Population decline counts economically, and needs to be taken into account. Keynes’ organic theory of society helps explain the enduring appeal of live performances. The exorbitant costs related to ports becoming pawns of geopolitics. What the future holds for today’s new borns. We can work on, even ‘work out’ our drive to seek positive emotions and the happiness that comes with them.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
ARTICLE OF THE WEEK
John Authers, Pricing In the Decline in Fertility Needs Urgency
(Bloomberg, 21 August 2024)
The columist exhorts economists and investors to pay more attention to plummeting fertility rates. As populations decline, the implications of fewer people seem indeed alarming (damages aggregate GDP growth, stretches public finances, etc.) (gifted article, 4-5 min).
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Robert Skidelsky, The Enduring Appeal of Live Performance
(Project Syndicate, 21 August 2024)
Most people prefer live events to recorded performances. Economics provide some explanation. (1) Performing arts are Baumol goods: their real cost rises with growing economic prosperity (instead of falling) because they cannot be mechanized. Therefore, they have scarcity value. (2) The audience is part of the production, and the two sides exchange energy and emotions in a way that would be otherwise impossible. This fusion reveals the weakness of the “atomic hypothesis” (i.e.: the world is made up of independent units, with the whole equaling the sum of its parts). This underpins conventional economics but is wrong. Keynes had it right when expressing his organic theory of society (f(x)). The goodness of x and the goodness of y together are not equal to f(x) + f(y), but rather and often to f(x+y) (metered paywall that requires prior registration, 5-7 min).
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A $2 Trillion Reckoning Looms as Ports Become Pawns in Geopolitics
(Bloomberg News, 20 August 2024)
Martime ports handle 80% of the world’s $25 trillion in annual merchandise trade. Over centuries, they’ve evolved from trading posts and naval bases into economies within economies, supercharging globalization and becoming vital nodes for energy flows, hubs for infrastructure (like rail lines and power stations), and clusters for industrial production, warehousing and distribution. These great geopolitical assets now face costly conversions to retool in new era of rising international rivalry, automation and green energy. The price tag is estimated at €200 billion a year in new investment, for a total of €2 trillion over the next decade. The story is told by zeroing in on eight seaports undergoing huge transformations (gifted article, reads in 10-15 min).
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Kara Platoni, Happy birthday, baby! What the future holds for those born today
(MIT Technology Review, 15 August 2024)
Bold! A dozen experts take the very long-term view by making several predictions for the next 125 years. The biggest change will be the rise of intelligent agents. Computing will be more responsive, more intimate, less confined to any one platform. It will be less like a tool, and more like a companion. It will learn from us and be our guide. The further in time the predictions go, the more interesting and intriguing the whole process becomes, with of course many caveats (metered paywall, reads in 6-8 min).
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Jenny Taitz, How to Strengthen Your Happiness Muscle
(The New York Times, 19 August 2024)
The state of happiness is elusive, but as the practicing psychologist and assistant clinical professor of psychiatry explains, simple steps can help boost our drive to seek out positive emotions and enjoy life. This is called “reward sensitivity” in the jargon: the idea that “our drive to seek out happiness is a muscle that we can develop”, like our ability to relish experiences. Read further to understand how these research-backed strategies work (gifted article, reads in 6-8 min).
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