Piketty’s Progress A review of A Brief History of Equality [https://www.amazon.com/Brief-History-Equality-Thomas-Piketty/dp/0674273559/] by Thomas Piketty, Belknap Press, 288 pages (April 2022) As I write this, the city of Rotterdam is considering a request to dismantle one of its historic bridges to grant Jeff Bezos’s super-yacht (too Jared Marcel Pollen 28 Apr 2022 · 10 min read
The Dangers of Western Complacency Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has revived the Western alliance. After years of drift and self-doubt, the West has been reminded of its historic and institutional uniqueness by seeing the contrast between the atavistic revanchism of Vladimir Putin and the heroism of Ukraine’s defenders. Once again, our collective purpose Fredrik Erixon and Dalibor Rohac 26 Apr 2022 · 6 min read
Serfing the Future? Land ownership has shaped civilizations from their beginnings, with a constant interplay between great powers—the aristocracy, the state, the Church, the emperor—and those below them. History has oscillated between periods of greater dispersion of ownership, and those that favored greater concentration. Today, we live in an era of Joel Kotkin and Wendell Cox 21 Apr 2022 · 11 min read
Moral Relativism and the Bottom Line A surgeon, an engineer, and an economist all die around the same time and are met at the Pearly Gates by St. Peter. “Welcome good souls! Welcome! You’re in the right place,” he informs them. “But, unfortunately, we have a shortage of mansions so two of you will need Jefferson Crow 26 Mar 2022 · 12 min read
The Problem with the Diversity Dividend The last decade has seen Corporate Social Responsibility metastasize into what has become known, derisively, as “woke capitalism”—a new vision of companies as agents of radical social change. The outward face of this shift has been a torrent of adverts and products laced with political messages. Ben and Jerry’ William Malcolmson 2 Mar 2022 · 8 min read
Diamonds Aren't Forever (And Neither is Your Love) Diamond is the most valuable, not only of precious stones, but of all things in this world. ~Pliny The Elder Loving someone, and having them love you back, is the most precious thing in the world. ~Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook At age 11, I first glimpsed the bewildering anthropologic spectacle Rob Brooks 17 Feb 2022 · 13 min read
Involuntarily Celibate: Explanations and Practical Solutions to a Dangerous Phenomenon The overall picture from our results is that places where local conditions make it harder than usual for young men to establish themselves as attractive mating prospects tend also to be places where online Incel action is more common. Rob Brooks 20 Jan 2022 · 6 min read
The Peculiar Economics of 3D Printing Most new technologies, when they are launched, arrive with a lot of hype. While 3D printing fits the business model for customized products, it is not yet cost effective in a commercial manufacturing sector which requires mass production. Randall Mayes 21 Dec 2021 · 9 min read
Confronting the Supply Chain Crisis A pandemic-driven shortage of parts and labor has combined with a congested transport system to create an inflationary spike, with shipping rates doubling on some routes. Joel Kotkin 13 Oct 2021 · 10 min read
As Australia’s Politicians Enforce Yet Another Lockdown, Small Businesses Keep Suffering Frustrated owners have pled for more advance notice of lockdowns and re-starts, so as to allow them to plan their work schedules, inventories, staff management, and customer communications. Geoff Parkes 29 Aug 2021 · 9 min read
Luxury Belief Systems and Economic Stagnation: The Recipe for Our Discontent The result of these two trendlines—the dominance of luxury-belief-driven status competition in a period of extended economic stagnation—was a brew of identity politics, political tribalism, and cultural warfare that would have been bad enough on its own. Andrew Potter 19 Aug 2021 · 8 min read
Winners and Losers: The Global Economy After COVID Taking advantage of the post-pandemic era may start with securing national health but will depend over time on creating better conditions for adaptive grassroots businesses. Joel Kotkin and Hügo Krüger 4 Jun 2021 · 11 min read
Revisiting the Simon-Ehrlich Wager 40 Years On The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (war, famine, pestilence, and death) have not completely disappeared—that would be a miracle, not progress. But the world is incomparably richer than it was just two centuries ago. Marian L. Tupy and Gale L. Pooley 13 Oct 2020 · 7 min read