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[Wisdom Theory @wisdom_theory]

Daniel Kahneman, who changed psychology and economics forever, dies at 90.

Thanks for everything.

We remember him in 10 great quotes:

[StripMallGuy @realEstateTrent]

Cities with parking requirements:

You'd rather let the space sit empty than allow a tenant to open a sandwich shop?

In many cases around the US, the answer is yes.

Naperville, Illinois:
Required restaurant parking of 10 spaces per 1,000 square feet

Boca Raton, Florida:
Required restaurant parking of 1 space per 35 square feet of gross floor area, excluding food / drink prep area

Colorado Springs, CO:
Required restaurant parking of 1 space per 300 square feet of gross floor area.

This list goes on and on. The requirements are outdated, inconsistent, and largely arbitrary.

Go in the direction of cities who get it, like San Jose, CA.

Eliminate parking requirements.

If there isn't enough parking, the business won't work.

Let the markets decide.

[alz @alz_zyd_]

A thing I took a while to realize: there is a pretty strong bias in academic econ towards "policy" applications. That's why e.g. IO in econ depts has many people working on like health, environment, labor, education applications, and less like videogames or doordash

[Nat-scape Nat-vigator 🇲🇾 🏳️‍⚧️ @Natcromancer]

I am once again saying that Malaysians are addicted to cheap petrol and that is one of the biggest reasons few people will even entertain using public transport

If there was an extra RM29 billion in the budget you bet there's going to be enough to invest in better transit!

[(((Matthew Lewis))) cults & consequences @mateosfo]

California is going to miss its climate target because pollution keeps growing.

You'll never guess why!!!

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...

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[Ken Opalo @kopalo]

On why policymakers in low-income countries shouldn’t outsource their jobs to academics. https://t.co/LR33cdn2uj

[Will Petty 🌳🌳 @Microlambert]

I thought this must surely be a typo, but no, the French really do charge €60,000 tax on cars emitting more than 194 g CO₂/km. Incroyable. And there's more... 1/n

[STS @ShakiraTeh]

Personal (perhaps unpopular or shallow) thought: As long as discussions on low wages focus on economics and efficiency, rather than morality and humanity where everyone should live a dignified life unconditionally, we will always find ourselves stuck in the same conversation.

[Matt Loszak | Aalo Atomics @MattLoszak]

Excited to see @DOE posting content like this

45 years' worth of spent nuclear fuel from an entire power plant is shown in this photo, and it’s barely visible.

More people need to see this

[Apurva Sanghi @ApurvaSanghi]

What is Economics’ biggest blind spot?

At year-end, I reflect on this Q of my chosen discipline

This year, my candidate is religion

I think economics has fundamentally failed to comprehend the role of religion in shaping individual & community choices, and its impact on macro-economic outcomes

I lived in Russia for 5 years – a country that earlier tried to eradicate religion. Yet, religion never disappeared – it merely slipped underground…and then made a phenomenal comeback in the post-Soviet era

Religion is undeniably a defining element of most societies and has huge repercussions for human welfare. Yet, economics as a discipline, which purports to enhance welfare, has never fully grasped something so core to our human existence (despite Max Weber’s writings almost a century ago)

Some unanswered questions IMHO:

1. Does religion help
or hinder the formation of human capital — widely considered by the profession as the ultimate arbiter of growth & prosperity?

2. What is the role of govt in regulating religion?

—> I recall chats with my mentor, Gary Becker, who showed how religion is not immutable; rather, it is shaped by market forces, incentives, and govt policies. But what is the optimal role of govt — to regulate or to foster more competition so people have more choice?

3. How will the confluence of mega trends of…

- Decreasing religiosity,
- Falling fertility,
- Artificial Intelligence

…shape economic futures of the next few generations?

—> Young people around the world are getting less religious (Pew Research Center, 2018).

They’re also less willing to reproduce, borne partly of out of concern of climate change (Lancet, 2021)

And AI is now upon us!

Will the intersection of these trends pull in the direction of increasing living standards? Or not?

——
So…this is my candidate of economics’ blind spot

What do you think?

[Ian Griffiths @icgee]

Singapore is a transit mecca. As someone coming from the US, it challenges a lot of the assumptions we often hear about how transit “should” work. A few observations…🧵

[Southeast Bayesian 🌺 @melatinungsari]

Re: Buy Malaysian First. I support the general sentiment surrounding this but we should realize that Malaysia is a tiny market ya 😅 Companies that rely on only serving the local market will run out of a base pretty quick. Scaling and expansion will require going abroad

[Southeast Bayesian 🌺 @melatinungsari]

Are we arguing about whether ppl can drink in the presence of other people who don’t drink now? Meanwhile: other countries’ universities are producing startups that get more than USD$100 mil in investments. That’s ok though. We will always have Wawasan 2020. Visionaries

[morello @rdzaminhat]

Kalau kau dah biasa “dihormati” sebab kau majoriti, bila kau ke tempat yang kau bukan majoriti, apa apa orang buat pun kau terasa ada “disrespectful undertone”. Then kau buat mental gymnastics by relating it to a bigger idea such as culture and race. Itu masalahnya Mat. Faham?

[Amani Salim 🇲🇾🚀 @kenisalim]

I tell you this offer of the heavens will defeat everything else, even offer of clean water.

[nazferatu 🍉 @nzranasr]

Genuine question.

Say in the future, PH-BN does a fantastic job. Salaries rise. Infrastructure improves. Economy's robust.

But opposition then plays the race/religious card yet again, and knowing how deeply indoctrinated our people are, they flock to them.

What, then?

[David Zipper @DavidZipper]

Introducing students to transit can have long-term effects.

Studies show that getting young people to start riding can instill habits that endure into adulthood.

https://t.co/KKeoccshHV

[Chris Freiman @cafreiman]

It’s time for the meme again

[Joe Weisenthal @TheStalwart]

An incredible feat of financial engineering. They made Saudi Aramco ESG https://t.co/ShY22L3EH2

[David Zipper @DavidZipper]

In Paris, owners of big, heavy cars will have to pay extra to park.

Deputy Mayor: “There are no dirt paths , no mountain roads … SUVs are absolutely useless in Paris. Worse, they are dangerous, cumbersome and use too many resources to manufacture."
https://t.co/Racbx5ui9Z