Tyler Cowen's Blog, page 447

A cultural guide for Afghanis

After eleven years, we are trying a new approach:

“Please do not get offended if you see a NATO member blowing his/her nose in front of you,” the guide instructs.

“When Coalition members get excited, they may show their excitement by patting one another on the back or the behind,” it explains. “They may even do this to you if they are proud of the job you’ve done. Once again, they don’t mean to offend you.”

This is news to me, though I would like to see it confirmed:

Fifty-one coalition troops have been killed this year by their Afghan counterparts. While some insider attacks have been attributed to Taliban infiltrators, military officials say the majority stem from personal disputes and misunderstandings.

Finally:

NATO’s coalition is described as a “work of art.”

For my house, I might rather have a Suzani.

Assorted links

1. New BBC show on Hayek (Friedrich), and the new Camille Paglia book on art and images.

2. Michael Chabon on books.

3. 3-D printing and internet freedom.

4. Somali pirate unemployment and skills mismatch.

5. Do American and Japanese elephants have different personalities?

The culture that is Germany

Men are in particularly high demand because many parents don’t want their children looked after exclusively by women. According to a study carried out on behalf of the Ministry of Family Affairs, more than a third of mothers and fathers prefer day care facilities that have male staff. The higher the parents’ educational and income levels, the more important they consider having male child care workers.

Here is much more.

Bagel head saline injections the culture that is Japan

Here’s how it goes down: technicians insert a needle into the forehead and inject about 400 cc of saline to create a forehead-sized blob. (One bagel-ee describes it as feeling like “something’s dripping down [his] head” and a “slight stinging sensation.”) The practitioner then places his or her thumb into the blob to create the indentation.

For those of us who don’t see the appeal in any sort of forehead needles, you can’t help but wonder: why in the world would you want a bagel on in your head? A Japanese artist named Keroppy who pioneered the “modcon” body art explained to Vice back in 2009 that it’s about innovation: “People who like extreme body modification want to find their own way of doing things, and they’re always looking for new ways to do that. The more progressive the scene gets, the more these people have to experiment and go their own way.”

Luckily, the bagel-shaped injections aren’t permanent; the round protusion fades after about sixteen hours as your body absorbs the saline.

Here is more, photos included, hat tip goes to the excellent Daniel Lippman.

From the Institute for New Economic Thinking

We would like to introduce our new blog on the website of the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET) entitled ‘Reading Mas-Colell’, which will initially run in the fall of 2012, alongside our teaching of a course which uses the textbook on microeconomics by Mas-Colell, Whinston and Green. We hope to make a modest contribution to economic thinking by engaging in selective close reading and commentary on a very influential text, which in certain ways has become a ‘Bible’.

Our goal is to help through the blog to change the way in which economics teaching is approached at the Ph.D. level (many agree that it is limited and limiting). We hope to generate a lively conversation on how economics is taught and practiced today.

You can find the blog on the INET website at:

http://ineteconomics.org/blog/reading-mas-colell

We very much hope that you and your readers will participate in the conversation that we hope to generate.

Best wishes,

Sanjay G. Reddy and Raphaele Chappe

Seoul food bleg

Maybe Alex’s request wasn’t quite specific enough.  Where should I (we) eat in Seoul, and what should we order?  What are the general principles for finding good food in Korea, Busan included?  Your assistance is much appreciated.

A query about The Dark Knight

From Brad Allen:

I was watching the Dark Knight on a bus yesterday evening (I’m not sure how familiar you are with the movie) – there was a scene that I thought was pretty interesting to think through, and was curious how you might go about it.

There is a scene where the Joker kills a mob boss, and then gives his 3 subordinates one half broken pool cue – and basically tells them that to live, the other two have to die. You don’t see what happens, but what do you think happens? Is it advantageous to pick up the pool cue, or would that signal the other two to attack you first? Would you try to back out and let the other two fight? Or would that incent them to come after you? OR does everyone do nothing, until a last second dash like bicycle sprints?

Obviously, I’ve had fun thinking about this. Do you have any guesses?

Me on Canadian TV with Steve Paikin

On how politics works, for whom I am voting, and why we should be (somewhat) optimistic about the ending of the great stagnation.  You can watch it here.

Assorted links

1. “Warum schon die deutsche Einheit ein Fehler war,” from the excellent Wolfgang Münchau.

2. The Daily Mail on whether economics and finance students have more sex.  Guess which major offers and indeed creates (supposedly) the most promiscuous students?  The least promiscuous are majors in philosophy, education, and earth sciences, or so we are told.  Caveat emptor.

3. Lady Gaga markets in everything very negative restaurant review.

4. A more optimistic measurement of Spanish deposit flight.

5. Jazz-singing robots, and the electronic implants that dissolve inside your body.

6. Profile of new GMU President.

The half-life of an economics book

9.38 years, measured in terms of citations over time.

That is from the new and excellent book by Samuel Arbesman, The Half-Life of Facts:Why Everything We Know Has an Expiration Date.