"The bottom line from my first chart is that what really matters for a country’s overall excess mortality during the pandemic is how well they vaccinated their population. There seems to be a lot of interest on social media to rehash the debates about whether lockdowns (and lighter restrictions) or masks worked in 2020. But what really mattered was 2021, and vaccines were key."

https://economistwritingeveryday.com/2023/03/08/excess-mortality-and-vaccination-rates-in-europe/

Via #MarginalRevolution

#covid19 #vaccination #Europe

The economic impact of AI
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2023/08/the-economic-impact-of-ai.html

Featuring probably my highest-ranked comment on #MarginalRevolution...

The #oceans are warming. Largely due to CO2 but also:

"Regulations imposed in 2020 by the United Nations’s International Maritime Organization (IMO) have cut ships’ sulfur pollution by more than 80% and improved air quality worldwide. The reduction has also lessened the effect of sulfate particles in seeding and brightening the distinctive low-lying, reflective clouds that follow in the wake of ships and help cool the planet."

https://www.science.org/content/article/changing-clouds-unforeseen-test-geoengineering-fueling-record-ocean-warmth

Via #MarginalRevolution

#ClimateChange

Why Did Nuclear Flop in Britain? - by Fergus McCullough
https://www.thefitzwilliam.com/p/why-did-nuclear-flop-in-britain

Via #MarginalRevolution

#NuclearPower #ukpol
#TheFitzwilliam

This is from a comment I posted on #MarginalRevolution .

https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2023/06/nature-on-agi-risk.html

That's from #AlexTabarrok at #MarginalRevolution , regarding British state successes during the #covid19 pandemic.

https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2023/06/does-britain-have-high-or-low-state-capacity.html

#ukpol

I wish there were a few more readers of #MarginalRevolution whom I could follow on the Fediverse. I've been shining the batsignal for years, but no one who cares has seen it.

Via #MarginalRevolution:

"My perception is that in Germany most major political decisions are not on the ballot: migration, nuclear energy, international, alliances, emission reduction policies to name but a few examples. Whereas people in the Americas worry about polarization, I would argue that Germany’s problem is the opposite. Compared to the historical average German politics is too tame and not polarized enough. "

https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2023/06/does-germany-need-more-polarization-from-the-comments.html

Consensus is over-rated. Clash is healthy.
#depol

"It has nearly 12,000km of motorways versus around 4,000km here – and French motorways tend to be smoother and better kept (and three quarters are tolled, making congestion much less of a problem). Childcare is cheaper: about half the price per month, in part because they require half the staff. Energy is more abundant, as shown above."

2/

Democracy is the solution to vetocracy - by Sam Bowman
https://www.sambowman.co/p/democracy-is-the-solution-to-vetocracy

Via #MarginalRevolution

#ukpol #polfr

"The debt ceiling might be the single dumbest feature of American law. Congress decides to spend money and later schedules a separate vote on whether the government will pay its bills. If the government doesn’t pay its bills, calamity ensues."

Via #MarginalRevolution

#EzraKlein #uspol
#NYTimes

It's a true #MarginalRevolution!

https://doctorow.medium.com/rich-peoples-gain-is-worth-less-than-poor-people-s-pain-6c3631292841

#SoakTheRich

Rich People's Gain is Worth Less than Poor People's Pain: A new way to think about utilitarianism, courtesy of the #OfficeOfManagementAndBudget

https://doctorow.medium.com/rich-peoples-gain-is-worth-less-than-poor-people-s-pain-6c3631292841

#Utilitarianism #MarginalRevolution #MarginalUtility #IntellectualHonesty #LitmusTests

"A group of people decided to see what English would look like without stolen words and with the Romantic elements stripped from it. It's....well, I'm a bit of a language geek, so I think it's fun. It's definitely different from what English sounds like now, and the contrast makes the non-Anglo elements stand out pretty dramatically."

https://anglish.fandom.com/wiki/Main_leaf

Via Dinwar at #MarginalRevolution

"[T]he country has taken notice of what some have called the Mississippi miracle."

Better reading skills by teaching #phonics ...

https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2023/05/mississippi-learning.html

#reading #education #EvidenceBased
#MarginalRevolution

Aravindh C. 🚝 on Twitter: "Here's something that sounds unbelievable — but is true: India builds nuclear reactors that are CHEAPER THAN SOLAR per unit of electricity This is EVEN BEFORE considering -longevity of nuclear (> 60 yrs vs 30 yrs for solar) -cost of storage or backup for solar How?👇🧵 https://t.co/HO43hUMES7" / Twitter
https://twitter.com/arvv/status/1653063417911967745?s=46&t=3jNRhFSsJkSBz7CjCSAX0g

Heavy water reactors, apparently. Surprising if true.

Via #MarginalRevolution

#NuclearEnergy #India

"Scruton continued to make a case not only for national identity but also for traditional architecture and environmentalism at a time when most official conservatives had become shills for global corporations. For him conservatism was always about making a home rather than renting a comfortable room in a global hotel chain."

/fin

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2023-04-27/roger-scruton-has-a-national-conservative-legacy-extending-beyond-england

#RogerScruton #conservatism

Via #MarginalRevolution

I was posting earlier today about the Canadian #bail system. Coincidentally, I see that #AlexTabarrok has a post on bail refrom in the US at #MarginalRevolution :

https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2023/04/misdemeanor-bail.html

1/

#uspol

Why do all cars look the same these days, even the colours? Why do so many buildings look similar? Alex Murrell says we're living in "The Age of Average": https://www.alexmurrell.co.uk/articles/the-age-of-average

Via #MarginalRevolution

#AlexMurrell
#diversity #uniformity #conformity #design

Ah ha! This is what I expected to see regarding the #BirthRate in #Israel :

"1) Free health care for children, including dental, up to 18.
2) Free Baby development checkups, somewhat mandatory.
3) Free Education & childcare from age 3.
4) Heavily subsidized childcare for the poor.
5) Direct transfer on Birth of about 600$, goes down with number of children."
etc.

But note also Sure's comments about the relationship between benefits and fertility.

https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2023/02/hungary-incentives-of-the-day.html?commentID=160572851

#MarginalRevolution

There was a good comment about the status of #SmallModularReactors for #NuclearEnergy at #MarginalRevolution yesterday:
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2023/02/monday-assorted-links-395.html?commentID=160572663

E.g., "The TRISO Accident Tolerant Fuel (ATF) is also the basis of several Micro Reactor designs with solid graphite moderated cores. The mobile shipping container Xe-mobile and Westinghouse eVinci are of this type while stationary campus-scale co-generation plants are the primary use case for the Ultra Safe Nuclear Micro Modular Reactor (USNC MMR)."