Sunday, October 18, 2009
Geography of Jobs
This is an animated map of job gains and losses over recent years. Illuminating and alarming.
Monday, October 12, 2009
More Nobel Prizes
Two Americans won the Nobel Prize for Economics this year.
UPDATE: By the way, nine Americans won Nobel Prizes this year, very nearly sweeping all the categories except Literature. Quite an achievement, even if the Peace Prize for President Obama was quite controversial.
The Nobel Prizes for Physics, Medicine and Chemistry are generally regarded as fair and nonpartisan, though of course controversies arise about whether some worthy candidates are overlooked. The Literature prize has always been regarded as highly politicized; the Peace Prize is very political by its nature, and it is worth remembering that almost everyone is going to be pleased with some controversial award at some point. (Although, as Peggy Noonan points out, this is a NCNA award... No Conservatives Need Apply. Republican officeholders who have had tremendous achievements in international affairs are routinely ignored by the Peace Prize committee, while reaching the top of the Democratic party seems to be an actual qualification for winning the prize regardless of actual achievements.) The Economics prize was only added long after Alfred Nobel's death, in 1968, and sometimes seems to be given for political reasons, although free market economists have often won the prize.
320 Americans have won Nobel Prizes, far more than twice as many as the next competitors, the United Kingdom and Germany. Americans routinely dominate the hard science and economics prizes in particular, but no American has won the Literature prize since Toni Morrison in 1993; before that it was William Faulkner in 1949 (although several Eastern Europeans and a Canadian who also had American citizenship won in the intervening years).
While we're on the topic, 19 graduates or members of the faculty at the University of Michigan have won Nobel Prizes. There have also been one from Michigan State University and one from Michigan Technological University.
UPDATE: By the way, nine Americans won Nobel Prizes this year, very nearly sweeping all the categories except Literature. Quite an achievement, even if the Peace Prize for President Obama was quite controversial.
The Nobel Prizes for Physics, Medicine and Chemistry are generally regarded as fair and nonpartisan, though of course controversies arise about whether some worthy candidates are overlooked. The Literature prize has always been regarded as highly politicized; the Peace Prize is very political by its nature, and it is worth remembering that almost everyone is going to be pleased with some controversial award at some point. (Although, as Peggy Noonan points out, this is a NCNA award... No Conservatives Need Apply. Republican officeholders who have had tremendous achievements in international affairs are routinely ignored by the Peace Prize committee, while reaching the top of the Democratic party seems to be an actual qualification for winning the prize regardless of actual achievements.) The Economics prize was only added long after Alfred Nobel's death, in 1968, and sometimes seems to be given for political reasons, although free market economists have often won the prize.
320 Americans have won Nobel Prizes, far more than twice as many as the next competitors, the United Kingdom and Germany. Americans routinely dominate the hard science and economics prizes in particular, but no American has won the Literature prize since Toni Morrison in 1993; before that it was William Faulkner in 1949 (although several Eastern Europeans and a Canadian who also had American citizenship won in the intervening years).
While we're on the topic, 19 graduates or members of the faculty at the University of Michigan have won Nobel Prizes. There have also been one from Michigan State University and one from Michigan Technological University.
Thursday, October 08, 2009
The Future of GM
Or at any rate of its executive staff, discussed usefully here. That's about how I see it, too.
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
Sotomayor's First Day on the Court
This Washington Post article describes Sonia Sotomayor's first session with the Supreme Court. She was regarded as a very active questioner on the lower courts, and she quickly continued that habit.
Notice that the writer can't resist pointing out that Justice Thomas never speaks during arguments; true, but not especially revealing. Many appellate judges don't have much to say; this current Supreme Court lineup is well known to be unusually "hot". That is to say, they talk a lot.
Lawyers would prefer that the judges simply shut up and let them make their arguments in the limited time afforded them. I'm inclined to agree that Thomas is doing better by them.
(Hmm. I just suggested in a blog post that judges should shut up and let lawyers talk. I guess it's pretty obvious I teach rather than practice, eh?)
Notice that the writer can't resist pointing out that Justice Thomas never speaks during arguments; true, but not especially revealing. Many appellate judges don't have much to say; this current Supreme Court lineup is well known to be unusually "hot". That is to say, they talk a lot.
Lawyers would prefer that the judges simply shut up and let them make their arguments in the limited time afforded them. I'm inclined to agree that Thomas is doing better by them.
(Hmm. I just suggested in a blog post that judges should shut up and let lawyers talk. I guess it's pretty obvious I teach rather than practice, eh?)
Gourmet Magazine Closes
The flagship of food, the decades-old place to go for news and excellent writing on food, Gourmet, is closing, according to publisher Conde Nast. The downsizing has been predicted for a long time, as ad sales for the magazine and other Conde Nast publications have been down for two years.
But I would have guessed sister publication Bon Appetit would go, not Gourmet. Bad news for the more literary angle on food. Forbes Magazine identifies the key error: earlier this year Gourmet tried to appeal to the budget minded reader. An essential strategic mistake, because Gourmet readers don't care about budget... if they did, they'd be reading Bon Appetit. Forbes points out that Saveur, another "aspirational" toned food magazine, has better ad revenues this year. No down market nonsense for them, they kept on as if there were no recession, which better suited their readers.
Full disclosure: I'm a subscriber to Gourmet and this is a personal blow. I wonder whether their web identity, Epicurious, will go on. (Probably... they're also sponsored by Bon Appetit.)
But I would have guessed sister publication Bon Appetit would go, not Gourmet. Bad news for the more literary angle on food. Forbes Magazine identifies the key error: earlier this year Gourmet tried to appeal to the budget minded reader. An essential strategic mistake, because Gourmet readers don't care about budget... if they did, they'd be reading Bon Appetit. Forbes points out that Saveur, another "aspirational" toned food magazine, has better ad revenues this year. No down market nonsense for them, they kept on as if there were no recession, which better suited their readers.
Full disclosure: I'm a subscriber to Gourmet and this is a personal blow. I wonder whether their web identity, Epicurious, will go on. (Probably... they're also sponsored by Bon Appetit.)
Cash for Clunkers
This Wall St. Journal article discusses the Cash for Clunkers program. The numbers are in from auto sales in September. The industry was down 25% as a whole, but the individual company numbers are more interesting: 45% down for GM and 42% down for Chrysler, but only 5% down for Ford.
Critics of the government bailout of GM and Chrysler have been predicting that the public would punish the two companies for becoming wards of the state, so to speak. It looks right now as if that prediction was accurate.
Critics of the government bailout of GM and Chrysler have been predicting that the public would punish the two companies for becoming wards of the state, so to speak. It looks right now as if that prediction was accurate.
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