blair_fix

blair_fix, 1 month ago to random

Critics often argue that cryptocurrencies are too speculative to be 'real' money. What they seem to miss is that lots of 'real' fiat currencies are highly speculative.

Here's how the volatility of Bitcoin and Ether compare to the exchange-rate volatility of the world's fiat currencies.

https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2024/03/21/is-bitcoin-more-energy-intensive-than-mainstream-finance/

blair_fix, 3 months ago to NixOS

A few months ago I started using #NixOS and I was blown away. Then I learned about its design principles and I was even more blown away.

Here's the result: a deep dive into how #unix systems manage software, and how #nix nukes this structure and replaces it with a design fit for the 21st century.

https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2024/02/17/nixing-technological-lock-in/

blair_fix, 9 days ago to random

Counterintuitively, efficiency is not a tool for conservation. It's a catalyst for technological sprawl.

Here's my deep dive into the Jevons paradox.

https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2024/05/18/a-tour-of-the-jevons-paradox-how-energy-efficiency-backfires/

blair_fix, 1 month ago to random

An essay from Branko Milanovic that is shockingly hospitable to degrowth.

https://branko2f7.substack.com/p/abundance-capitalism-and-climate

blair_fix, 2 days ago to random

The United Kingdom discovers the Jevons paradox.

As energy efficiency increased throughout the 20th century, so did energy consumption.

https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2024/05/18/a-tour-of-the-jevons-paradox-how-energy-efficiency-backfires/

blair_fix, 10 months ago to random

Who owns Canada's largest oil refinery, built in partnership with Standard Oil?

That would be the Irving family — east coast elites who also control the English media in New Brunswick.

Here's the Irving network of power. My work with @DTCochrane.

https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2023/06/23/mapping-the-ownership-network-of-canadas-billionaire-families/

blair_fix, 6 months ago to random

When stocks go up, who benefits?

Spoilers: not everyone.

Double spoilers: the stock market is a tool for taking from the many and giving to the few.

#inequality #stockmarket

https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2023/10/28/when-stocks-go-up-who-benefits/

blair_fix, 6 months ago to random

Peter Thiel says that competition is for losers. He's right of course.

The best way to concentrate wealth is to limit competition and buy your way to power. Here's a look at the evidence.

https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2023/11/23/stocking-up-on-wealth-concentration/

blair_fix, 8 months ago to random

Here's more fun with Forbes data. I use the Forbes 400 to chart how the American rich have gotten (obscenely) richer over the last four decades.

The rise of inequality in a rainbow chart!

https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2023/09/24/how-the-rich-get-richer/

blair_fix, 7 months ago to random

Here's the words vs. code for my last post on the Forbes 400. The analysis sat on the back burner for a few months, then led to some furious coding to scrape the Forbes data.

https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2023/09/24/how-the-rich-get-richer/

blair_fix, 8 months ago to random

Although Forbes will never admit so, its rich list is basically an index of wealth inequality.

For example, here's the average wealth of the Forbes 400 relative to the American median (blue). It tracks tightly with the wealth share of the top 0.1%.

https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2023/09/24/how-the-rich-get-richer/

blair_fix, 2 months ago to random

Well folks, I've waded into the world of Bitcoin.

We all know the Bitcoin network uses loads of energy. But how does it stack up to mainstream finance? In this post I do the math.

(I'm bracing myself for angry comments.)

https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2024/03/21/is-bitcoin-more-energy-intensive-than-mainstream-finance/

blair_fix, 11 months ago to random

The world has a billionaire problem, and we're doing our part to fix it.

In this post, @DTCochrane and I shed light on the corporate power networks owned by Canada's billionaire families.

It's shocking how much these barons own.

#billionaires

https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2023/06/23/mapping-the-ownership-network-of-canadas-billionaire-families/

blair_fix, 1 year ago to random

Maybe I'm beating a dead horse, but still. Do you know what is consistently correlated? The Gini index of income inequality and the murder rate.

Left, the most recent trend across countries. Right, the correlation (across countries) over time.

https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2023/05/20/masochistic-fun-with-plutocratic-murder/

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blair_fix, 6 months ago to science

Here's the first in a two-part post in which I reflect on the philosophy of science, and the difficulties of challenging academic orthodoxy.

From the archives: "The Challenges of Doing Revolutionary Science"

#science #philosophy

https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2020/03/22/the-challenges-of-doing-revolutionary-science-part-1/

blair_fix, 1 month ago to random

Here's the words vs code for my last piece on bitcoin.

https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2024/03/21/is-bitcoin-more-energy-intensive-than-mainstream-finance/

blair_fix, 1 month ago to random

A little chart to quantify the torture of writing: the number of words written vs words kept for my last post.

The key (and pain) of good writing is tireless rewriting.

https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2024/03/21/is-bitcoin-more-energy-intensive-than-mainstream-finance/

blair_fix, 8 days ago to random

Thinking about backups? Here's my setup using Borg:

https://sciencedesk.economicsfromthetopdown.com/2024/05/borg-backups/

blair_fix, 5 days ago to random

Since the 1940s, computers have grown about a trillion times more efficient. But instead of using this efficiency for resource conservation, we invested it in computational sprawl.

A spectacular example of the Jevons paradox.

https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2024/05/18/a-tour-of-the-jevons-paradox-how-energy-efficiency-backfires/

blair_fix, 4 days ago to random

Backfire on the blockchain!

As Bitcoin hashing tech got more efficient, guess what happened to Bitcoin's energy budget. That's right, it went (way) up. Another example of the Jevons paradox.

https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2024/05/18/a-tour-of-the-jevons-paradox-how-energy-efficiency-backfires/

blair_fix, 2 days ago to random

This is brilliant. Seven characters that remove AI bullshit from google.

https://udm14.com/