Marginal Revolution

Assorted links

1. How to visit the zoo.

2. Via Arnold Kling (do read his new book), Presidential cabinets: prior private sector experience.

3. Should LeBron sign for $1?

4. Via Bruce Bartlett, French government still paying off a 1738 annuity.

5. Conspicuous consumption in the Congo, here and here (click through).

6. The fifty most interesting Wikipedia articles?

7. The great Robert Trivers on self-deception (one hour lecture).

8. The periodic table of finance bloggers.

Assorted links

1. Reprogramming predators, and maybe a pan-species welfare state too.

2. The six great fantasy novels?

3. Forum on the new Robert Pozen book on the financial crisis.

4. Do you wish to hear the other side?  Here is George Selgin's case for deflation, now on-line and free.

5. Ezra and Mark Bittman, the behavioral economics of Thanksgiving.  And here, with Dan Ariely.

6. Pollution is moving to Asia; good maps.

6. Future deficits are worrisome.  James Hamilton: "Is it possible that some time within the next five years, the U.S. Treasury will run an auction in which there are not enough bids to roll over the debt? My answer is yes."

Assorted links

1. Audiobook version of David Hume's Treatise on Human Nature.

2. What some Iranians think of New Jersey.

3. Alan Lomax in Haiti.

4. James Wood tries to take down Paul Auster.

5. An unwanted kiss from a moral man.

6. What does the Miller-Moore amendment say?

Facebook rescission?

A Canadian woman on long-term sick leave for depression says she lost her benefits because her insurance agent found photos of her on Facebook in which she appeared to be having fun.

Nathalie Blanchard has been on leave from her job at IBM in Bromont, Quebec, for the last year.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported Saturday she was diagnosed with major depression and was receiving monthly sick-leave benefits from insurance giant Manulife.

...She said her insurance agent described several pictures Blanchard posted on Facebook, including ones showing her having a good time at a Chippendales bar show, at her birthday party and on a sun holiday.

The insurance company claims there is more to it than that.  Here is further information.

Assorted links

1. Ben Casnocha reviews Kling and Schulz.

2. Are better-looking athletes more likely to win?

3. "Mozart was a Red" -- Murray Rothbard's satire of Rand, here is the full text.  It doesn't seem that funny to me.

4. Portrait of Durrr: an on-line poker player.

5. Seth Roberts interviews me.

Assorted links, second dose

1. Air Genius Gary Leff is hailed by CNN.

2. Good post on interest rates (though I am not sure I agree with it).  Brad DeLong comments.  Critically important stuff and two of the best recent economics blog posts, in some time.

3. The world's first native Klingon speaker?

4. Spider silk tapestry.

5. Via Yana, France's hamster hotel, and here.

Assorted links

1. How much will U.S. taxes ever go up?

2. Useful lateral thinking and how it is described by the lateral thinker.

3. The biological bases of business and entrepreneurship.

4. One hour show with me in Second Life; they even did up a Tyler Cowen avatar.  Other shows are here, including economist Robert Frank and libertarian Adam Thierer.

5. Matt Kahn on "cash for caulkers".

6. The new AEA calendar of economists.  To whet your appetite, here is a photo of Francis Ysidro Edgeworth.

Assorted links

1. Scott Sumner's most absurd belief: India as #1 in gdp by 2109.

2. Click "play" and watch unemployment grow.

3. Who is Hollywood's most overpaid star, relative to box office returns?  Will Farrell is #1 it seems.

4. Markets in everything: NYC McDonald's with sleek Danish furniture.

5. Saddam's strategic thinking.

6. Via Caroline Flyn, China ethnicity of the week, good for a whole year (photos, recommended).

7. The Political Economy of Trust, by Henry Farrell.

Assorted links

1. Strange China video of the day.

2. Do men live longer if they marry smarter women? (No, I haven't checked if the original paper deals with the identification problem in a reasonable way.)

3. Another review of *The Big Questions*.

4. Daron Acemoglu in Esquire on economic growth.

5. How to get wealthy from your own life insurance (hint: Hansonian).

Assorted links

1. Profile of Doug Elmendorf.

2. Ross Douthat's new blog.

3. Gladwell responds to Pinker.

4. Via Felix Salmon, Clay Shirky on ontological classification.

5. The economics of pinball.

6. Why does the universe look the way it does?

7. Inventing a better patent system.

8. Interview with a Michelin inspector.