Marginal Revolution

Jan 25, 2025 | marginalrevolution.com | Alex Tabarrok

In our paper on online education, Tyler and I wrote: One model of a future course is a super-textbook: lectures, exercises, quizzes, and grading all available on a tablet with artificial intelligence routines guiding students to lectures and exercises designed to address that student’s deficits and with human intelligence—tutors—on call on an as-needed basis, possibly […]

Dec 19, 2024 | marginalrevolution.com | Tyler Cowen

From my latest Bloomberg column: Why is the food so good? I have several overlapping hypotheses, most of them coming from my background as an economist. Interestingly, India’s culinary advantages can be traced to some good and some not-so-good aspects of Indian society. First, food supply chains here are typically very short. Trucking, refrigeration and […]

Nov 9, 2024 | marginalrevolution.com | Alex Tabarrok

You’ve likely heard of Prospera, the private city in Honduras established under the ZEDE (Zone for Employment and Economic Development) law, which has drawn global investment for medical innovation. The current Honduran government is trying to break its contracts and evict Prospera from Honduras.

Nov 7, 2024 | marginalrevolution.com | Alex Tabarrok

The prediction markets predicted the election outcome more accurately and more quickly than polls or other forecasting methods, just as expected from decades of research. In this election, however, many people discounted the prediction markets because of large trades on Polymarket. Paul Krugman, for example, wrote:Never mind the prediction markets, which are thin and easily manipulated. None of that was true but perhaps that was par for the course.

Nov 6, 2024 | marginalrevolution.com | Alex Tabarrok

The economy is strong and Trump has a significant opportunity to simply take credit for that if he avoids major disruptions. While he must fulfill some of his campaign promises, people voted for Trump not for his policies per se. Trump has leeway. No one will accuse him of flip-flopping. While these are not my first-best policies, Trump won against astounding media and elite opposition and an attempted assassination.