The Making of Richard Thaler’s Economics Nobel

In the world of mainstream American economics, Richard Thaler’s study of behavioral quirks like loss aversion and the status-quo bias was seen as subversive.

Kahneman isn’t the only one celebrating. Many economists believe that Thaler’s award was long overdue. The Nobel announcement credited Thaler, whose work has explored mental quirks such as loss aversion and the status-quo bias, for building “a bridge between the economic and psychological analyses of individual decision-making.” That’s true. But Thaler’s greatest achievement may have been in persuading economists—a notoriously hidebound lot—to question the “rational economic man” assumption that they once held so dear. These days, most decent universities offer classes in behavioral economics, and some of the top schools in the U.S., such as Harvard and Berkeley, have made major commitments to the field. Meanwhile, governments around the world, and multinational institutions such as the World Bank, look to behavioral economics to inform policymaking.

https://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/the-making-of-richard-thalers-economics-nobel

Socialism with a spine: the only 21st century alternative

A good read.

Soft neoliberalism has exhausted its appeal. The best progressive alternative is an explicit embrace of socialism
by John Quiggin

there’s no detectable enthusiasm for a centrally planned economy like that of the former Soviet Union or Mao’s China. Communism is a distant and discredited memory, even for those old enough to recall the days when it seemed like a possible alternative.
As it is used today, the term socialism does not reflect a well-worked ideology. Rather it conveys an attitude that could be described as “unapologetic social democracy” or, in the US context, “liberalism with a spine”. It’s expressed in support for proposals that break with the cautious incrementalism of the past, and are in some cases frankly utopian: universal basic income, free post-school education, large increases in minimum wages, and so on.
The combination of a job guarantee and a universal basic income would free workers from dependence on employers. But this would only be feasible if society could ensure adequate production of crucial goods and services, without dependence on the wishes of big business.
The first step in this regard is to revive a term that was widely used and is still relevant to describe the economy of the mid-20th century: the mixed economy. This phrase refers to an economy with major roles for both public and market provision of goods and services. Typically, the public sector provided infrastructure such as electricity, water and road networks, and human services such as health and education. Most of our existing assets in these fields were built up under public ownership. The market sector provided consumer goods, and the wholesale and retail trade networks needed to distribute them, along with a wide range of services.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/oct/09/socialism-with-a-spine-the-only-21st-century-alternative

The dynamics of shale

The dynamics of shale

Andrew Harwood, research director (Asia upstream) at global consultancy group Wood Mackenzie, says that cost reductions and productivity improvements since 2014 mean that today only 20% of US tight oil potential production needs prices higher than $60/barrel to break even. “The majority of current shale oil production breaks even at prices below $60/bbl— this is why we have seen so much growth in US production since the start of 2017,” says Harwood




http://www.livemint.com/Money/RyhA0PnY2GLLuiqG3CeUYO/The-dynamics-of-shale.html

The science of spying: how the CIA secretly recruits academics

In order to tempt nuclear scientists from countries such as Iran or North Korea to defect, US spy agencies routinely send agents to academic conferences – or even host their own fake ones. By Daniel Golden

“Recruitment is a long process of seduction,” says Mark Galeotti, senior researcher at the Institute of International Relations Prague and former special advisor to the British foreign office. “The first stage is to arrange to be at the same workshop as a target. Even if you just exchange banalities, the next time you can say, ‘Did I see you in Istanbul?’”

More than any other academic arena, conferences lend themselves to espionage. Assisted by globalisation, these social and intellectual rituals have become ubiquitous. Like stops on the world golf or tennis circuits, they sprout up wherever the climate is favourable, and draw a jet-setting crowd. What they lack in prize money, they make up for in prestige. Although researchers chat electronically all the time, virtual meetings are no substitute for getting together with peers, networking for jobs, checking out the latest gadgets and delivering papers that will later be published in volumes of conference proceedings. “The attraction of the conference circuit,” English novelist David Lodge wrote in Small World, his 1984 send-up of academic life, is that “it’s a way of converting work into play, combining professionalism with tourism, and all at someone else’s expense. Write a paper and see the world!”

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/oct/10/the-science-of-spying-how-the-cia-secretly-recruits-academics?CMP=fb_gu

Politicians will step in whenever they sense an opportunity

Metros are major capital assets of cities. Urban Metro Projects have proven to be very useful in decongesting large cities.
The metro system is currently operational in 7 cities across India. Delhi is leading with 213 kms of operational length and the construction for another 140 kms is in progress. Kolkata is the oldest system in India, whereas Chennai is the latest entrant in the league of Metro System in India. Gurgaon is the first metro project under Public-Private Partnership mode.
Delhi is the cheapest. Yet if you believe the grandstanding CM of Delhi, it is supposedly too expensive

http://www.india.uitp.org/articles/metro-system-in-india-fare-comparison





Kolkata Metro is the cheapest with a maximum fare of Rs. 25. In Delhi, a distance of 9-12 km costs only Rs. 16. Even a distance greater than 44 km will cost a person taking the Delhi Metro only Rs.30 for a one-way ride. Jaipur Metro, which began operations this month, has an introductory fare for the first six months. The highest fare is just Rs. 15.


http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/chennai-metro-is-the-costliest-in-india/article7370018.ece

The House of Saud bows to the House of Putin

It may be too early to identify the Saudi pivot to Russia as the shift of the century. It is though a certified game-changer. Moscow is about to become the new sheriff in town, in virtually any town across Southwest Asia. And it’s getting there on its own terms, without resorting to a Colt dialectic. MBS wants energy/defense cooperation? He gets it. MBS wants less Russian cooperation with Iran? He doesn’t get it. OPEC aims at higher oil prices? Done. And what about the S-400s? Free – sort of – for all.


What concerns Moscow, deeply, is Saudi (formal or informal) financing of Salafi-jihadi outfits inside Russia. So a high-level line of communication between Moscow and Riyadh works towards dissipating any misunderstandings regarding, for instance, jihadism in Tatarstan and Chechnya.

Moscow does not buy the much-spun (in the West) Iranian “aggressive behavior” in the Middle East. As a key negotiator of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Russia very well knows that Iran’s ballistic missile program is actually the key target of Trump’s imminent decertification of the Iran deal.

The S-400 success story is unequivocal. Iran bought it. Turkey bought it. Now Saudi Arabia buys it – even after splurging a fortune in US weapons during Trump’s by now infamous “sword dance” visit to Riyadh.

King Salman may have boarded the Saudi Arabian Airlines flight, but the real architect of the pivot to Russia is MBS. Oil in Saudi Arabia accounts for 87% of budget revenues, 42% of GDP, and 90% of exports. MBS is betting all his cards on the Vision 2030 program to “modernize” the Saudi economy, and he knows very well it will be impossible to pull off if oil prices are low.

http://www.atimes.com/article/house-saud-bows-house-putin/