-
Recent Posts
Twitter Updates
- Where do virus names like SARS and MRSA come from? wp.me/p1vcSX-CF 23 hours ago
- More on Food Truck Regulation wp.me/p1vcSX-CH 2 days ago
- The coming fight over net neutrality, and why you should care wp.me/p1vcSX-CL 5 days ago
Archives
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
Links
- A Fine Theorem
- Andrew Gelman
- Brendan Nyhan
- Cheap Talk
- Chris Blattman
- Flowing Data
- Kids Prefer Cheese
- Kieran Healy
- Marc F. Bellemare
- Marginal Revolution
- Modeled Behavior
- My Dataverse
- My Github
- Phil Arena
- Political Methodology
- Restricted Data blog
- The Monkey Cage
- Tunes for Bears
- Turing's Invisibile Hand
- WhyHat?
Meta
Search Results for: micro-institution
Micro-Institutions Everywhere: Virus Naming
The alphabet soup of naming new viruses rivals Pentagonese. AIDS. SARS. MRSA. Where do these names come from? One major source of influence in this area is the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV). Their latest innovation is MERS, referring … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged education, epidemics, health, micro-institutions, micro-institutions everywhere, nerd, politics, research, science, technology
Leave a comment
Micro-Institutions Everywhere: Gypsy Law
Forthcoming from Peter Leeson (who previously brought us an analysis of pirate democracy), a new paper on self-governance among Gypsies (via Mike Munger): Gypsies are nomads. They’re often separated from one another, which precludes direct monitoring. Further, Gypsies’ locations are … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged behavior, crime, culture, economics, education, history, how-to, micro-institutions, micro-institutions everywhere, nerd, political science, politics, research, signalling
6 Comments
Micro-Institutions Everywhere: 8-Hour Sleep
For much of European history it was common to sleep in two chunks of about four hours each, separated by a one- to two-hour period of waking activity: [Historian Roger] Ekirch found that references to the first and second sleep … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged behavior, culture, education, fun, history, how-to, micro-institutions everywhere
Leave a comment
Micro-Institutions Everywhere: The Five-Day Work Week
When it came about in the early 20th century, the five-day workweek was a triumph. Labor unions bargained collectively to get workers another day off, doubling their free time to enjoy the country’s booming prosperity. Now, though, it is an anachronistic … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged behavior, coffee, culture, education, history, how-to, micro-institutions, micro-institutions everywhere, politics, public opinion, research, technology
2 Comments
Micro-Institutions at the Gym
Jason Gay of the Wall Street Journal has 27 rules for the gym, and then 25 more. Below are some interesting examples of norms and insider know-how. There’s coded language: “Great job!” is trainer-speak for “It’s not polite for me … Continue reading
Micro-Institutions Everywhere: Book ID Numbers
If you are a bookworm like me, you have evidence of this micro-institution all around you. Grab a nearby book and look at the back cover, or a couple of pages inside the front cover. You will see a series … Continue reading
Micro-Institutions Everywhere: The English Alphabet
We take our ABC’s for granted, learning 26 letters in a precise order from our youngest days. When introduced to a second or third language later in life we may realize that even similar tongues to English contain slightly different … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged behavior, culture, education, history, language, micro-institutions, micro-institutions everywhere, Old English, politics, Rome, war
Leave a comment
Micro-Institutions Everywhere: Around Your Waist
Men have always worn belts with their trousers, right? Wrong. Until the First World War, belts served one of two purposes. They could be a way for a ruler to accessorize, or an easy way for soldiers to carry around … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged behavior, culture, economics, education, emergent behavior, fashion, fun, history, micro-institutions, micro-institutions everywhere, norms, politics, technology, war
Leave a comment
Micro-Institutions Everywhere: Parking and Snow
Jeff Ely reports the problem: You dig your car out of the snow, run an errand or two and come back home to discover…someone else has parked in “your” spot! This free rider problem reduces your incentive to dig your … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged behavior, economics, education, emergent norms, emergent order, fun, game theory, how-to, micro-institutions, micro-institutions everywhere, norms, politics, weather
3 Comments
Micro-Institutions Everywhere: Species and Regime Types
In a two-for-one example of micro-institutions, Jay Ulfelder blogs this paragraph from a paper Ian Lustick: One might naively imagine that Darwin’s theory of the “origin of species” to be “only” about animals and plants, not human affairs, and therefore presume its … Continue reading
