A historical collection of our writing.
Just as a quick recap. I have argued in Computers and the Return on Capital that having cheaper information flows will in the long run drive the risk free rate of return to the time preference. I then examined how technology is likely reducing time preference for individuals through a variety of […] Read more (opens Continuations in a new tab)
Today a broad campaign called Reset The Net has launched with the tagline “Don’t ask for Your privacy. Take it back.” Today also marks the one year anniversary of the Edward Snowden leaks that showed the extent of the NSA data collection and surveillance activities. Reset The Net is meant to be a […] Read more (opens Continuations in a new tab)
We like to put things in categories: public versus private company; for profit versus charity; professional versus amateur; creator versus consumer; journalist versus blogger; teacher versus student; and so much more. Of course not all categorizations are binary. In academia, for instance, we have […] Read more (opens Continuations in a new tab)
In my post on Computers and the Return on Capital I made the point that cheaper and more ubiquitous flows of information will drive the risk free return on capital towards the time preference (assuming that capital can also flow freely). But I didn’t really explain what that meant or how it was […] Read more (opens Continuations in a new tab)
Yesterday’s post on the impact of computers on the return of capital didn’t mention the shift from producer to consumer surplus. Tren Griffin rightly called this out on Twitter. I have written a lot about the rising importance of consumer surplus and should have mentioned it in this context as […] Read more (opens Continuations in a new tab)
Having examined the impact of computers on wages the logical next question to ask is what this means for the returns on capital. Here is the TL;DR version: higher returns in the short run and lower returns in the long run. We are already well into this short run period and we are beginning to […] Read more (opens Continuations in a new tab)
