- America may be an "exceptional country" but so are Americans, in terms of the ways that they see and cooperate with others. That's a problem when most behavioral research into humans uses American subjects. Semi-related: has the internet changed the power of special interests and difficulty of collective action?
- Bike helmets lower children's injuries... by lowering the number of children on bikes. (The Dutch -- kids too -- don't wear helmets).
- Hotter temperatures from climate change will lower productivity (lowers mine!).
- Doh! Wind farms in Scotland are generating more carbon than they save because they are being erected on peat bogs that dry out and release carbon.
- This podcast discusses Valve, a VERY SUCCESSFUL video games company without management (cool!), and ends with a nice summary of the euro-zone crisis. Varoufakis proposes to:
- Separate the banking crisis from the sovereign debt crisis by liquidating banks.*
- Have the European Central Bank issue bonds to cover debt consistent with the Maastricht Treaty; remaining debt stays with sovereign states.
- With debts under control, allow the European Investment Bank to fund good projects on a commercial basis.
* In 2008, I said "banks matter" at the same time as I called for the business cycle to be allowed to run its course. In 2009, I called for too big to fail bankruptcies, even before I got mad at political and academic corruption.
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