innovation

February 16, 2014

What Can We Learn From Downton Abbey Economics?

Downton Abbey can tell us a lot about the British economy…but not everything. We know the aristocracy is struggling. Many of the 700 families who had […]

January 6, 2014

The Invention That Started to Close the Gender Gap

Worrying that labor saving devices would replace her, Downton Abbey’s cook, Mrs. Patmore, was not pleased with the new electric mixer that arrived in her kitchen […]

November 24, 2011

A Plymouth Plantation Reprise

Perhaps even more relevant today, this was our blog for last Thanksgiving: In 1623, two years after the first Thanksgiving, Governor William Bradford was worried about […]

November 19, 2011

Stagnation or Education?

Is the problem stagnation or education? For George Mason economist Tyler Cowen, it was all about his grandmother. Debating MIT economist Erik Brynjolfsson, Cowen reminded us […]

November 9, 2011

“Tweakers”

Referring to Steve Jobs, most of us think of innovation and entrepreneurship. Like Thomas Friedman in “(Steve) Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, Jobs,” we imagine business starters and […]

November 8, 2011

The Future of Oil

When will we run out of oil? A room full of pistachios might have the answer. In the first several pages of The Invisible Heart: An […]

October 26, 2011

Innovation and Jobs

Just say, “More productivity, R & D and economies of scale,” and you are talking about large firms. New Yorker financial columnist James Surowiecki reminds us […]

October 21, 2011

Millionaire Inventors

Assume you have $1.4 million dollars that you want to give away. Your goal is to spur the development of new technology, but just not any […]