A new working paper gives tangible evidence that the measures taken by Beijing to reduce air pollution during the 2008 Olympics worked, but that more than half the effect faded away by October 2009.
Contributor James Altucher reflects on a career of disparate jobs in corporate America and Wall Street, and offers 10 signs when you know it’s time to quit that corporate job you loathe.
A new study out of the University of Copenhagen suggests that engaging in distracting behavior, like watching college basketball on the internet while at work, does not reduce your productivity.
I was in California the other day and saw someone doing something that I haven’t seen done in a good while. I used to do it myself quite a bit, when I was in college, largely out of necessity. What was it?
The FDIC has imposed a fee that makes it more expensive for banks to borrow in the overnight ‘repo’ market. The intent appears to be to reduce easy arbitrage profits for big banks and smooth credit markets in the long term.
The Dodd-Frank reform bill includes a provision that prohibits companies from using conflict minerals (gold, titanium, tungsten), the mining of which yields profits that have financed wars in the Congo.
After getting crushed by falling commodity prices two years ago, their ranks cut by 70 percent, Russian billionaires are back and more plentiful than ever. According to a recent study, Russia currently has 114 billionaires, more than the 101 it had in 2007.
A reader named Shira Bannerman writes:
I just spent the week at SXSW, an indie music festival in Austin, TX, that attracted around 230,00 attendees. (Well, first it’s an interactive media and movie fest, but I only went for the music fest portion. I’d also specifically like to mention that my experience is only reflective of the free concerts, as I didn’t pay for a wristband and don’t know if that experience is much different.)
How do people who love salty snacks like their toilet paper to hang? Are fans of carbonated beverage more likely to enjoy horror movies? A new website, www.correlated.org, has the answer to such pressing questions. Founded by Shaun Gallagher, the brains behind last year’s UnofficialCensus.org, it aims to uncover one surprising correlation a day.
Bob Parsons, CEO and Founder of GoDaddy, faces off against Piers Morgan and PETA in a recent video. The issue is simple: Parsons went to Labola, Zimbabwe and killed an elephant, and proudly posted video and photos online. Why? Parsons claims a herd of elephants were wreaking havoc with the crops of local villagers, and that the meat from the killed elephant could feed an African village (literally). I’m guessing (although I’m not sure I care, and he does not say this) that he also is a hunter, and maybe enjoyed the process of the hunt.
Some people really are addicted to foods in a similar way others might be dependent on certain substances, like addictive illegal or prescriptions drugs, or alcohol, researchers from Yale University revealed in Archives of General Psychiatry. Those with an addictive-like behavior seem to have more neural activity in specific parts of the brain in the same way substance-dependent people appear to have, the authors explained.
More here.
With Butler playing for the national championship for the second straight year, having defeated VCU in the Final Four, everyone’s debating the reasons behind the recent success of mid-major teams in the NCAA Tournament. Evidence abounds: Since George Mason went in 2006, four of the last six Final Fours have included a team from a mid-major conference— defined as any . . .
So… it turns out that many of our Freakonomics podcast guests (not to mention the host) begin their sentences with the word So. Is this an odd coincidence, a tic common only among our radio guests? Or is there something about being recorded that brings it out?
In the two weeks after Google switched its algorithm, content farm Demand Media saw its weekly uniques increase by about 1 million.
What’s the best incentive for playing the lottery? Traditionally, state lotteries have tried appealing to our sense of greed. But Washington state is trying the novel idea of appealing to our altruistic side.
Accepted wisdom generally holds that the presence of natural resources in a developing country is bad news, leading to a so-called natural resource curse. But a new research paper throws water on the theory and provides evidence that suggests the opposite, a “resource blessing.”
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) early projections, the number of traffic fatalities fell three percent between 2009 and 2010, from 33,808 to 32,788. Continuing what is now a 25 percent drop since 2005, when there were 43,510 traffic deaths.
In the Wall Street Journal, energy guru Daniel Yergin writes of the massive promise of shale gas. It’s the subject of the current cover story of TIME: “This Rock Could Power the World.” And this is what President Obama said in his energy-policy speech at Georgetown last week: Now, in terms of new sources of energy, we have a few . . .
With my better half serving in the administration, I’m spending much of this year visiting Brookings. And every morning, we receive an email, letting us know just what the various Brookings economists are up to. This morning’s edition (written by Daniel Moskowitz) was priceless: Good enough I thought worth sharing with the wider world.
Ever wondered about the origins of the American flag? Why all the stars? A new paper (gated) by Eran Shalev offers some interesting insights.
More on John Taylor‘s by-now infamous scatterplot. Earlier, I wrote that I thought he cherry-picked his data, so as to make the link between investment rates and unemployment look artificially strong. Taylor has responded. His observation is considered, and reasonable.
From the Economist: “To avoide the dynasties that have misruled many Latin American countries, Guatemala’s constitution forbids relatives of the incumbent president and vice-president from running for high office. This clause had seemed to scotch the chances of Sandra Torres, the country’s ambitious first lady, becoming its first presidenta. But on March 21st she and her husband, Álvaro Colom, announced a novel way to sidestep the rules: they filed for divorce.”
The demand for calories increases with age, both because one’s income rises and because one’s taste for good, caloric food has been developed over many years of good eating. I didn’t know what an Esterhazy cake was 40 years ago, but now I can’t resist one if it’s on the menu!
An Atlanta Post article by R. Asmerom traces the cultural and historical origins of “bling” in the African-American community — all the way back to Africa.
Maybe Dyson should be making smartphones too, eh? They are so much fun to use that I wonder if people will be more likely to wash their hands in airport restrooms …
Last week, we posed two questions regarding the NCAA basketball tournament: what are the odds that two teams from the same city would make the Sweet 16? And when was the last time that happened? To the first person to answer correctly, we offered some Freakonomics swag. And you responded, 147 of you to be exact.
Neal Koblitz, professor of mathematics at the University of Washington, begins his critique of computers in K-13 mathematics education as follows: “In Peru, as in many Third World countries, the system of public education is in crisis. Teachers’ pay — traditionally low — is falling rapidly because of inflation. The schools are dilapidated, and there is no money for basic supplies. …”
This is an amusing little story. WBBM radio reports that, “Elgin police say Gavina-Morales crashed his pickup truck into a curb and dug up parkway grass in the cul-de-sac at the end of Stockbridge Place in Elgin at about 6:10 a.m. Sunday.”
You know the bromide: winners never quit and quitters never win. To which we say: are you sure?
We’re working on an hour-long Freakonomics Radio show about the upside of quitting. Sometimes quitting is strategic, and it might even be the best possible thing you can do. (I may be a bit biased, as I’ve done some major-league quitting in my life and am generally happier for it.) It’s all about opportunity cost: the time and resources you spend doing one thing can’t be spent doing another. So when do you quit the one and start the other?
I’m back to inviting readers to submit quotations whose origins they want me to try to trace, using my book, The Yale Book of Quotations, and my more recent research.