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Free Exchange reported on a paper written by the McKinsey Global Institution blasting away some of the commonly held myths about trade. They include:

• Myth: Developed economies have seen exports decline and imports rise over the past 15-20 years.
  • Fact: Imports and exports as a % of GDP have stayed remarkably stable since 1994.
• Myth: Developed countries have a trade deficit because of the consumer goods they import (those with the ubiquitous “made in China’ stickers on them.)
  • Fact: The trade deficits are primarily driven by the demand for oil and other forms of energy. Moreover the majority of advanced economies run a surplus in knowledge-intensive manufactured goods such as airplane engines.
• Myth: Trade has led to the decline in manufacturing jobs.
  • Fact: Manufacturing jobs have declined due to increases in productivity.
• Myth: Trade creates low paying jobs.
  • Fact: Trade creates jobs in idea-intensive sectors that pay well.

To read more about the tricky question of income inequality that the report can’t answer, what the empirical research says, why less trade would not be the solution to income inequality, what rich countries need to do, and why it might be a problem that financial innovations can’t be patented, click here.

Source: Free Exchange

Slate’s explainer Brian Palmer outlined how winners of spelling bees do later in life. Highlights of his explanation include:

• A surprising number build careers focused on understanding the human mind. They include professions such as psychiatrists, neurosurgeons, and psychologists.
• Others work as journalists. One even won a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the 1989 Bay Area earthquake.
• Some seem to become addicted to games of wit. The 2002 winner is on the international poker circuit while others have appeared on shows such as Teen Jeopardy.
• A lot stay with the competition. The current director won the Spelling Bee in 1981.
• None have won a Nobel Peace Prize.

To read the names and histories of these participants, as well as other examples of how they turn out, what the current champion wants to do with her life, the role that local newspapers play, the authors among them, and the place where you can hear the voice acting of one of them, click here.

Source: Slate

Brooms. In every building you go to there isn’t one too far away. But we rarely give much credit to this under-appreciated tool writes J. Bryan Lowder who seeks to change that by giving a short overview of its history:

• There isn’t an exact date for the ‘invention’ of the broom. But bundles of various fibers have been used as a cleaning tool for centuries.
• Before the 19^th century brooms were created by individual families at home. They didn’t last long and would have to be remade often.
• Artisanal broom makers started off in Anglo-Saxon England where they would take twigs from birch trees to make brooms.
• The modern broom truly dawned on western civilization however when a sweet corn plant now known as “broomcorn” was first used to make brooms. It would be more durable than other types of fibers, and the person who discovered it was soon making several hundred a year.
• Other farmers cultivated the crop and made their own to sell – it was a profitable side business.
• A Christian religious sect invented the flat broom that is prevalent today.
• The broom industry continued to gradually grow in the United States, going through industrialization and mechanization. Then NAFTA happened and it was no longer profitable to make brooms in the United States. Today most come from Mexico.

To read more about the rise of synthetic brooms, the role that DuPont played, the types of brooms to use for different jobs, how the vacuum cleaner fits into all this, mentions of the broom in the Bible, what exactly beson squires are, what broomcorn was used for before it was used to make brooms, different versions of broom machines, why flat brooms are superior, who pioneered whisk brooms, and a photo gallery that visualizes the history of the broom click here.

Source: Slate

In recent years an increasing number of experts have suggested that rapid economic growth may soon come to an end. The argument goes, Free Exchange notes, that it is no longer easy for a lone genius to come up with a brand new discovery the way that Einstein did. You need teams of people from various fields working together for many years to make progress. Yet Free Exchanges goes onto argue that while this may be true, there is no reason why this will limit economic growth. Highlights include:

• The amount of resources accessible to us has increased exponentially. Advanced statistical software has barely been around for two decades. Widespread broadband for less than a decade. The potential of these nascent developments has barely been unlocked.
• There is no clear link between new discoveries and economic growth. It takes decades for countries to adapt to, and take advantage of, new technologies.
• The tacocopter is an example. It simply leverages existing mapping and drone technology to come up with an innovative and valuable idea. Yet laws have not adapted to these new technologies and such a business venture would currently be illegal.

To read more about the role that Watson might play, what the industrial revolution shows us, the role that government has to play, how societal evolution, legal institutions, and social institutions all tie it together, the example of land-use policy, American tolerance for messiness, and what this means for unemployment, click here.

Source: Free Exchange

DC is publishing a series of comic books titled Before Watchmen – a prequel to the critically acclaimed Watchmen book. Yet it’s been fraught with controversy as Noah Berlatsky reports in an article about how creators are treated in the comic book industry:

• Watchmen was originally written by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon. The prequels will not involve either of those writers.
• The rights to Watchmen is held by DC Comics. Alan Moore feels cheated because in the original contract DC gave him he was told that the rights for the characters would revert back to him when the book went out of print – which normally took a few years. But Watchmen has never gone out of print since it was released in 1986, meaning that DC has held the rights in perpetuity.
• Moore’s case is not an exception. The creators of Superman sold the rights for the hero for just $130. They spent the rest of their lives trying to regain control of the character.
• The Marvel characters in the new Avengers movie are mostly created by Jack Kirby. Yet his estate will not see any of the $1 billion the film has earned so far.
• Some comic book writers are taking a stand and refusing to take work from companies that engage in such practices.
• Yet people like Alan Moore perhaps don’t have the moral high ground they seem to think. Moore, for example, was more than happy to adapt (and some would say desecrate) the lead female characters from Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, and Peter Pan in the pornographic Lost Girls.

To read more including what Dave Gibbon, the other writer of the Watchmen series seems to think about it, how money seems to be absent from Moore’s motivations, what the writers of Before Watchmen have to say, why few people seem to care, why people dismiss Moore as a crank, the themes that Moore likes to explore, why this is in part the inevitable fate of art, and what happened to the Watchmen sequel that Moore was meant to write, click here.

Source: Slate

America was the world’s leading exporter until it was eclipsed by Germany in 2003, and then China. But could the US regain its status as top dog in exports? Tyler Cowen argues that it’s likely to happen. Highlights include:

• Artificial Intelligence, robots and computers are the present…and the future. Americans are best at producing this and people will demand it across the world.
• Moreover the more that the world relies on machines and thus capital instead of labour, the less it will matter that the US has a relatively high wage rate. Wages simply won’t enter into the equation – machines will.
• America has also pioneered fracking technology and has large shale oil and natural gas deposits. It could soon become the Saudi Arabia of energy thus creating jobs. Other countries don’t have the technology, or, as in areas of Europe, are too population dense to frack.
• As other countries continue to develop economically, there will be greater demand for products produced in the United States.
• This will, in fact, improve Sino-US relations potentially creating a more peaceful world.
• However America’s export dominance might not lead to higher wages for all.

To read much more of what is a long, detailed, and exhaustive analysis of America’s past, present, and future, how society will have to adjust, the joke about a man and a dog in a factory, why Europe and Japan won’t be able to capitalize as much upon the economic development of other countries, the coming two tiers in the United States and just so much more, click here.

Source: The American Interest

When you sign up for a new account you’re normally asked for a username, password, and a security question in case you lose access to your account. Yet the answers to these questions are often easily guessed as Sarah Palin found. What’s a good question to set?

• The answer to the question must be memorable – you likely won’t need it until many years after you set it.
• It also shouldn’t be easy to find through social media.
• Based on research done by Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon University the best question then is “What is your father’s middle name?” as it meets both criteria.
• This wouldn’t work for famous celebrities, but it does work for the average person.
• Other questions that work include: “What was your first phone number?” and “Who was your favourite teacher?”
• Preference questions such as colour are too easy to guess – there are really only a few options.
• The answers to questions such as “Favourite historical person?” are often forgotten by the users themselves.

To read the questions (and answers) that Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin set for their accounts, some examples of questions that seem difficult, but really aren’t, why nonsense questions don’t work, what not to do when you set your own security question, and other things to watch out for, click here.

Source: Slate

The American continent was made for farming writes Matthew Yglesias. He then explores some of the steps that the United States should take to secure the future of its farm industry. He points out:

• The American farming sector has done incredibly well. Agricultural inputs have only increased 0.11% since 1948 yet output has increased 170%.
• Farming stands alongside software, media, financial services, airplanes and military equipment as America’s chief exports.
• As countries around the world develop and get richer they are likely to consume more meat – and since meat requires a lot of grain that means that there will be a huge opportunity for America’s farmers to exploit.
• To do so it should reverse the long term decline in arable land. This is in part due to urban regulations that discourage the building of skyscrapers which causes cities to expand into farmlands.
• There is also the need for immigration reform. Temporary workers need a legal way to enter the United States. Crops currently go rotten in the fields for a lack of people to pick them.

To read more including the size of the farming industry, the countries that the United States exports to, why it’s unfair to compare farming to jet plane production or computer production, the ‘secret sauce’ of the farming industry, why demand for meat is such a big opportunity for America’s farmers, the problem that Washington D.C. is creating, the changing political mood, and what the future of the industry looks like, click here.

Source: Slate