I must start with my bias. I am a night owl. So too were Winston Churchill and Charles Darwin, James Joyce and Glenn Gould. In one interview, Ann Beattie said, “I really think people’s bodies are on different clocks. I…
Economic Thinkers
Starting with Adam Smith and The Wealth of Nations, continuing to Malthus, Ricardo, Keynes, Hayek, Friedman, Sen and others, the timeless ideas of economic thinkers provide understanding of the contemporary economy.
1930s Noise Pollution
In 1932, the NYC Noise Abatement Commission received a letter from Mr. N. Schmuck of 137 Milton Street in Brooklyn about the noise from a nearby pickle factory. Other 1930s noise complaints included early morning ice deliveries, “ear splitting shrieks…
The Reason That Certain Quarterbacks Earn More
A 3.2 difference in a facial symmetry score can mean an extra $378,000 in pay for a quarterback. According to research from economist David Berri on salaries from 1995-2009, if a quarterback is better looking, his salary will exceed others…
Have We Halved the Deficit?
In the State-of-the-Union, President Obama said, “Our deficits–cut by more than half.” Looking at the federal deficit as a percent of GDP, we can say that the deficit is much lower than 4 years ago. BUT… The deficit was an unusually…
One Way That the “Poor Beat the Rich”
In just 8 minutes, Hans Rosling shows us that, with child mortality rates, the developing world is making more progress than we might expect. With his captivating “gapminder” approach, he creates a race between Sweden in 1900 and Bangladesh in…
The Revolution That Grandma Started
The NYC Miss Subways competition was about a lot more than pretty “girls” (as they were called). To become Miss Subways for a month, applicants had to submit a picture to the John Robert Powers Agency. From perhaps 1000 applicants,…
Connecting Abigail Adams to Janet Yellen
Reading about “touch generations” in Sam Arbesman’s Wired Magazine blog, I realized that Abigail Adams and Janet Yellen were connected. Different generations touch when one’s birth year coincides with someone else’s death. Born in 1744, Abigail Adams died in 1818, the year that Karl Marx was…
Marrying Up in China
“There is an opinion that A quality guys will find B quality women, B quality guys will find C quality women, and C quality men will find D quality women…The people left are A quality women and D quality men.” Huang Yuanyuan, commenting on marriage in China…