Updated 2/19/23 The first wave of globalization happened due to technological advances in transportation and communication that dramatically reduced transactions costs in the 1800s: Railroads, steel-hulled ships, the screw propeller, telegraph, etc. Then politicians raised tariffs, restricted immigration, and went…
Blog Archives
What are the cheapest countries to visit? See the Travel Cost Index.
There is a lot of interest on blogs and discussion forums about the cheapest nations in the world to visit, but I found no good hard data on the internet. This is a bizarre hole in the world’s collective knowledge…
Posted in Globalization & International
The expected value of potential lives lost during atomic testing
Rob Reid wrote a great explanation of the horrible risk taken during the Manhattan Project, when American nuclear scientists took a chance estimated at one-in-three million that the first atomic test would create a chain reaction that would ignite the…
International trade and immigration have been getting more popular since Trump was elected
Today Trump and his allies on Fox News claimed to have replaced NAFTA. In reality, his deal only affects a tiny amount of NAFTA trade and legally only Congress can repeal NAFTA. But Trump’s announcement demonstrates his desire to show…
Posted in Globalization & International, Labor
Drinking culture in Central America is the opposite of what you see in the US on Cinco de Mayo
I spent last fall in Guatemala, so I was surprised to discover that Guatemala has about the lowest per-capita alcohol consumption of any predominantly Christian nation. Latin America actually drinks less than the rest of Western Civilization and outside of…
Posted in Globalization & International, Health
House prices are crazy overvalued in Canada too
Canada is experiencing the hydrogen zeppelin of all real estate bubbles. It makes the 2008 US housing crisis look like a birthday balloon by comparison.
House prices are a bit high in the US and crazy overvalued in New Zealand
New Zealand is experiencing the hydrogen zeppelin of all real estate bubbles. It makes the 2008 US housing crisis look like a birthday balloon by comparison.
Medianism 