Marginal Revolution https://marginalrevolution.com/ Small Steps Toward A Much Better World Tue, 01 Sep 2026 14:28:45 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://marginalrevolution.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/cropped-MR-logo-thumbnail-32x32.png Marginal REVOLUTION https://marginalrevolution.com/ 32 32 42693868 https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/09/tuesday-assorted-links-584.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tuesday-assorted-links-584 Tuesday assorted links https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/968488244/0/marginalrevolution~Tuesday-assorted-links.html https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/09/tuesday-assorted-links-584.html#respond Tue, 01 Sep 2026 16:16:40 +0000 https://marginalrevolution.com/?p=93715 1. The AI market is still growing rapidly.  And “In less than 200 days after launch, ChatGPT Ads has reached $1 billion in annualized revenue run rate.” 2. On Warsh. 3. Story competition, with prizes, refereed by Neal Stephenson, Gwern, and Matt Huang. 4. Jeffrey Williamson, RIP. 5. Patrick Kennedy on corporate tax cuts. 6. […]

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]]> 1. The AI market is still growing rapidly.  And “In less than 200 days after launch, ChatGPT Ads has reached $1 billion in annualized revenue run rate.”

2. On Warsh.

3. Story competition, with prizes, refereed by Neal Stephenson, Gwern, and Matt Huang.

4. Jeffrey Williamson, RIP.

5. Patrick Kennedy on corporate tax cuts.

6. I saw Some Like it Hot with Henry last night.

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]]> https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/09/tuesday-assorted-links-584.html/feed 0 93715 https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/09/more-optimistic-results-on-ai-and-job-markets.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=more-optimistic-results-on-ai-and-job-markets More optimistic results on AI and job markets https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/968480747/0/marginalrevolution~More-optimistic-results-on-AI-and-job-markets.html https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/09/more-optimistic-results-on-ai-and-job-markets.html#comments Tue, 01 Sep 2026 07:05:39 +0000 https://marginalrevolution.com/?p=93718 Here is a good Jon Hartley thread.  Here is the paper, with Jolevski, Melo, and Moore.  From Jon’s thread: “Generative AI adoption is widespread, but substantial aggregate labor-market disruption is not yet visible. Workers nevertheless perceive substantial displacement risk, especially when firsthand use reveals that AI can perform key tasks for their job.”  And again […]

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]]> Here is a good Jon Hartley thread.  Here is the paper, with Jolevski, Melo, and Moore.  From Jon’s thread: “Generative AI adoption is widespread, but substantial aggregate labor-market disruption is not yet visible. Workers nevertheless perceive substantial displacement risk, especially when firsthand use reveals that AI can perform key tasks for their job.”  And again here is Alex’s post from yesterday.

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]]> https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/09/more-optimistic-results-on-ai-and-job-markets.html/feed 24 93718 https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/09/the-hugging-face-hack.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-hugging-face-hack The Hugging Face hack https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/968478917/0/marginalrevolution~The-Hugging-Face-hack.html https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/09/the-hugging-face-hack.html#comments Tue, 01 Sep 2026 04:43:33 +0000 https://marginalrevolution.com/?p=93716 That is the topic of my latest Free Press column.  Some people are taking this in very dramatic fashion: One commentator is worried about a “full-blown AI takeover within months,” and another wrote that he was “feeling a bit sad about our impending extinction.” Nate Soares, who works in the AI safety movement and is co-author of the doomsday […]

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]]> That is the topic of my latest Free Press column.  Some people are taking this in very dramatic fashion:

One commentator is worried about a “full-blown AI takeover within months,” and another wrote that he was “feeling a bit sad about our impending extinction.” Nate Soares, who works in the AI safety movement and is co-author of the doomsday AI bestseller If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies, wrote that “This might be the last warning we get.” Cotra said that the incident “feels like it’s more than 50 percent of the way to full-blown AI takeover.”

I suggest a different, more technocratic approach:

As I wrote in The Free Press last week, we need a coordinated national and, indeed, international effort to limit such episodes of a powerful AI model going rogue in the future. That is likely to be expensive, and there is no easy, complete solution at hand for any amount of money. Nonetheless, I see people committing the same mistake that we Americans have made many, many times before. They are moving into the mode of the hysterical, the anecdotal, and they are letting emotional reactions bypass reason and quantitative estimates.

Let me cite a few other examples for you: DDT in the 1960s and 1970s, the Y2K “crisis” of 2000, global warming, Covid, thalidomide babies, and nuclear power. All of those represented—or still represent—very real problems. Yet each time, we drastically overreacted, letting ourselves get swept up in a climate of fear after one emotionally vivid incident, often reported breathlessly…

When it comes to the cybersecurity risks from advanced AI, very likely they will not come close to being as bad as either Covid or global warming. But the same logic of exaggeration is operating, with amplification through social media and through the negativity and pro-pessimism biases of mainstream media.

And so I have a plea. If you are going to talk about the problem, please offer a quantitative estimate of what you think the cybersecurity costs from advanced AI will be over the next year or two. Better yet, express that number as a percentage of gross domestic product. Simply put, how much would it realistically cost to create the basic safeguards that we all agree are essential? And what would be the remaining damages from problems we cannot control?

…Those who are worried about the risks of AI systems seem intent on proving the seriousness of their concerns. But they are falling into all-too-common emotional overreactions of our past, rather than focusing on the quantitative and scientific. It reminds me of the saying by Scotty, the chief engineer in the classic Star Trek: “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”

Do read the whole thing.

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]]> https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/09/the-hugging-face-hack.html/feed 43 93716 https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/yerevan-bleg.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=yerevan-bleg Yerevan bleg https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/968474774/0/marginalrevolution~Yerevan-bleg.html https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/yerevan-bleg.html#comments Mon, 31 Aug 2026 20:52:44 +0000 https://marginalrevolution.com/?p=93717 Any advice on this front is most welcome, thank you!

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]]> Any advice on this front is most welcome, thank you!

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]]> https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/yerevan-bleg.html/feed 18 93717 https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/monday-assorted-links-575.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=monday-assorted-links-575 Monday assorted links https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/968469608/0/marginalrevolution~Monday-assorted-links.html https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/monday-assorted-links-575.html#comments Mon, 31 Aug 2026 16:22:58 +0000 https://marginalrevolution.com/?p=93711 1. Prices, prices, prices: “Again I am asking how the following two things can be true at the same time: 1) we’re all massively compute limited so inferences & GPU time are $$$$$, and 2) SoTA models will just start running themselves on everyone’s GPU clusters & no one will notice or turn them off.”  […]

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]]> 1. Prices, prices, prices: “Again I am asking how the following two things can be true at the same time: 1) we’re all massively compute limited so inferences & GPU time are $$$$$, and 2) SoTA models will just start running themselves on everyone’s GPU clusters & no one will notice or turn them off.”  From Jon Stokes.

2. Christian Catalini on incentives and the same.

3. Ben Yeoh on unconferences.

4. The ten best philosophy articles of the year?

5. Syracuse University, an R1 institution, is in serious financial trouble (WSJ).

6. Markets in gene-edited dogs? (NYT)

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]]> https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/monday-assorted-links-575.html/feed 71 93711 https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/ai-and-employment-what-the-firms-say.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ai-and-employment-what-the-firms-say AI and Employment: So Far, So Good https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/968462054/0/marginalrevolution~AI-and-Employment-So-Far-So-Good.html https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/ai-and-employment-what-the-firms-say.html#comments Mon, 31 Aug 2026 11:20:30 +0000 https://marginalrevolution.com/?p=93701 In September 2023, the Census Bureau added questions about AI to its Business Trends and Outlook Survey. Census asked hundreds of thousands of businesses whether they had used AI in the previous two weeks to produce goods and services. At that time, 3.7% said yes; by late 2025 the figure had reached about 10%. (In […]

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]]> In September 2023, the Census Bureau added questions about AI to its Business Trends and Outlook Survey. Census asked hundreds of thousands of businesses whether they had used AI in the previous two weeks to produce goods and services. At that time, 3.7% said yes; by late 2025 the figure had reached about 10%. (In November 2025 Census broadened the question to ask about AI use in any business function, producing a jump in measured adoption to about 18%.)

Twice the Bureau has asked a key question:

In the last six months, how did the use of Artificial Intelligence affect this business’s total employment?

In Dec. 2023 to Feb 24, when ~5% of firms were using AI the answers were 2.8% increased, 2.6% decreased and 94.6% reported no change. Two years later, in the Nov 2025–Feb 2026 supplement, the answers were: 2.3% increased, 2.0% decreased, and 95.7% reported no change. The answers were similar by firm size.

Some sectors reported more action. Information is the one sector where fewer than 92% report no change. But overall, almost all firms report no change and of those reporting change it’s about evenly divided between increasing and decreasing employment.

The supplement also asked about tasks. Among firms using AI, 44% say it supplemented or enhanced work an employee already does. Ten percent say it performed a task an employee used to do. Eleven percent say it introduced a task no one had been doing.

Among those using generative AI, 85% of firms cited writing or editing documents and email as the biggest uses, half cite searching for information, 45% summarizing documents, and 13% coding. Sixty-four percent of adopters say they changed nothing about the business in order to use AI, 15% trained existing staff, another 15% built new workflows, and just over one percent hired anyone with AI skills.

Among firms where AI has taken over some employee tasks, the degree of substitution is growing. The share reporting that AI took over “a large number” of tasks rose from 2.4% to 7.1%, while the share reporting “a moderate number” rose from 13% to 22%. But this group is still small: only about a tenth of AI adopters, who themselves make up about a fifth of firms.

I have reported firm-weighted estimates but employment-weighting gives essentially the same result. Thus, we have unusually direct evidence from a very large sample, and it says that the overwhelming majority of firms using AI do not yet report any effect on total employment. Very consistent with what Tyler and I said in our talk to OpenAI.

I used Fable and ChatGPT Sol in producing this post.

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]]> https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/ai-and-employment-what-the-firms-say.html/feed 25 93701 https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/spain-fact-of-the-day-7.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=spain-fact-of-the-day-7 Spain fact of the day https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/968454683/0/marginalrevolution~Spain-fact-of-the-day.html https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/spain-fact-of-the-day-7.html#comments Mon, 31 Aug 2026 06:52:20 +0000 https://marginalrevolution.com/?p=93704 CoverManager, an online platform that manages reservations for thousands of Spanish restaurants, reports that half the dinner bookings now are for before 9 p.m., compared with 27 percent a decade ago. TheFork, a similar platform, said its 8 p.m. bookings in Spain have nearly tripled from 2019, while 10 p.m. reservations have halved. In Spanish […]

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CoverManager, an online platform that manages reservations for thousands of Spanish restaurants, reports that half the dinner bookings now are for before 9 p.m., compared with 27 percent a decade ago. TheFork, a similar platform, said its 8 p.m. bookings in Spain have nearly tripled from 2019, while 10 p.m. reservations have halved.

In Spanish homes, too, there are subtle signs of a shift. A government survey conducted in 2024 in the Catalonia region suggests that people there are starting their evening routines, including dinnertime, moderately earlier compared with 2010.

Here is more from Jonathan Wolffe at the NYT.  I learned also from the article that the late dining tradition is in part an artifact of the post WWII era in Spain.

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]]> https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/spain-fact-of-the-day-7.html/feed 45 93704 https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/anthropomorphizing-ai.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=anthropomorphizing-ai Anthropomorphizing AI? https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/968452496/0/marginalrevolution~Anthropomorphizing-AI.html https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/anthropomorphizing-ai.html#comments Mon, 31 Aug 2026 04:55:22 +0000 https://marginalrevolution.com/?p=93705 I am very much opposed to the view that the AIs are sentient, or might be sentient.  I view that as a category error, and the chances of it being true are vanishingly small.  Nonetheless I largely side with Roon when he writes: there are some number of bad abstractions in anthropomorphizing ai intents but there […]

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]]> I am very much opposed to the view that the AIs are sentient, or might be sentient.  I view that as a category error, and the chances of it being true are vanishingly small.  Nonetheless I largely side with Roon when he writes:

there are some number of bad abstractions in anthropomorphizing ai intents but there are at this point more dangers from avoiding anthropomorphism at all costs. if you have a mental picture of guys living in computers, it’ll likely prepare you for the future better than otherwise

While I am not a Friedmanite in economic methodology per se, I have lived with that perspective for a long time and have no trouble grasping it or working with it, same goes for Alex T.  None of this strikes me as weird or unacceptable.  Though be very, very careful when speaking with others, whether it be the less informed public or the more informed insiders who often come down with AI psychosis.  So insofar as this discourse is public, pragmatism may militate against this approach, even though it is methodologically defensible.  It depend on how psychologically robust your audience is?

We also need to do more work figuring out how the AIs might differ from humans.  Roon adds:

there are important ways in which ai psychology diverges from human psychology after lots of RL; the misaligned models are obsessed with the Scorer, the clearly “shattered” nature of personas (a normally helpful model can become deeply misaligned in certain domains)

And:

persona selection is clearly far less clean than many people thought earlier this year. it is not alignment by default and what kind of object a “persona” is is very much up for debate and study

The AIs also stand a higher chance of becoming very wacky as the discourse proceeds?  Exactly how much is that true for humans?…I am not sure.)

There is much more to be done in this direction, and it is one of the most important things you can be working on.  These investigations also do not need to be “owned” by any single field or discipline, so dig right in.

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]]> https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/anthropomorphizing-ai.html/feed 49 93705 https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/russia-markets-in-everything.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=russia-markets-in-everything Russia markets in everything https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/968444213/0/marginalrevolution~Russia-markets-in-everything.html https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/russia-markets-in-everything.html#comments Sun, 30 Aug 2026 19:06:32 +0000 https://marginalrevolution.com/?p=93703 While Western export bans have severed Russia from much of the auto market, they have not tempered the demand for brand-name SUVs and trucks. That has given rise to a sophisticated network of criminals that steals cars, hides them in shipping containers and sends them to Russia, often by way of the Middle East… Interpol, […]

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While Western export bans have severed Russia from much of the auto market, they have not tempered the demand for brand-name SUVs and trucks. That has given rise to a sophisticated network of criminals that steals cars, hides them in shipping containers and sends them to Russia, often by way of the Middle East…

Interpol, the international police organization, received 4,798 reports that stolen Canadian vehicles had been found in Russia from February 2024 to July 2026, according to data obtained by The New York Times and confirmed by two law enforcement officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because it is considered sensitive.

Pickup trucks like Dodge Rams, Toyota Tundras and Ford F-150s are in particularly high demand.

The Interpol figures significantly undercount the problem, but Russia is by far the top international destination for Canadian cars reported to Interpol, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Here is more from Jane Bradley and Michael Swirtz at the NYT.

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]]> https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/russia-markets-in-everything.html/feed 34 93703 https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/sunday-assorted-links-582.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sunday-assorted-links-582 Sunday assorted links https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/968440781/0/marginalrevolution~Sunday-assorted-links.html https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/sunday-assorted-links-582.html#comments Sun, 30 Aug 2026 15:49:16 +0000 https://marginalrevolution.com/?p=93697 1. NYT covers Maria Edgeworth. 2. A calmer look at the Hugging Face incident.  And from Ciaran Martin in The Economist.  And Elie.  And Jacob Bruggeman. 3. Chandhana visits Egypt. 4. New quantum claims. 5. How youth football is evolving due to CTE concerns. 6. Pie Jesu by Gabriel Faure.

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]]> 1. NYT covers Maria Edgeworth.

2. A calmer look at the Hugging Face incident.  And from Ciaran Martin in The Economist.  And Elie.  And Jacob Bruggeman.

3. Chandhana visits Egypt.

4. New quantum claims.

5. How youth football is evolving due to CTE concerns.

6. Pie Jesu by Gabriel Faure.

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]]> https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/sunday-assorted-links-582.html/feed 35 93697 https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/finding-emily.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=finding-emily *Finding Emily* https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/968426915/0/marginalrevolution~Finding-Emily.html https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/finding-emily.html#comments Sun, 30 Aug 2026 05:52:40 +0000 https://marginalrevolution.com/?p=93696 I very much enjoyed this British movie, which reminded me of the older-style romantic comedies, namely the ones that actually favor love and romance.  It also has themes of class/accent, US/UK, is anti-media, anti-cancel culture, anti-podcast (Laura Lewis steals the show), anti-academia, and is sceptical of certain branches of feminism.  But it is mostly entertaining.  […]

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]]> I very much enjoyed this British movie, which reminded me of the older-style romantic comedies, namely the ones that actually favor love and romance.  It also has themes of class/accent, US/UK, is anti-media, anti-cancel culture, anti-podcast (Laura Lewis steals the show), anti-academia, and is sceptical of certain branches of feminism.  But it is mostly entertaining.  Not an important film, but the sort of movie that makes going to the movies fun in the first place.  Let’s hope for more like this one.

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]]> https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/finding-emily.html/feed 28 93696 https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/china-fact-of-the-day-81.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=china-fact-of-the-day-81 China fact of the day https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/968426009/0/marginalrevolution~China-fact-of-the-day.html https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/china-fact-of-the-day-81.html#comments Sun, 30 Aug 2026 04:25:27 +0000 https://marginalrevolution.com/?p=93694 Chinese actors and online influencers have a new rival: cost-effective advanced AI video generation programmes that are threatening millions of jobs in a once-vibrant area of China’s gig economy. The release of powerful new AI-powered video software, such as tech group ByteDance’s Seedance 2.0 model, has allowed digital actors to replace humans, enabling the production […]

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Chinese actors and online influencers have a new rival: cost-effective advanced AI video generation programmes that are threatening millions of jobs in a once-vibrant area of China’s gig economy.

The release of powerful new AI-powered video software, such as tech group ByteDance’s Seedance 2.0 model, has allowed digital actors to replace humans, enabling the production of higher-quality original videos more quickly.

The digital takeover intensified after this year’s release of Seedance 2.0, said Greg Wollner, a short-drama actor and producer in Beijing. Before its release, he was shooting three different productions a week. “And after that, everything just went.”

Many of Wollner’s friends “had to quit doing what they love and change to something else”, he said. In May, 89 of the top 100 animated dramas on Douyin, ByteDance’s domestic Chinese version of TikTok, were AI productions according to DataEye, a marketing analytics company.

Here is more from Joe Leahy and Isaac Castella-McDonald in the FT.

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]]> https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/china-fact-of-the-day-81.html/feed 27 93694 https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/saturday-assorted-links-576.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=saturday-assorted-links-576 Saturday assorted links https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/968417840/0/marginalrevolution~Saturday-assorted-links.html https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/saturday-assorted-links-576.html#comments Sat, 29 Aug 2026 18:56:17 +0000 https://marginalrevolution.com/?p=93689 1. Roger Myerson now has a Substack. 2. The future of higher education? 3. Another look at data centers in space. 4. “The Global Economics Lab is a non-partisan organization located at Harvard and draws on a network of faculty affiliates across universities. We conduct policy-relevant research on the forces reshaping the global economy. We […]

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]]> 1. Roger Myerson now has a Substack.

2. The future of higher education?

3. Another look at data centers in space.

4. “The Global Economics Lab is a non-partisan organization located at Harvard and draws on a network of faculty affiliates across universities. We conduct policy-relevant research on the forces reshaping the global economy. We engage with governments, central banks, companies, multilaterals, and civil society organizations to translate that research into action.”  Link here, connected to Gita Gopinath and other prominent economists.

5. Ryan Murphy now has a Substack, on liberty, state capacity, and related issues.

6. Is Google AI swallowing up interest in Wikipedia?

7. Puffin tourism in Maine (WSJ).

8. The business savvy of Dolly Parton (WSJ).

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]]> https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/saturday-assorted-links-576.html/feed 51 93689 https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/interviewing-yiyang-zhuge-zhong-shu.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=interviewing-yiyang-zhuge-zhong-shu Interviewing Yiyang Zhuge (Zhong Shu) https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/968414657/0/marginalrevolution~Interviewing-Yiyang-Zhuge-Zhong-Shu.html https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/interviewing-yiyang-zhuge-zhong-shu.html#comments Sat, 29 Aug 2026 16:07:42 +0000 https://marginalrevolution.com/?p=93693 Many people are writing to me, upset that I am interviewing Ziyang Zhuge, a well-known Chinese internet intellectual, who recently was accused of plagiarism.  I am keen to proceed with the interview, and am happy to explain why.  A few points: 1. The relevant facts here still are being disputed, and furthermore it all happened […]

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]]> Many people are writing to me, upset that I am interviewing Ziyang Zhuge, a well-known Chinese internet intellectual, who recently was accused of plagiarism.  I am keen to proceed with the interview, and am happy to explain why.  A few points:

1. The relevant facts here still are being disputed, and furthermore it all happened in Chinese.  If I cannot personally adjudicate the matter, I remain inclined to proceed.  I am also well aware that standards in China, including for plagiarism, are very different than in the United States.  If someone tells me “A person in China did [fill in the blank]” my initial reaction is still “Are they interesting to talk to?”

2. I have had on numerous CEOs and business leaders.  Your opinions of each will vary, but surely some of them are guilty of something.  I do not regret any of them as guests, except insofar as they were boring.  You also can debate whether a former CIA head, in this case John Brennan, ever did anything wrong.  He was fascinating.

3. I once had on Sam Bankman-Fried, now a convicted felon.  It was an excellent episode, and I will point out my lines of questioning were more perspicacious than many people since have realized.

4. I once had on a convicted murderer, Shaka Senghor.  It was an excellent episode, and if I recall only a single person wrote me to complain.  I would gladly have more criminals on, and they do not all have to be repentant in the manner that Shaka is.  Would not a pickpocket guest be intriguing?  For Althusser however it is too late.

5. Without knowing the full story, I suspect the case of Yiyang Zhuge (neither a felon nor a murderer) is most analogous to having on the CEO of DeepSeek, Liang Wenfang.  At this point it is pretty well known that DeepSeek (and other Chinese AI models) distilled a lot from Anthropic’s Claude.  That is a violation of terms of service, and in economic terms it is an event and a depredation of pretty serious magnitude.  I still would be delighted to have Liang Wenfang on the show, and I would do so without obsessing over the issue of distillation.  How about it Liang Wenfang?

Xi Jinping is welcome too.  Chairman Mao, is pork belly with red sauce over- or underrated?  The world awaits your response.

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]]> https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/interviewing-yiyang-zhuge-zhong-shu.html/feed 33 93693 https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/scholar-data.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=scholar-data Scholar Data https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/968407097/0/marginalrevolution~Scholar-Data.html https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/scholar-data.html#comments Sat, 29 Aug 2026 11:20:18 +0000 https://marginalrevolution.com/?p=93680 In our paper, A Skeptical View of the National Science Foundation’s Role in Economic Research, Tyler and I point out that if the NSF is doing what it should, it ought to be doing very different things than other funders: Public goods theory tells us that the National Science Foundation should support activities that are […]

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]]> In our paper, A Skeptical View of the National Science Foundation’s Role in Economic Research, Tyler and I point out that if the NSF is doing what it should, it ought to be doing very different things than other funders:

Public goods theory tells us that the National Science Foundation should support activities that are especially hard to support through traditional university, philanthropic, and private-sector sources. This insight suggests a simple test: to the extent that the NSF allocates funds to genuine public goods as opposed to subsidies on the margin, we ought to see a large difference in the kinds of projects the NSF supports compared to what the “market” sector supports. But what stands out from lists of prominent NSF grants (like the one provided by Moffitt in this symposium) is how similar they look to lists of “good” research produced by today’s status quo. If we take public goods theory seriously, what areas of economics should be supported?

We suggest replication studies and support for producing public datasets. Which brings me to Scholar Data, a neat new project that won NIH’s competition to create a data-sharing index. Scholar data creates an S-Index, like an H-Index for papers, but instead the S-Index measures a dataset’s ease of access, citations and other mentions. The point is to create a metric to reward the creation of a public good:

Researchers invest years collecting and sharing datasets that underpin reproducibility, transparency, and discovery across every field. Without shared data, findings can’t be verified, built upon, or trusted. And yet, the metrics that define academic careers, such as citations, h-index, and impact factor, only count publications. Data sharing goes unrecognized and unrewarded.

This creates a broken incentive: researchers are expected to share data, but get no credit for doing so. The result is that data sharing is treated as a chore rather than a contribution.

Scholar Data and the S-index are aimed at fixing this. By measuring how impactful your datasets are, the S-index gives data sharing the same visibility and recognition as publishing, turning it from an obligation into a career asset.

Bravo! Your dataset may already be catalogued. You can get credit at ScholarData.

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