A começar um novo livro!

A começar um novo livro! Os Ratoneiros → William Faulkner https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8563087-os-ratoneiros?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=KDWajuo37d&rank=1

- Pedro

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Keynote by Kristalina Georgieva at Cambridge University

Good keynote by Kristalina Georgieva at Cambridge University, inspired on Keynes’ essay “Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren” (link below). Must confess that I only agree with Keynes’ interventionism up to a point (thus Georgieva’s punch line), thus do not fully agree with intensity/level proposed by this great thinker of XX century. As a curiosity, I’m currently reading “The Price of Peace: Money, Democracy, and the Life of John Maynard Keynes” by Zachary D. Carter (link below), a Keynes’ biography that I’m really liking and it clearly shows the dimension and footprint that such person had in the XX world history, in the overall Economic domain and in our day-2-day lives. Hope you enjoy it (approx. 30 minutes) http://www.econ.yale.edu/smith/econ116a/keynes1.pdf https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51949674-the-price-of-peace https://podcasts.apple.com/es/podcast/imf-podcasts/id1029134681?i=1000650037175

- Pedro

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Problem awareness in companies

A simplification, but something not too far from reality. Nonetheless, just the sheer scale of the number of executives vs. associates explains a lot of the GAP. The question is: are the 4 % enough and the ones that make the difference (go back to our Pareto friend). Additionally, this is why you have senior and middle management and associates to take care of the other 80% to 90% of the problems (linked with autonomy, ownership and responsibility). Organizations that have this set-up properly defined are the ones who excel.

- Pedro

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Interesting podcast on Behavioral Economics. Interesting insights are shared specially the Overconfidence bias is discussed (specially the Midas touch syndrome amongst CEOs) https://podcasts.apple.com/es/podcast/imf-podcasts/id1029134681?i=1000649751963

- Pedro

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Steven Levitt has decided to retire from Academia

(based on an Economist’s article) After 3 books (all in my library, but still not read), and a podcast series the “Freakonomics Radio” that I follow and (really) like, amongst other initiatives, Steven Levitt has decided to retire from Academia. He has played an important and relevant role in promoting the interest of economics in the general public with his highly captivating communication style, also helped and supported by his co-author Stephen Dubner. The bait to get the attention of a wider audience was the counter-intuitive findings he shared in his books, but in my opinion was the way he was able to explain them in a simple and easy to understand way that generated value and something one should takeaway. Since the beginning there were some claims that immediately should have made you flinch and challenge them, like the claim that the legalization of abortion 1973 in the US, led to a fall in crime rate in 90’ (an Occam’s Razor challenge to it would made you immediately be wary of such claim), but nonetheless you could also see the value of the approach to make economics more tangible in your daily life and with that bring it closer to a non-expert audience. The most worrisome, with Levitt and most of the academic work done is “Social Sciences” is that: “…A recent study by economists at the Federal Reserve found that less than half of the published papers they examined could be replicated, even when given help from the original authors….” In my opinion this due to the publish or perish mindset you currently have in academia, that results that the scientific method is put as a second priority, being the first to publish, if possible with something eye-catching, and only secondly if it is real and supported by empiric study and data! - Why “Freakonomics” failed to transform economics https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2024/03/21/why-freakonomics-failed-to-transform-economics from The Economist

- Pedro

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AI in Football or in business

How to use AI in Football or in business (mutatis mutandis)? Start with the low hanging fruit. i.e. problems or recurring situations with a simple and more static environment like corner kicks vs. the full dynamic of a football game (or a full business environment), but potentially with a high payoff (in business language - profit pools) and explore and generate value. As Mr. Wang, from the Deep-Mind that developed this specific model, mentions: “…sport offers a safe and controllable test-bed to develop helpful ai technologies that might one day be used in health care or defense. After all, football is not a matter of life and death. It is, as Bill Shankly, a former Liverpool manager, once observed, much more important than that…” AI models can improve corner-kick tactics https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2024/03/19/ai-models-can-improve-corner-kick-tactics from The Economist

- Pedro

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Seven of the best war novels by the Economist

Seven of the best war novels by the Economist (non-Tolstoyan): All Quiet on the Western Front → By Erich Maria Remarque Regeneration → By Pat Barker The Bridge on the River Kwai → By Pierre Boulle Stalingrad: A Novel → By Vasily Grossman. Slaughterhouse-Five. → By Kurt Vonnegut. The Sorrow of War → By Bao Ninh Half of a Yellow Sun → By Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie All added to my wish-list and a couple to my library. Happy readings! https://www.economist.com/the-economist-reads/2024/03/21/seven-of-the-best-war-novels

- Pedro

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