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Benford's Law and the Decreasing Reliability of Accounting Data for US Firms
Important update 10/24/11 - Please see this revised analysis.Original post: A few months ago I came upon an old episode of Radiolab, one of my favorite podcasts whose host Jad Abumrad just won a...
View ArticleDiary of a Reformed Cheapaholic
In my student days, I used to joke that 10% of my brain was dedicated to knowing the exact prices of esoteric cooking ingredients in all the markets around town and optimizing my hoarding strategies to...
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Benford's law: a revised analysis
After digging into the Benford's law results from my previous post a bit more, I discovered that a different effect is driving the time-series pattern than I first thought. The reason is that...
View ArticleI Don't Hate Pets: A Polemic
I don't hate pets. Not the animals themselves. But I'm convinced that many of us who think we love animals - our pets especially - mainly love the way animals make us feel.I don't hate pet owners....
View ArticleThe Black Hole at the Center of Society: In Praise of Inefficient Markets
I've been finding it difficult to reconcile living in the modern economy with living a moral life.Just by existing in society, I'm complicit in uncountable acts of waste, greed, and exorbitance. I...
View ArticleThe Myth of the Banker-Philanthropist
Here's my response to Justin's comments on my last post about how banking can be an ethical career by channeling high-powered capital toward good causes. According to ethicist Will Crouch, "if you...
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Meat Week: My Battle with Compulsive Social Responsibility
I don't know why, but I always end up with the opposite problems as most people. While other kids whined for toys and playtime, I detested presents and demanded more math. If mindless consumption and...
View ArticleThe Free Market Is Not Efficient: Unfettered Greed Undermines Fair Competition
Thanks to Jesse for his great comments on my previous post.>> I think it is useful to separate profits by their source: value added vs rent seeking.I completely agree. This is an idea I've...
View ArticleInequality and the Derangement of the Rich
I just read about an interesting new book by Charles Murray called “Coming Apart: The State of White America 1960-2010.” I haven’t read the book so I can’t endorse its analysis, but its premise...
View ArticleMore on Coming Apart
I've read some of the growing commentary on Murray's book. Honestly, my opinion that Frum's and Krugman's counter-attacks against Coming Apart are not aimed at achieving a broad understanding of the...
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The Zanesville slaughter and the shallowness of our animal ethics
I've long been deeply ambivalent about our relationships to our pets. I'm not going to attempt to make a case that the Zanesville, Ohio slaughter of 50 large animals last October is in any way...
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Bankruptcy Costs and America’s Household Debt Crisis
In 2005, the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act made it significantly more difficult for households to file for bankruptcy, raising filing costs by 60 percent. While the law was...
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Man vs. Nature in Yellowstone
Check out this engrossing and cheekily hilarious article on Slate by Jessica Grose. It describes the bear justice system (and grizzly CSI, a deranged toeless killer bear, and generally all things...
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Exponential Economist Meets Finite Physicist: My Comments on the Limits to...
This is my response to the recent post by UCSD physicist Tom Murphy, in which he questions an economist about the physical limits of energy consumption and its implications for economic growth....
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Review: Eat, Pray, Love
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert My rating: 3 of 5 stars Gilbert's writing is occasionally stirring. Her profound self-involvement makes EPL both a touchstone of contemporary culture and an...
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Review: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling My rating: 1 of 5 stars I'd like to coin a new word called "Kaling," that describes an intelligent but deeply superficial (or is it superficially...
View ArticleAttention All My Ladies: We Don't Have to Act Like Men to Succeed
I wrote a critique last January of Sheryl Sandberg's TED talk, in which she aggrandized her brother's obnoxiousness and over-confidence, while chastising women for not mimicking men's selfish...
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Why Women Will Rule the World
I grew up as an academic tomboy. I didn’t climb trees or play hockey. But I loved math and read calculus books while waiting for the bus in middle school. I went to a university where only 36% of...
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Review: The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion
The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt My rating: 5 of 5 stars Every liberal should read this book.Haidt employs a number of smart techniques that...
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Review: Super Sad True Love Story
Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart My rating: 5 of 5 stars Better than Freedom. A hilarious and poignant satire of a future/present where "teening" is a verb and banking is at...
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Review: Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis My rating: 3 of 5 stars Not as funny or sharply observed as Lewis's excellent Vanity Fair pieces, but mildly readable. "XXing baseball YYs...
View ArticleVoting is Not Irrational: Why Economists Are Wrong
Voting is a very personal activity. Whether and how we vote are deeply imbued with our values, self-image, cultural upbringing, and national identity. So I'm not going to argue that everyone should...
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Review: Debt: The First 5,000 Years
Debt: The First 5,000 Years by David GraeberMy rating: 5 of 5 starsA mind-popping work of scholarly virtuosity, finished with a splash of dry humor. Graeber explains the origins of money, the genesis...
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Battle Hymn of a Tiger Lover - The War on Pets Begins
When I wrote a diatribe over a year ago lamenting the sorry state of animal ethics, it was a headshake-and-sigh toward a lost cause. As a society our moral generosity has seemingly stagnated on on big...
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Review: The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail - But Some Don't
The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail - But Some Don't by Nate Silver My rating: 4 of 5 stars Workmanlike writing, solid on substance. Not as slick as Gladwell or Lehrer. Probably a...
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