In the context of recent events in Syria, discussion of a 2007 article by Eisensee and Strömberg at The Duck of Minerva: Based on their study of 5,000 natural disasters between 1968 and 2002, they find that “U.S. policy makers are less likely to declare disasters during the Olympics, and in general when other newsworthy…
What happened during the search to find 8,000 inspirational individuals to carry the Olympic torch for the 2012 games? At almost every stage of the allocation process torchbearer places were given to executives at sponsors and their commercial partners, awarded to staff for sales performance, to diplomats, journalists and media bosses. The full story in…
After June’s bill banning ‘propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations’, news from Russia of ‘Occupy Paedophilia’ torturing and killing gay men (and uploading pictures of the process, for your consideration). News also that the new laws are likely to be enforced at the 2014 Winter Olympics, leading to condemnation by the US president. Will the International…
At priceonomics, a discussion of a classic psychological experiment goes on to consider the social forces which encourage the work ethic: …when South Korea and China were mired in poverty, Westerners described their people as hopelessly lazy, with a culture that did not value industriousness and taking initiative. As time has shown, however, this is not…
A neat digest from xkcd of worries about the pace of modern life here, including the following from 1907: Our modern family gathering, silent around the fire, each individual with his head buried in his favourite magazine, is the somewhat natural outcome of the banishment of colloquy from the school. Meanwhile, one hundred and four…
Business Insider discusses a recent report from the Pew Research Global Attitudes Project entitled ‘The Global Divide on Homosexuality’ which finds strong links between GDP, religion and tolerance: If you want to be accepted, your best bet is a rich country full of Catholics. Full Business Insider article here.
In his ‘Theory of Economic Development’ (1911), Joseph Schumpeter notes the importance of innovation and the role of the entrepreneur in economic growth. Specifically, the importance of carrying out ‘new combinations’ is emphasised, yet whilst the innovative entrepreneur has a creative role here, Schumpeter notes in later work that, I have always emphasized that the…
As the riff from ‘Celebrity Skin’ starts up after Courtney Love shocks the establishment prudes in her recent e-cigarette commercial, thoughts naturally turn to some other work from the late 1990s – Thomas Frank’s ‘Commodify Your Dissent’: Corporate America is not an oppressor but a sponsor of fun, provider of lifestyle accoutrements, facilitator of carnival,…
In his seminal ‘The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction’ (1936), Walter Benjamin writes: To an ever greater degree the work of art reproduced becomes the work of art designed for reproducibility. From a photographic negative, for example, one can make any number of prints; to ask for the “authentic” print makes…