Did shale gas green the U.S. economy? - ScienceDirect
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140988325002129

"Our findings indicate that the shale gas boom reduced average U.S. annual green house gas emissions per capita by 7.5%."

Via #MarginalRevolution

#RobWiblin on X: "Prediction market guesses: • 11% chance China attacks Taiwan this year • 70% chance the US would intervene • Then 70% chance China attacks the US back • 20% chance the UK joins in Only guesses... but are they pessimistic or optimistic?"
https://x.com/robertwiblin/status/1898335203636007391

Via #MarginalRevolution

USAID's chief economist has resigned. Here's why
https://www.npr.org/sections/goats-and-soda/2025/02/26/g-s1-50584/usaid-economist

It's shameful that the Trump Administration (and #DOGE) decided #USAID would be a good place to start attacking the state.

Via #MarginalRevolution

#uspol
#NPR

At #MarginalRevolution, I see that there's a conversation about the limitations of LLMs. I chipped in regarding #StructuralEngineering .

https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2025/02/dwarkeshs-question.html

1/2

"Throughout the 1870s and 1880s, Tolstoy wrote stories for the children who lived on his family estate; they went on to become popular throughout Russia and summon up the same feelings of delight and warmth that you find in Anna Karenina’s suicide scene."

Katherine Rundell · Why children’s books?
https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v47/n02/katherine-rundell/why-children-s-books#:~:text=In%20being%20written%20for%20those,a%20piece%20of%20concentrated%20meaning.

Via #MarginalRevolution

Reading #MarginalRevolution this morning, I came across the following fact:

"Due to recent mass immigration under Trudeau, Canada's sex ratio has become very skewed. [10% more males than females between ages of 20 and 29.] The effects of a large sex imbalance have not been extensively studied, but I believe it could lead to many negative outcomes, such as frustration, loneliness, and sexual violence."

https://x.com/jonatanpallesen/status/1869447322696028593

#immigration
#CanPol #cdnpoli

"When sports gambling was legalized in America, I was hopeful it too could prove a net positive force, far superior to the previous obnoxious wave of daily fantasy sports. It brings me no pleasure to conclude that this was not the case. The results are in. Legalized mobile gambling on sports, let alone casino games, has proven to be a huge mistake. The societal impacts are far worse than I expected."

#ZviMowshowitz

https://thezvi.substack.com/p/the-online-sports-gambling-experiment?source=queue

Via #MarginalRevolution

1/2

Rick Tesla on X: "Had a dream I was on a podcast

Tyler Cowen: kill fuck marry: Venture capital, Shakespeare, John von Neumann

Me: uhh, kill Shakespeare I guess

TC: so you just set back industrialization a century

Me: uhh …

TC: how is metaphysics like pinball but not like jazz"
https://x.com/rickolatesla/status/1689969946200047616?s=46

Amusing if one listens to #ConversationsWithTyler

Via #MarginalRevolution

"I assess the climate impact of granting federal approval to all proposed U.S. liquified natural gas (LNG) export terminal projects, which would double U.S. export capacity by 2030. Results indicate a net decrease in global emissions through 2070, primarily due to higher local gas prices in the U.S., leading to lower domestic gas generation and accelerated renewable adoption."

If it *is* true, then Canada should export more #LNG also.

https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2024/11/the-economics-of-u-s-lng-exports.html

#ClimateChange
#MarginalRevolution

"Put otherwise: the tenets of the tenants are tenaciously held."

That was from dearieme, in a discussion of #RentControl at #MarginalRevolution.

https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2024/09/the-affordable-rent-act.html#comments

My comment today on #MarginalRevolution :

"What will be the first company to suffer massive losses due to AI? A law firm with faulty research? An engineering firm whose skyscrapers collapse? An airline whose planes are lost? A hospital which misdiagnoses? Prof. Cowen sees the undoubted power of LLMs, but he never worries about the risks of relying upon the plausible-looking results of an auto-correct function that writes in paragraphs."

https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2024/08/it-is-wonderful-to-put-inefficient-firms-out-of-business.html#comments

(See my reply below.)

Liquid water found on #Mars, deep underground:

https://bbc.com/news/articles/czxl849j77ko

Via #MarginalRevolution .

New data on marijuana legalization
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2024/08/new-data-on-marijuana-legalization.html

I favoured the legalisation of cannabis in Canada (for the conventional reasons), though it was far down my list of priorities for what the government should do. Maybe I was wrong? Have there been positive social effects from this change?

#marijuana #cannabis #CanPol #cdnpoli
#MarginalRevolution

Over at #MarginalRevolution , there's a conversation about #RankedChoiceVoting this morning: https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2024/08/what-to-think-about-ranked-choice-voting.html

(AKA the #AlternativeVote , #InstantRunoff voting.)

Personally, I support ranked-choice voting, but starting gradually, with municipal elections, and only moving to more important elections once citizens become comfortable with the system.

#ElectoralReform #elections #voting
#CanPol #cdnpoli #politics

Good news on Covid and your brain
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2024/07/good-news-on-covid-and-your-brain.html

"We find no evidence for a negative association between COVID-19 infection and subsequent measures of cognitive functioning. The associations found in earlier studies may at least partly reflect reverse causation."

This is of course not the last word on #covid19, but it would certainly be good if the disease is less destructive than we had reason to fear.

There's a discussion of #ElectoralReform for the UK at #MarginalRevolution today: https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2024/07/pr-for-the-uk.html#comment-160778148

"But Britain has many serious problems, and I would rather see one party given a decisive mandate to handle them", says #TylerCowen, defending the First-Past-the-Post system.

Some commenters argue in favour of ranked ballot voting.

#FPTP #ProportionalRepresentation
#ukpol

Via #MarginalRevolution, an #AI risk that I hadn't considered:

"When a lot of people think about AI, they think, “Oh, it’s going to fool people into believing stuff that’s not true.” But what it’s really doing is giving people permission to not believe stuff that is true. Because they can say, “Oh, that’s an AI-generated image. AI can generate anything now: video, audio, the entire war zone re-created.” They will use it as an excuse."

They link to a Canadian example.

https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2024/06/ai-and-truth-evasion.html