The MAGA decline; The labor share decline; OPTs and American jobs; AI and Indian outsourcing; Drug users; AI and productivity; Botswana; Interracial Marriage; AI writing
Rognlie 2015 suggests a quarter of that labor share decline was a housing share rise. Housing is economic capital, but it's not what we usually think of in "labor versus capital". Adjusting for housing share still leaves several percentage points of GDP unexplained, though.
'Several studies have shown that addicts who shoot up at official injection sites are far less likely to die of overdoses than those who use drugs in, say, alleyways and parks'.
But . . .
'Over the past decade overdose-death rates climbed sharply in nearly every city where the strongest harm-reduction policies were in place'.
Then what caused the increase in overdose death rates? Did the ugly, seedy urban centres that resulted from harm-reduction policies create more addicts than there used to be? Or did the grimness of the physical and social landscape in the cities result in more people over-dosing, either to deliberately end their lives or trying to more completely block out the reality of their living conditions? Or were more addicts attracted to the cities with stronger harm-reduction policies and died there rather than dying where they used to live?
If the last explanation is correct, then net the numbers of addicts dying in the city + the hinterland from which addicts are attracted to the city, might have actually declined. Then from a policy perspective you'd have to choose which harm is worse: addict deaths or urban decay?
This problem will likely not be resolved until some kind of chemical treatment of addiction comes along. One of the tragedies of today is that we are a lot better at producing addictive substances than treating/curing the resulting addictions.
Some people report that they got rid of their addictive behavior on Mounjaro et al. Maybe this will result in actual drugs that can stop the craving.
I suppose for Botswana (lovely country), the question is how to push harder to a diversification (harder to do when landlocked).
Hooking into the critical minerals boom plus having an actually functioning state with decently labor base maybe is a lifeline but medium term getting out of that trap - perhaps it's crit minerals plus leveraging infra plus stability to also be a transformation (processing) hub....
Rognlie 2015 suggests a quarter of that labor share decline was a housing share rise. Housing is economic capital, but it's not what we usually think of in "labor versus capital". Adjusting for housing share still leaves several percentage points of GDP unexplained, though.
Another great roundup. The details on labor % and the diamond market were particularly interesting and enlightening.
If . . .
'Several studies have shown that addicts who shoot up at official injection sites are far less likely to die of overdoses than those who use drugs in, say, alleyways and parks'.
But . . .
'Over the past decade overdose-death rates climbed sharply in nearly every city where the strongest harm-reduction policies were in place'.
Then what caused the increase in overdose death rates? Did the ugly, seedy urban centres that resulted from harm-reduction policies create more addicts than there used to be? Or did the grimness of the physical and social landscape in the cities result in more people over-dosing, either to deliberately end their lives or trying to more completely block out the reality of their living conditions? Or were more addicts attracted to the cities with stronger harm-reduction policies and died there rather than dying where they used to live?
If the last explanation is correct, then net the numbers of addicts dying in the city + the hinterland from which addicts are attracted to the city, might have actually declined. Then from a policy perspective you'd have to choose which harm is worse: addict deaths or urban decay?
This problem will likely not be resolved until some kind of chemical treatment of addiction comes along. One of the tragedies of today is that we are a lot better at producing addictive substances than treating/curing the resulting addictions.
Some people report that they got rid of their addictive behavior on Mounjaro et al. Maybe this will result in actual drugs that can stop the craving.
I suppose for Botswana (lovely country), the question is how to push harder to a diversification (harder to do when landlocked).
Hooking into the critical minerals boom plus having an actually functioning state with decently labor base maybe is a lifeline but medium term getting out of that trap - perhaps it's crit minerals plus leveraging infra plus stability to also be a transformation (processing) hub....