This and That

Some of the stuff I missed in the last two weeks.

The Morality of Rising Inequality

The Psychology of Pricing

“I always joke with people that I’m a department store pricer, because I think that psychologically the first number has an impact,” said Frederick W. Peters, the president of Warburg Realty. “Even though it may seem cheesy, it actually works.”

As an example, Mr. Peters said that it’s wiser to price a property at $4.995 million if it’s worth $5 million. “People are influenced by the first number,” he said, adding, “It’s the 4 that influences the way they perceive the price. Also, if you stay under a threshold, you are going to be found by more computer searches.”

Why poker can beat investment management hands down

A Health Care Plan So Simple, Even Stephen Colbert Couldn’t Simplify It

What’s the Toll? It Depends on the Time of Day

New Takes on the New Deal

From 0 to 60 to World Domination

With One Word, Children’s Book Sets Off Uproar

Russian Soldiers Sold For Sex?

Holocaust Denial — Crime or Free Speech?

North Korean nuke deal cheat sheet

'Just-in-Case': How to Think About Uncertainty and Global Warming

How Iraq Trillion Could Have Been Spent

Sexual Correlation and Causation

The 2007 Economic Report of the President on Exchange Rate Determination

Made in China

Handouts From Hitler

Mr. Counterintuition;

"Tom Schelling expects Iran to get nuclear weapons. "Once a country becomes the owner of nuclear weapons, it is imperative that they learn to deal with them responsibly." He pointed out that it took the U.S. 15 years after World War II to learn to think seriously about the security of its weapons. Before that, weapons did not have combination locks, let alone complex electronic security codes. Now, most weapons will not detonate even if given the codes unless they are at their designated targets. He recalled that a friend who had a role in developing the weapons told him that one day in the late 1950s, he got off a plane at an air base in Germany and saw a military aircraft on the tarmac with a bomb beside it guarded by a single soldier. In those days there were not locks and codes. The man strolled over and asked the soldier what this was. The answer: "I believe it is a nuclear bomb, sir." When asked what he would do if someone started to roll the weapon away, the soldier replied that he would call his superiors for instructions. A further enquiry established that the phone was some 300 meters away."

Saudi oil production cuts

Welfare State Stasis

Growth Regressions and Policy Advising

Purchasing power parity

Are the British genetically capitalist?

This is your brain on Britney

Faces, Faces Everywhere

“The information faces convey is so rich — not just regarding another person’s identity, but also their mental state, health and other factors,” he said. “It’s extremely beneficial for the brain to become good at the task of face recognition and not to be very strict in its inclusion criteria. The cost of missing a face is higher than the cost of declaring a nonface to be a face.”

The Science of Happiness

Workers are fine with fewer unions

How Not to Talk to Your Kids

Microfinance: bigger than Borat?

We the Sheeple? Why Conspiracy Theories Persist

Interrogating inequality