Economist Peter Navarro promises Trump he will eliminate bad news and unpleasant facts
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Economist Peter Navarro promises Trump he will eliminate bad news and unpleasant facts

After Gary Cohn’s departure as Donald Trump’s chief economic advisor, UC Irvine economist Peter Navarro, who has declared Donald Trump’s intuition infallible, is a leading candidate to replace him. There is a challenge for analysts and managers in every organization. On the one hand, they should be dedicated to hard evidence and truth, so that…

Game theory reveals a chilling reason for denying climate change

Game theory reveals a chilling reason for denying climate change

Fixing the climate has a cost. So does failing to fix it. Both costs are huge, but if you believe that climate change is a real phenomenon, then the human and economic costs of inaction are staggering. What justifies failing to act? My analysis reveals that the explanation that many Republicans stand behind — that climate change…

Hal Varian’s timeless insights on thinking
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Hal Varian’s timeless insights on thinking

In December of 1994, economist Hal Varian, who is currently Google’s chief economist, wrote a paper called “How to Build an Economic Model in Your Spare Time.” Ignore the subject matter. It should have been called “How to think clearly.” His advice hasn’t lost relevance in the 21-plus years since he wrote it. (Thanks to Cory Doctorow at…

The dark side of Donald Trump’s presidential deal making

The dark side of Donald Trump’s presidential deal making

Adam Davidson’s New York Times Magazine article, “What Donald Trump Doesn’t Understand About ‘the Deal’,” provides fresh insight into Trump’s deal psychology. If you take the analysis a bit further, you get a window into the Trump presidency. In an ordinary deal (say, a consumer buying a washing machine or teams trading baseball players), there’s some transparency and…

5 bullshit things about health care and the reasons behind them

5 bullshit things about health care and the reasons behind them

Do you find the health care system in America baffling? Me too. But industries work the way they do for a reason. With help from independent health care analyst Skip Snow, I did my best to reveal the perverse logic of American health care. It all comes down to one thing: when the people who use a service…