Wrap Up for October 2020

Generation Zers could remain more open to dialogue and different points of view, than older generations have been.

If he wins a second term, foreign policy will change dramatically.

"some cities use biting dogs far more often than others."

COVID-19 has even affected plastics recycling.

Even in a world with IOER, "money still matters".

Income inequality in the U.S. has a somewhat unique form.

Making a case for remote work.

The refusal to wear a mask has nothing to do with being libertarian.

What happens when regulatory rules are applied unevenly?

It's easy to get confused about what competition actually means.

Chances are, the new monetary policy of AIT is neither better or worse than its predecessor.

"Why Degrowth is the Worst Idea on the Planet"

Some common causes of bad decision making.

When do corporations assume too much?

Paul Milgrom and Robert Wilson share the 2020 Nobel prize for economics:

Tyler Cowen provides references for Paul Milgrom.  And, additional references for Robert Wilson

Alex Tabarrok focuses on their contributions to auction theory.

Joshua Gans highlights Paul Milgrom's contributions to applied theory: "Simplicity must be a response to the complex environment."

Timothy Taylor gives additional details for their work on auctions.

And from Kevin Bryan on both: "Operations Research and the Rise of Applied Game Theory"

"The founders of modern liberalism like Thomas Hobbes and John Locke sought to lower the aspirations of politics, not to promote the good life as defined by religion, but rather to preserve life itself, since diverse populations could not agree on what the good life was."

Future productivity gains are also likely to be place specific.

Fivebooks posts a wide range of economics books favorites.

Will people in the U.S. continue to trust the Supreme Court?

"COVID-19 and the Fed's Monetary Policy" (Robert Hetzel)

"Americans are in general more concerned about the prospects for boys than for girls, and for their own sons more than their own daughters...conservatives and men are most concerned about boys in general - but liberals are most worried about their own sons. These views may be influencing political trends, and in particular the growing partisanship gap between men and women."

How a longstanding open trade consensus was lost.

Getting past the conceptual reality of winners and losers in education.

"Other than high school graduation rates, the US's most economically distressed zip codes saw little improvement since 2000."

The Corona shock will "likely lead to a large increase in inequality".

And, "The non decline of the labor share". Yet the reasons are not immediately evident.

Debt and budget deficits still matter.

What is the potential for rising U.S. services exports?

This pill might even affect one's religious or political beliefs.

How did Fama get monetary policy so wrong?

"Every lender is trying to help regardless of form of finance, but sooner or later the borrower needs customers."

Barry Lynn discusses COVID-19 and his new book Liberty from All Masters.

Books as freedom, aspiration, and much more: "There's something about waking up every morning to your life in a box that makes you want to learn to be more than you were when you went to sleep the night before."

First, make sure that Medicare Part A remains solvent.

A second term would transform the international order. "The fundamental miscalculation by the Trump administration is to assume the United States is so powerful that it doesn't need to compromise."

Despite the antitrust lawsuit, Google is still a loved brand.

The structural design flaw of social media platforms.

Arnold Kling further notes that large-scale society cannot successfully function via small-scale rules.

What does the word "lockdown" actually mean?

We hesitate to take on risky projects because no one wants to make something that turns out to be lame.

Politically, the south is changing.

Some musings on "The economic base of culture wars". "In politics, failure can sometimes work better than success."

Social distancing is just what an already endangered globalization didn't need.

Why have blue state economies been hit especially hard?

Residential structures improved, but not non-residential structures.

"Where our projects are shared, so too must be the property."