Mike Norman Economics

If public goods are appropriately designed, and if policymakers cooperate, digital technology can be harnessed to bring more people - particularly the poorest - into the financial system. Broad diffusion of technology may help make societies not only more efficient, but more equitable and better prepared for the digital future. Innovation must be shaped to benefit everyone....It is also good business. Expands and eventually upgrades the market as more people move into the middle...

There’s nothing wrong with people publishing research that turns out to be mistaken. No problem at all. Sometimes you can’t know a path is a dead end until you walk down it.The problem is not (necessarily) with the original study. The problem is with a scientific culture that doesn’t have a good way of letting go of these mistakes. Like a harbor clotted with sunken vessels....Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science“Like a harbor clotted with sunken vessels”: updateAndrew...

Hungarian Parliament 

  Summary: Researchers have carried out clinical trials to test a mutation-specific vaccine against malignant brain tumors. The vaccine has been found to be safe and effective in triggering the desired immune response in the brain cancer tumors.Tumor vaccines can help the body fight cancer. Mutations in the tumor genome often lead to protein changes that are typical of cancer. A vaccine can alert the patients’ immune system to these mutated proteins. Neuroscience News - Mutation-Specific...

 Processed meat has been linked to an increased risk of developing dementia. So what foods should you eat and what should you avoid? By Peta BeeA bacon sandwich may be off the menu after researchers suggested this week  eating as little as 25g of processed meat a day — equivalent to a single rasher — is associated with a 44 per cent increased risk of developing dementia.It’s not the first time that meat has been associated with an increased risk of age-related cognitive decline but previous...

Looks ominous on the surface, but there may be a very simple explanation.

We're already losing this one.More geostrategic blunders like Cuba, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Iran were not enough. But this present one dwarfs them all even put together.Imperial hubris.The Scrum“Our cold, two-front war.” James W. Carden and Patrick LawrenceSee alsoChiefly about information war against Russia but it is also applicable to China in Xinjiang, HK, Tibet,  "CCP," etc.The "woozle" is "information laundering" by 5 Eyes spooks aided by corporate media in...

If you saw this at Project Syndicate, it was a shorter version of this post.EconbrowserGuest Contribution: “Biden Avoids Mistake of Insufficient Fiscal Stimulus”Jeffrey Frankel, Harpel Professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and formerly a member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers

 The game just changed. Following Putin's scolding in response to intemperate remarks by Biden, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson goes for the jugular.Summary: Russia perceives itself as being under attack and will respond accordingly.The Chinese have switched tone also. Cold War 2.0 heats up, and sparks are flying. Cui bono? US MICIMATT (Military-Industrial-Congressional-Intelligence-Media-Academia-Think-Tank complex)Who loses? Europe, geopolitically and economically. Also, the...

A Scottish Delicacy Invented in Edinburgh Ingredients: One Mars BarFor the batter:120g plain flour, 100g rice flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp sugar Eating a Deep Fried Mars Bar in Edinburgh, Scotland[embedded content]