Econ @SamfordU & wearer of many hats. I Write Things: @AIER, @ForbesOpinion, @EconLog, https://xitter.cf/t.co/JpmZZPDPyd. "Mere Economics" released April 2025.
Birmingham, AL
Joined October 2009
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Art Carden retweeted
How did the world get so much richer, longer-lived, and more connected? @artcarden returns to two of Adam Smith’s triads for an answer, and for a few ideas about where we go next. buff.ly/WKP0gTy
Art Carden retweeted
You need to think about the marginal, not the inframarginal.
(Plus the huge body of research that says taxes do matter for things like investment)
“The idea that Mark Zuckerberg was sitting in his Harvard dorm room and would have been deterred from starting Meta if the capital gains tax rate was slightly closer to the ordinary income tax rate strikes me as categorically absurd,” argues @NatashaRSarin, professor of law at Yale Law School.
Art Carden retweeted
"If behavioral economics helps explain anything in the real world, it helps explain poverty. Everyone deviates from the rational actor model from time to time, but the poor deviate far more."
betonit.ai/p/doing_the_besth…
I also just really wanted the @Brodyxking figure.
Art Carden (@artcarden) bought a $21.82 wrestling action figure — designed in the US, manufactured in China, sold in Alabama — to explain why the trade deficit isn't the villain you think it is.
buff.ly/CSWPRFr
Art Carden retweeted
Art Carden (@artcarden) bought a $21.82 wrestling action figure — designed in the US, manufactured in China, sold in Alabama — to explain why the trade deficit isn't the villain you think it is.
buff.ly/CSWPRFr
Art Carden retweeted
@artcarden makes this point: thedailyeconomy.org/article/…
Art Carden retweeted
Mismatching students and institutions can hurt the very students such policies intend to help — while squandering scarce faculty talent on remedial math.
cc: @artcarden
thedailyeconomy.org/article/…
Art Carden retweeted
Book update:
The publication date for This One Will Be Different has been pushed to Aug 21 due to a production delay.
The encouraging news is that preorders have already exceeded the first printing, so a rush second printing has been ordered.
Publication day for This One Will Be Different is getting closer (July 31). Use the discount code AUFLY30 for 30% off from the publisher. global.oup.com/academic/prod…
Art Carden retweeted
Datacenters use water and energy. If only there was some way of measuring the opportunity cost of these resources. youtu.be/ZReLE2cb51M?si=0P8u…
Art Carden retweeted
The ability to change others is overestimated.
The ability to change yourself is underestimated.
Art Carden retweeted
Thank you for @feeonline for letting me be part of a long line of economic educators dedicated to mixing good econ research, good econ teaching and good outreach.
FEE Economist of the Year: Honoring economists who bring economic understanding into public life and illuminate the ideas that sustain free and prosperous societies. This year’s honor recognizes @VincentGeloso
Art Carden retweeted
"Rich person" services that poor people can access now thanks to AI:
- Custom tutor
- Job training
- Legal advice
- Tax advice
- Financial planning
- Psychological counseling
- Concierge doctor
- Career coach
- Executive assistant
- Test prep
Oh and it's all vanishingly cheap.
So @elleduncantv, @ReneeMontgomery, and @Chold1 are looking for a nickname for Kelsey Mitchell & Caitlin Clark. My suggestion: add Aliyah Boston & you have Run BMC.
Art Carden retweeted
W.H. Hutt was a great economist with great insights. Larry White points out one here in the Review of Austrian Economics.
I add that Hutt's problem was made apparent to me by my colleague (the man who has forgotten more economics than I could learn over ten lifetimes) David Levy: Hutt has good points but then rushes to put them out. Many points seem poorly addressed and thus lacking convincingness. In fact, many of his points were later incorporated by RBC and NKE schools of thoughts (without them knowing it).
It goes to show that having good ideas is not sufficient. You must go the extra mile, the extra effort, the extra tears, the extra drops of sweat to add value. Nevertheless, Hutt remains valuable as a scholar.
Art Carden retweeted
This is what "guardrails" look like in the real world.
Florida pastor suing ChatGPT for giving him poor medical advice.
Imagine every time you asked a chatbot for medical advice, it said "go to a doctor, it's serious."
If lawsuits like this succeed, the only way for AI companies to protect themselves is to always give the most hysterical advice possible. They would become useless.
The advocacy group filing the lawsuit has "asked the court to stop ChatGPT Health from operating until independent evaluators determine it is safe. The lawsuit also demands stronger guardrails to prevent ChatGPT from answering questions about medical treatments and diagnoses."
Interestingly, the service actually encouraged him to see a doctor at first. Then when he refused, it gave the pastor advice and told him what he wanted to hear. And now he's suing ChatGPT!
They're going to ruin the products for everyone to protect the stupidest people from themselves.
The trial lawyers and advocacy groups here are parasites. We cannot let them win.
