The FREAKest Links: Skyscraper Homes and Pay-Per-Class Edition

From reader Paul O’Keef: Architectural Record reports that India’s richest man is building a sixty-story house for his family, including six floors for parking, a health club and a rooftop helipad.

The University of Georgia is offering a new incentive to make student-athletes show up for class: fining them $10 per unexcused absence. In the policy’s first month, the number of skipped classes dropped 90%, with more than 50% of student-athletes earning a semester GPA of 3.0 or better for the first time ever. (Hat tip: Jon Speilburg.)

This week, BusinessWeek takes a closer look at the economics of offshoring, concluding that the growing shift of jobs and production overseas may be less beneficial to the U.S. economy than previously thought. The problem, argues author Michael Mandel, lies in the so-called “phantom GDP” that’s created as a result of reporting gains that don’t correspond to domestic production.