In the 1970s, high inflation, high crime, and a bad economy lingered throughout the entire decade. In the 2020s, these problems started going away much more quickly. (View Highlight)
Vibes are a crucial input into political economy — countries can’t get as much done if everyone is always screaming apocalyptic anger and doom and threats at each other. (View Highlight)
fabrication of leading-edge chips requires Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography (EUV) machines, manufactured exclusively by the Dutch company ASML. These machines are incredibly expensive — each one costs $380 millio. They require some of the most complex, highest-precision components ever created (View Highlight)
Using monopsony power to cancel out monopoly power improves economic efficiency, resulting in greater abundance (View Highlight)
When you fix the population estimate, it turns out that native-born employment increased substantially in 2023. (View Highlight)
In this paper, I argue that these mounting costs and delays are the product of prioritizing politics ahead of transit projects…Nuno Gil…argues…that impacted stakeholders, often “nonmarket actors” such as municipal agencies, require tangible value from megaprojects in order to allow them to proceed. In practice this “value distribution” is negotiated and renegotiated…This ongoing uncertainty leads to larger project scopes, schedule slippage, and higher costs over time. (View Highlight)
In other words, Americans view transit projects primarily through the lens of who gets the benefits and who pays the costs, rather than through the lens of whether the train actually gets built. Fights over distribution shrink the pie for everyone. (View Highlight)