The Origins Of Chinese Agriculture Date Older Than Previously Thought
By Alton Parrish.
Origins Of Agriculture In China Began 23,000 Years Ago, 12,000 Years Earlier Than Previously Believed
The discovery pushes back the roots of agriculture in China by 12,000 years. The global emergence of similar [...]
This Is Not Rocket Science
By David Andolfatto.
I’d like to offer a few thoughts on this piece by Brad DeLong.
He seems to think that some people in the profession are confused about things like the natural rate of interest and its relation to the market [...]
We’ve Crossed The Rubicon
After seeing the horrific news that the Boston Marathon had been bombed I started dwelling on what new draconian laws were going to be created as a result of this attack. I was soon to see that the no new laws were needed. The State [...]
Limiting Free Speech: Equal Influence, Money in Politics, and Citizens United
By Filip Spagnoli.
(source)
The US Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United correctly emphasized the importance of free speech in a democracy. (There’s a thorough discussion of this point here). Free speech serves to expose [...]
The Shumsher Supremacy
By Subodh Rana.
The news traveled quickly on galloping horseback in the chilly November night; it was relayed with cupped hands next to alarmed ears from house to house, street corner to street corner. Maharajah Ranauddip Singh had been assassinated [...]
Reform of Middle Eastern Militaries: Lessons from Indonesia
By James M. Dorsey.
Synopsis
The recent commando raid on a prison by Indonesian special forces provoked
renewed debate about the need to further reform the military and subject it to civilian
justice – 15 years after the end [...]
Terahertz Technology: Seeing More With Less
By Alton Parrish.
Terahertz technology is an emerging field that promises to improve a host of useful applications, ranging from passenger scanning at airports to huge digital data transfers. Terahertz radiation sits between the frequency [...]
Asian Peace & Economic Miracle
By Robert Kelly.
Newsweek Japan asked me to write an introductory essay for its January 16 special issue on tension in Northeast Asia (cover story to the left). I should have put this up 4 months ago, but I forgot and the arguments [...]
The Cuban Socialist Renewal
By Marce Cameron.
Since becoming Cuba’s president (initially acting president) in August 2007, when Fidel Castro became gravely ill and had to step down, Raul Castro has called for a nationwide debate on the future of Cuba’s socialist [...]
How the Greens Pick Your Pocket
By Alan Caruba.
The famed Boston Tea Party was a protest against “taxation without representation”, but our pockets are picked every day by a plethora of taxes of which most Americans are not even aware.
We get robbed when the federal government [...]
Navaly Case: The Offline Effect Of Online Activism In Russia
By Masha Egupova.
There are times when you think that everything is hopeless and your country is going to hell. You lose faith in social activism and non-violent protesting. You think that the regime will always win and people will [...]
The arrogance of power
By Ajay Shah.
Yu Hua has a great piece in the New York Times titled In China, Power is Arrogant where he says:
Several of these rules have since been revoked, but their wacky and arbitrary nature demonstrates the arrogance of power in China. [...]
Obama Breeds Rebellion Among the States
By Alan Caruba.
The resistance to Obamacare is writing a new chapter in U.S. history. It may well become the most unpopular law since Prohibition became an Amendment to the Constitution in 1919. By 1933, another Amendment repealed it.
Obamacare [...]
Soccer Emerges As Focal Point Of Dissent In Saudi Arabia
By James M. Dorsey.
Prince Faisal rushes off the pitch
Soccer, alongside minority Shiite Muslims and relatives of imprisoned government critics, is emerging as a focal point of dissent in Saudi Arabia, an oil-rich kingdom that [...]
The Price Of Offshore Revisited
By James S. Henry.
NEW ESTIMATES FOR “MISSING” GLOBAL PRIVATE
WEALTH, INCOME, INEQUALITY, AND LOST TAXES
INTRODUCTION/ SUMMARY.
The definition of victory for this paper is to review and improve upon existing estimates
of [...]
Crime and Human Rights: Why Do We Impose Criminal Punishment?
By Filip Spagnoli.
ca. 1913 — The information card on Joseph Stalin, from the files of the Tsarist secret police in St. Petersburg. — Image by © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS
(source)
It seems so obvious that we must punish criminals [...]
US Prison Industrial Complex Versus the Stalinist Gulag
By Sean Guillory.
In a recent column, “Incarceration Nation, Fareed Zakaria claimed that number of people in the United States under “correctional supervision” exceeded that of Stalinist Russia. The assertion comes via Adam Gopnik, who [...]
Super Language From The Ice Age, Some Words Still With Us Today
By Alton Parrish.
20,000 years ago, massive ice sheets cover a quarter of the globe. Populations of big game hunters live in small, mobile communities like in this reenactment, and gigantic mammoths roam the landscape. Suddenly and without [...]
In Love with the Written Word: Reading in the Digital Age
By Tracy Dennis.
I was interested to see this commentary by five college students about reading in the digital age, posted on Zócalo Public Square. One of the things that struck me the most was my own anticipation that I would be [...]
Nonlinear Trading Strategies
By Ernest Chan.
I have long been partial to linear strategies due to their simplicity and relative immunity to overfitting. They can be used quite easily to profit from mean-reversion. However, there is a serious problem: they are quite fragile, i.e. vulnerable [...]