to go with the general business classes.””
 An aside: 
Since there are so many undergraduate economics majors coming out of top universities, admission to elite economics grad school programs is highly competitive. Additionally, many prestigious positions available to economics majors (e.g., Research Associate Programs at the Federal Reserve) often receive applications from a large number of undergrads from elite universities.
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EMPIRICAL STUDIES:
Will Studying Economics Make You Rich? A Regression Discontinuity Analysis of the Returns to College Major
http://zacharybleemer.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Return_to_Economics.pdf
  
A Cross-Cohort Analysis of Human Capital Specialization and the College Gender Wage Gap
https://bfi.uchicago.edu/wp-content/uploads/BFI_WP_2019121_Revised.pdf 
  
Field of Study in College and Lifetime Earnings in the United States
Kim, C., Tamborini, C. R., & Sakamoto, A. (2015). Field of Study in College and Lifetime Earnings in the United States. Sociology of Education, 88(4), 320–339. http://doi.org/10.1177/0038040715602132
PDF Link:
https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/bitstream/handle/1808/23238/AFD_Kim_SociolEduc_2015.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y 

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US Fiscal Policy - Interesting Items

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Thursday, July 22, 2021

Japan – 1964 versus 2021

The 1964 Games Proclaimed a New Japan. There’s Less to Cheer This Time.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/22/world/asia/tokyo-olympics-1964-2020.html

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Will Physical Cash Disappear?

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True Count of Covid-19 Deaths in India

Three New Estimates of India’s All-Cause Excess Mortality during the COVID-19 Pandemic
https://cgdev.org/sites/default/files/three-new-estimates-indias-all-cause-excess-mortality-during-covid-19-pandemic.pdf
Abstract
India lacks an authoritative estimate of the death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic. We report excess mortality estimates from three different data sources from the pandemic’s start through June 2021. First, extrapolation of state-level civil registration from seven states suggests 3.4 million excess deaths. Second, applying international estimates of age-specific infection fatality rates (IFR) to Indian seroprevalence data implies a higher toll of around 4 million. Third, our analysis of the Consumer Pyramid Household Survey, a longitudinal panel of over 800,000 individuals across all states, yields an estimate of 4.9 million excess deaths. Each of these estimates has shortcomings and they also diverge in the pattern of deaths between the two waves of the pandemic. Estimating COVID-deaths with statistical confidence may prove elusive. But all estimates suggest that the death toll from the pandemic is likely to be an order of magnitude greater than the official count of 400,000; they also suggest that the first wave was more lethal than is believed. Understanding and engaging with the data-based estimates is necessary because in this horrific tragedy the counting— and the attendant accountability—will count for now but also the future.

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Wednesday, July 21, 2021

China and the West



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The Power of the Federal Reserve

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AI and Autonomous Technology



 
Intel’s Mobileye – Autonomous Driving in NYC

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Socio-Economic Issues

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US Economy - Hot and Cold


Red-Hot U.S. Economy Expected to Cool from Here
https://www.wsj.com/articles/red-hot-u-s-economy-expected-to-cool-from-here-11626600602 
 
Low-Wage Workers Now Have Options, Which Could Mean a Raise
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/20/business/economy/workers-wages-mobility.html
 
Temporary or not, inflation is rattling restaurants and broader economy
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/07/20/inflation-restaurants-fed-biden/

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Tuesday, July 20, 2021

Bitcoin - A Reality Check


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Fast Food - Indian Restaurants

These Restaurateurs Want Everyone in America Eating Indian Food
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/19/dining/indian-food-in-america.html

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Monday, July 19, 2021

US Real Estate Market - A New Normal

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The Pandemic and the Early Retirement Wave

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Climate Change and Monetary Policy

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The Pandemic Recession – Officially the Shortest US Recession

According to NBER:
https://www.nber.org/news/business-cycle-dating-committee-announcement-july-19-2021
The Business Cycle Dating Committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research maintains a chronology of the peaks and troughs of US business cycles. The committee has determined that a trough in monthly economic activity occurred in the US economy in April 2020. The previous peak in economic activity occurred in February 2020. The recession lasted two months, which makes it the shortest US recession on record. 

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Sunday, July 18, 2021

“Creator Economy” - Hype versus Reality

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Future of 'Golden Visas'

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Friday, July 16, 2021

International Affairs - Dealing with a Complex World

Japan Calls for ‘Sense of Crisis’ Over China-Taiwan Tensions

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The Return of Fiscal Policy



Biden’s Plan Encourages True Supply-Side Economics
https://www.wsj.com/articles/bidens-plan-encourages-true-supply-side-economics-11621982082 

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Thursday, July 15, 2021

US Auto Market – Limited Supply and High Demand

‘The Market Is Insane’: Cars Are Sold Even Before They Hit the Lot
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/15/business/car-sales-chip-shortage.html 

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Geography, Technology, and Jobs

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History Lessons: Democracies Under Threat

Writing decades ago, Richard Hofstadter and Arthur Schlesinger Jr. knew what it was like to feel democracy slipping away. Here are their lessons for today.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/07/10/democracy-slipping-hofstadter-schlesinger-498550 

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History, Culture, Politics, and Institutional Development

Non-Modernization: Power-Culture Trajectories and the Dynamics of Political Institutions by Daron Acemoglu & James A. Robinson
https://www.nber.org/papers/w29007
Abstract
Modernization theory is a cornerstone of much of political science, despite the mounting evidence against its predictions. In this paper, we argue that the theory's failings are rooted in predictions that are not conditioned on history and cultural configurations. We outline a theory in which the interplay of the distribution of political power and cultural configurations lead to three distinct self-reinforcing paths of political development, with very different state-society relations, institutions, and economic structures. These are paths to Despotic, Absent and Shackled leviathans. The role of cultural configurations, made up of attributes in a society's culture set, is critical in legitimizing the social arrangements in each path. For example, a Despotic Leviathan, as in China, cannot be understood without appreciating how Confucian culture has been used to bolster a worldview in which rulers are supposed to be virtuous and regular people are discouraged from political participation. We argued that this interpretation is not inherent to Confucian thought, but has to be understood as an endogenous outcome along the trajectory to the Despotic Leviathan. None of the three different paths we highlight support modernization theory. Under the Absent Leviathan, there is no economic modernization. Under the Despotic Leviathan, economic growth bolsters the existing regime and its supporting cultural configuration, with no tendency towards democracy or associate political changes. Under the Shackled Leviathan, there are dynamics leading to economic growth and political changes with greater bottom-up participation. Nevertheless, the causation does not go from the former to the latter, and these changes are critically dependent on cultural and political entrepreneurship in order to formulate and popularize new cultural configurations and institutionalize political changes.

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Politics and Vaccination

Vaccine hesitancy morphs into hostility, as opposition to shots hardens
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/covid-vaccines-biden-trump/2021/07/15/adaf6c7e-e4bd-11eb-a41e-c8442c213fa8_story.html
 
The delta variant is ravaging this Missouri city. Many residents are still wary of vaccines.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/07/15/springfield-missouri-delta-outbreak/

The 3 Simple Rules That Underscore the Danger of Delta
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2021/07/3-principles-now-define-pandemic/619336/

New study on delta variant reveals importance of receiving both vaccine shots, highlights challenges posed by mutations
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/delta-variant-vaccines/2021/07/08/05b1bc5e-df75-11eb-ae31-6b7c5c34f0d6_story.html

Trump Country Rejects Vaccines Despite Growing Delta Threat
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-07-07/where-is-delta-spreading-u-s-midwest-rockies-as-trump-country-rejects-vaccine
 
A third of White conservatives refuse to get vaccinated — a refusal shown in polling and the real world
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/07/06/third-white-conservatives-refuse-get-vaccine-refusal-shown-both-polling-real-world/

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Risk of a Federal Reserve Policy Error

Fed Raises Risk of Policy Mistake and Market Accidents

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Wednesday, July 14, 2021

Dogecoin Creator on Cryptos

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Making Sense of a Chaotic World

What’s behind the South African riots?
‘I am broken’: South African communities are gutted by a wave of looting, arson and loss
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/07/17/south-africa-unrest/

Cuba’s protests
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jul/14/the-guardian-view-on-cubas-protests-people-deserve-better-from-their-leaders-and-the-us
Cuba’s Pain Is Not Washington’s Gain
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-07-14/cuba-s-pain-is-not-washington-s-gain
 
U.S. Intervention in Haiti Would Be a Disaster—Again
https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/07/13/haiti-moise-invasion-washington-revolution-occupation-black-republic/
 
Fear and Misery in an Afghan City Where Taliban Stalk the Streets
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/14/world/asia/afghanistan-kunduz-taliban.html
 
Defeating Viktor Orbán will be hard, but undoing Hungary’s democratic decline will be harder.
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2021/07/viktor-orban-autocracy-hungary-election/619351/ 

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The Progressive/Left-Wing Assault on Academic Merit Harms Asian-Americans

A PTA Purge of Asians
America’s top public high school shows us what discrimination looks like today.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-pta-purge-of-asians-11626128073
 
The purge of Asian American students at Thomas Jefferson High School has begun
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/07/02/purge-asian-american-students-thomas-jefferson-has-begun/
 
The Left’s War on Gifted Kids
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/06/left-targets-testing-gifted-programs/619315/
David Frum notes:
But as unpopular as “Defund the police” is, local progressive activists have found a cause even more anathema—and are pushing it with even greater vigor. Eighty-three percent of American adults believe that testing is appropriate to determine whether students may enroll in special or honors programs, according to one of the country’s longest-running continuous polls of attitudes toward education.
 Yet across the U.S., blue-state educational authorities have turned hostile to academic testing in almost all of its forms.
 
Related:
https://vivekjayakumar.blogspot.com/2021/05/meritocracy-in-education.html
https://vivekjayakumar.blogspot.com/2021/06/in-defense-of-meritocracy.html 

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The Sad Decay of the US Political Right

The Moral Collapse of J. D. Vance
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/07/moral-collapse-jd-vance/619428/
Tom Nichols notes:
What do we call a man who turns on everything he once claimed to believe? For a practitioner of petty and self-serving duplicity, we use “sellout” or “backstabber.” (Sometimes we impugn the animal kingdom and call him a rat, a skunk, or a weasel.) For grand betrayals of weightier loyalties—country and faith—we invoke the more solemn terms of “traitor” or “apostate.”
But what should we call J. D. Vance, the self-described hillbilly turned Marine turned Ivy League law-school graduate turned venture capitalist turned Senate candidate? Words fail. His perfidy to his own people in Ohio is too big to allow him to escape with the label of “opportunist,” and yet the shabbiness and absurdity of his Senate campaign is too small to brand him a defector or a heretic.
 
There’s a Word for What Trumpism Is Becoming
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/07/theres-word-what-trumpism-becoming/619418/

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Tuesday, July 13, 2021

Inflation Spikes

Prices rise 5.4 percent in June over last year, largest spike since 2008, as economy continues to recover
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/07/13/inflation-cpi-june-prices-fed/

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Pandemic's Impact on Peru

Pandemic-driven hunger is making the world more unequal
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/07/12/coronavirus-peru-hunger-inequality/ 

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A Digital Trade Deal

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Monday, July 12, 2021

Macro Challenges - Inflation and Public Debt

Governments World-Wide Gorge on Record Debt, Testing New Limits
https://www.wsj.com/articles/governments-world-wide-gorge-onrecord-debt-testing-new-limits-11626106592
 
Inflation Threat May Be Boosted by Changes in Globalization, Demographics and E-Commerce
https://www.wsj.com/articles/reversal-of-long-term-forces-may-add-to-inflation-threat-11626082200 

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Tibetan Culture Under Threat

Scattered Among the Himalaya, Glimpses of a Changing Tibet
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/12/travel/tibetan-culture.html 

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US Economy: Post-Pandemic Recovery

Only the Rich Could Love This Economic Recovery
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/07/12/opinion/covid-fed-qe-inequality.html
 
What happens to the economy when $5.2 trillion in stimulus wears off?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/07/12/coronavirus-spending-economy/

Here’s Why This Economic Recovery Is Putting 2009’s to Shame
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/02/opinion/june-jobs-report-us.html

Is the U.S. Economy Headed for a “Hotter but Shorter” Expansionary Cycle?
https://www.ut.edu/uploadedFiles/Academics/Business/Economics/Tampa%20Bay%20Economy%20Newsletter_Summer%202021_WEB.pdf 
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Sunday, July 11, 2021

Malaysia - Political Economy

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Stocks versus Bonds

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CCP versus Chinese Tech Firms

China’s Attacks on Tech Are a Losing Strategy in Cold War II
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-07-11/china-s-attacks-on-didi-alibaba-are-losing-strategy-in-cold-war-against-u-s
Forcing DiDi and Alibaba to toe the Communist Party line may help Xi build a police state but will stall the nation’s dynamic industry.

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Chip Shortage - Causes

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Messi and Argentina

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Saturday, July 10, 2021

Time Value

Being in Time
How much should we value the past, the present, and the future?
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-inquiry/being-in-time

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Chinese Influence in UK

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Friday, July 9, 2021

Inflation Perception and Reality


A Great Inflation Redux? Economists Point to Big Differences.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/08/business/economy/inflation-redux.html
 
The Bond Market Is Telling Us to Worry About Growth, Not Inflation
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/08/upshot/interest-rates-inflation-us-economy-bond-market.html
 
Rent prices are soaring as Americans flock back to cities
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/07/09/rent-prices-rising/

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Capital Gains Tax

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Beware of Growing Crypto Risks


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Thursday, July 8, 2021

Challenges Facing the French Economy

MAJOR FUTURE ECONOMIC CHALLENGES (International Commission chaired by Olivier Blanchard and Jean Tirole)
https://www.strategie.gouv.fr/sites/strategie.gouv.fr/files/atoms/files/fs-2021-rapport-anglais-les_grands_defis_economiques-juin_1.pdf 

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China versus India

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Central Bank Balance Sheets

A $9 Trillion Binge Turns Central Banks into the Market’s Biggest Whales
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2021-central-banks-binge/

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Wednesday, July 7, 2021

Global Corporate Taxation Debate


Ireland’s Days as a Tax Haven May Be Ending, but Not Without a Fight
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/08/business/ireland-minimum-corporate-tax.html

Related:

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US Monetary Policy and Emerging Markets

A rate rise in the U.S. might trigger big problems in the developing world
https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2021/07/06/emerging-market-debt-g20/ 

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Labor Share of Income – High Skilled versus Low Skilled

Labor’s Share of the Money Pie Is Bigger Than Economists Thought
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-07-07/labor-s-share-of-the-money-pie-is-bigger-than-economists-thought
 
Human Capitalists by Andrea L. Eisfeldt, Antonio Falato, and Mindy Z. Xiaolan
https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w28815/w28815.pdf
ABSTRACT
The widespread and growing use of equity-based compensation has transformed high-skilled labor from a pure labor input to a class of "human capitalists." We show that high-skilled labor earns substantial income in the form of equity claims to firms' future dividends and capital gains. Equity-based compensation has dramatically increased since the 1980s, representing forty percent of total compensation to high-skilled labor in recent years. Ignoring equity income causes incorrect measurement of the returns to high-skilled labor, with substantial effects on macroeconomic trends. In our sample, including equity-based compensation in high-skilled labor income reduces the total decline in labor's wage-only income share relative to total value added since the 1980s by over 30%. The inclusion of equity-based compensation also eliminates the majority of the decline in the high-skilled labor share. Only by including equity pay does our structural estimation support complementarity between high-skilled labor and physical capital greater than that of Cobb and Douglas (1928). We also provide additional regression evidence of such complementarity.

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Tuesday, July 6, 2021

Declining US Fertility Rates

Expanding opportunities for women and economic uncertainty are both factors in declining US fertility rates
https://theconversation.com/expanding-opportunities-for-women-and-economic-uncertainty-are-both-factors-in-declining-us-fertility-rates-162494 

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Political Risk and Chinese Stocks

How Wall Street Lost Sight of Didi's Risks
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'Wokeness' and the Politicization of the Inequality Debate

Will America’s Woke Wars Be Britain’s Too?
Politicizing inequality may win votes, but it won’t fix problems. In fact, it will only create bigger ones.
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-07-06/will-america-s-culture-wars-be-britain-s-too

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Tech Firms and Competition

A classic Silicon Valley tactic — losing money to crush rivals — comes in for scrutiny
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/07/06/facebook-bulletin-antitrust/

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Monday, July 5, 2021

Good Investment Advice

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