After three rounds in the first leg of the Linares-Morelia tournament (the most powerful chess tournament of this year), the Norwegian wonderkid is not yet shining. Standings and results so far can be seen here (with at least one mistake on the site: Topalov’s total number of points is 2.5, after 2 victories and 1 draw, and not 2.0).
→ Read more Month: February 2008
Econlinks for 18-02-’08
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An excellent (& extensive) interview with Susan Athey, the most recent winner of the John Bates Clark medal. Here’s one of the best parts:
Finding the applications that resonate with the students or the population in general and then showing them how a little bit of structured thinking can substantially improve their understanding — I think that’s where you get the power of economics.
Chinese (Couch) Potato
“Tudou.com” (=”Potato”, in Romanized Chinese) is one of the several Chinese “Youtubes”, seemingly the largest one at present (possibly larger than YouTube itself in some dimensions). Tudou’s stated goal is “to move couch potatoes from the TV screen to computer screens, a process very much under way in China“.
→ Read more What I’ve been reading
Lately I’ve got about 5 books started at all times and I largely read them in parallel (unless I like one too much to let it out of my hands before I finish it).
→ Read more Quote for week 10th-16th Feb ’08
→ Read moreAt the root of the difference between the Libertarian and welfarist-Utilitarian conception of optimal tax policy is the relationship of the individual to the state. The welfarist-Utilitarian model sees the state as an entity outside the individuals who compose it, in that the government puts in place policies that are optimal according to its own social welfare function.