Centives

Why have Americans cut back on driving in recent years? The Washington Post explored some theories:

• Perhaps it’s all simply due to the recession – after all out of work people don’t commute.
• Or perhaps it’s because an ageing population leads to a population that drives less.
• Conversely, perhaps the younger generation is comfortable conducting social interaction online through sites such as Facebook. They might not feel the need to physically travel to see their friends.
• One analyst argues that the real reason is that Americans are shopping online more because they’re more comfortable doing that now than they were in the past. Plus advances in mobile computing have made it easier than ever to shop online. Online shoppers don’t need to travel to brick-and-mortar stores.
• Increased gas prices might also have encouraged individuals to shop from home.

To read some statistics, and to find out one surprising retail industry that’s booming click here.

Source: Washington Post

Via: The Economist

The Author of Creative Destruction of Medicine
was recently interviewed by Salon about his book which looks at the role that computerization has to play in medicine. Some of the highlights include:

• Doctors have historically been resistant to change. It took 20 years for the stethoscope to be widely adopted. The reasoning given to avoid change has stayed remarkably similar over the years: In the years of the stethoscope doctors were afraid that the use of the stethoscope would reduce the quality of patient-client interactions, and they’d have to learn new things such as different heart sounds and breathing rhythms. Similar arguments are used to resist the digitalization of health care today.
• Genome sequencing can help to reduce idiopaths – people who have serious diseases but aren’t aware of them. The process of sequencing can help patients prepare for and identify serious illnesses.
• Social networks have grown to become a provider of health care consulting. In certain cases people are more willing to trust the advice of their Facebook friends than their physicians.

To read more about whether or not doctors should email their patients, the role that cell phones will play and what your physician will know about you, click here. Or purchase the book here.

Source: Salon

Germany is cutting the subsidies it provides for solar panels. Bjørn Lomborg looks at why this is and concludes that the policies “have subsidized Chinese jobs and other European countries’ reliance on dirty energy sources”. Highlights include:

• It’s an expensive policy that has negligible effects on global warming. Under the most generous statistical assumptions Germany’s efforts have delayed temperature increases by 23 hours.
• Being a part of the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme mean that there are, in fact, no effects on CO2 reductions. Instead it is now just easier and cheaper for other European countries such as Portugal to use coal.
• The jobs the policy has created have mostly gone to China.
• A better use of the funds would be to encourage research and development of more efficient and competitive green technology.

To read both the advantages and drawbacks of solar power, and why it has a promising future click here.

Source: Slate

At a time when the Greeks, the British, and even the Chinese are seeing a surge in riots why have the American people remained so docile? One historian argues that there are several reasons for this:

• Groups that previously felt as if they had no voice in society and government, now feel that they do, and express their views through formal, established channels.
• There has been a greater integration of minorities into society.
• A consumer culture has made people indifferent to wider causes.
• Authorities have increased powers, such as surveillance capabilities and that dissuades Americans from rising up in protest.

To read about how this all ties into the Occupy movement, the last widespread incidence of American riots, and whether or not this is a good thing click here.

Source: The Atlantic

Via: Marginal Revolution

Would your political donations be more effectively used by a candidate’s individual campaign? Or by a Super-PAC that might support it? Slate looked at the pros and cons of both:

• If you donate to a candidate you might get better value for money. And you can earmark your funds for certain purposes, giving you greater control over the money.
• Super-PACs might not necessarily spend the money on the causes and candidates you agree with. On the other hand if you want to support a general movement or cause then Super-PACs know more about which candidates need the money the most.
• If you want your money to be used for negative attack ads, then Super-PACs are probably your best bet.

To read more about what happens to your funds if your candidate drops out, the laws relating to campaign donations, and what individual PACs have done with their funding click here.

Source: Slate

What would a future in which instead of going to a four year university, courses offered by various universities offered online are the norm? Megan McArdle speculated about some of the future implications for our society:

• A few big universities would dominate. The winners are likely to be the first-movers, such as MIT and Stanford, and perhaps a dark-horse that upends the contemporary model.
• The liberal arts degree would become increasingly unpopular. Grading math coursework online is a lot easier than grading English papers.
• The end of universities as research centers. In such a future academic would become a pass-time as it was in the past or it might become the field of think tanks, consultancies, and government research.
• Students will have to pay for their own PhDs.
• Civil society will have to take on the role of developing friendship and business networks. High school relationships might become more enduring.
• There will be a lot less student debt.

To read more about what such a future could bring, the industries that might grow, and whether or not this would be a good thing for society, click here.

Source: The Atlantic