-
Recent Posts
Twitter Updates
- More on Food Truck Regulation wp.me/p1vcSX-CH 1 day ago
- The coming fight over net neutrality, and why you should care wp.me/p1vcSX-CL 4 days ago
- Great Gatsby isn't in the public domain, 88 years after publication and 73 years after Fitzgerald died. Here's why: wp.me/p1vcSX-CR 6 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
Tag Archives: history
Great Gatsby, Copyright, and the Public Domain
Is the Great Gatsby in the public domain? The book was written in 1925 and Fitzgerald passed away in 1940. Copyright generally expires 70 years after the author’s death, so you could be forgiven for thinking the answer is “yes.” If … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged books, copyright, culture, data, economics, education, entertainment, fun, hacker politics, history, how-to, internet politics, law, legislation, literature, micro-institutions everywhere, movies, nerd, online politics, politics, public opinion, rhetoric, SOPA, 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
Risk, Overreaction, and Control
How many people died because of the September 11 attacks? The answer depends on what you are trying to measure. The official estimate is around 3,000 deaths as a direct result of hijacked aircraft and at the World Trade Center, … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged war, terrorism, economics, data, politics, behavior, science, violence, traffic, transportation, history, international relations, foreign policy, elections, crime, reading, political science, security, statistics, psychology, nerd, culture, ethical statistics, books, explanation
2 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
The Aesthetic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy
On episode 18 of the Loopcast, Sina and his guest discuss fashion and national security. Around 23:00 comes the money quote: “There’s a lot of black hair dye involved being a dictator.” Here’s the logic: [I]n a democracy, your hair … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged culture, democracy, dictatorship, entertainment, fun, history, how-to, humor, international relations, Middle East, politics, rhetoric
1 Comment
What Can Novels Teach Us?
Is it worthwhile for a social scientist to read fiction? What can novels teach us about human behavior? This post summarizes the work of several authors who would answer the first question with a resounding “yes,” and describes their arguments … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged behavior, culture, data, economics, education, entertainment, fiction, fun, game theory, history, how-to, literature, novels, political science, politics, reading, research, rhetoric, science, useful fiction
4 Comments
The Randomness of Borders
Rivers and oceans help to form natural boundaries, but if it’s a straight line you can bet that it’s essentially random–and it might even be in the wrong place: Four Corners Monument, which marks the intersection of Arizona, Colorado, New … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged data, economics, education, elections, ethical statistics, foreign policy, fun, history, how-to, international relations, micro-institutions, micro-institutions everywhere, Middle East, nerd, political science, politics, research, technology, violence, war
Leave a comment
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
Phony Rules of English Grammar
You have heard the rules before: Don’t end a sentence with a preposition. Don’t split an infinitive. Don’t start with a conjunction. But who makes these rules? How did they become incorporated into English grammar? One culprit is Robert Lowth, … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged behavior, crime, culture, English, grammar, history, humor, language, Latin, micro-institutions, micro-institutions everywhere, nerd, norms, politics, research, rhetoric, rule-making, rules
3 Comments
