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Tyler Cowen: allowing free and early access to academic research quickens the pace of progress.

Most of the scientific findings on COVID-19 have been shared on open-access journals, as the world joins efforts into finding as much information on the virus as possible. But — as Cowen ponders in this opinion piece for Bloomberg — when the pandemic is over, should these free resources become common practice?

Karl Miller

COVID improved how the world does science

A teaching semester in Norway reinvents the notion of downtime.

"In Norway, I discovered a new emotion I can best describe as 'enoughness' — a neologism whose source I have yet to determine — alien to most New Yorkers. My tolerance for nonproductive activities increased. So did my appetite for solitude in nature, a transformation I have put to good use in pandemic social isolation — spring in a forested area upstate where I've been living in what we call here 'the mud season.'" Nina Burleigh reflects on her newly found emotion for Bloomberg.

Kelsey Navarro

The life-changing magic of doing just enough

A 230-year-old system that was flawed from the start, says Justin Fox.

The Electoral College was conceived as a way of compromise, one of its main objectives being to keep the then slave-owner states on board with the union. Over two centuries later, it's rather clear the system is not on par with modern times. Why then have lawmakers struggled so much to change it? The Bloomberg journalist and author explains.

Sean Crisden

The many unintended consequences of the electoral college

Joe Biden's decision to create a cabinet for climate-related issues could radically transform US foreign policy.

For Bloomberg columnist, Meghan L. O'Sullivan, a focus on decarbonization is overdue — but it also needs to be balanced with national security, counterterrorism and democracy-promotion. In this piece, she takes a closer look into the presumed intentions of the President-elect, and what the appointing of the former Secretary of State John Kerry to run the cabinet could entail.

What does success look like for a climate Czar?

Why champions of autocracy shouldn't be so quick to crow over U.S. election chaos.

"There are clearly grave problems with an unusually complex electoral system that has shown itself to be outdated, and with a system that has allowed the falsehoods, abuses of power and traducing of democratic norms emanating from the White House since 2016. After Joe Biden’s victory, American society remains deeply divided. Yet for all the dysfunction, angry rhetoric and court cases, votes were counted. That makes all the difference." Clara Ferreira Marques opines in Bloomberg.

Sarah Naughton

Hold the schadenfreude for America

Politics of resentment have acquired a long lease of life in U.S. politics and society.

For Indian author Pankaj Mishra, Joe Biden's victory over Donald Trump doesn't mark the end of 'Trumpism'. While the incumbent ultimately lost the election, the increased support he received is only one of the many signs of what lies ahead for America: a fierce clash of very different ideas and beliefs. In this piece for Bloomberg, Mishra reflects.

Michael Satow

America’s age of anger is just getting started

The famous American restaurateur and TV personality sets the path for the future of restaurants.

For David Chang, the creator of Netflix's 'Ugly Delicious' and founder of the Momofuko group, "the iceberg for restaurants wasn’t COVID-19. Something like that was going to happen, and change was coming." Interviewed by Bobby Ghosh from Bloomberg, he explores what it will take for the already struggling restaurant business to rebuild itself after the pandemic, and why when it comes to this, all options should be on the table.

David Chang's plan to save restaurants goes beyond COVID-19

Paul Milgrom and Robert B. Wilson won the Prize in Economic Sciences 2020.

The winners are specialists in “market design,” a field which, as Roth wrote in a famous paper, calls for “an engineering approach.” Mihir Sharma, from Bloomberg, explains why the celebrated 2020 Economics Nobel-winning idea has failed India — but why that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Marni Penning

This Nobel-winning idea has failed India

Small wars can tell you a lot about the biggest geopolitical and military issues of the day. 

"The conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh may seem like a remnant of the Soviet past in an unfamiliar part of the world. Yet the fierce fighting underway there could actually be a preview of the future." Hal Brands, from Bloomberg, explores how the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan can reveal tensions in more powerful Western countries.


Little war in the Caucasus has big lessons for U.S. and Russia

Part 2: Does the Left value dogma more than knowledge? 

Writing in Bloomberg, Steven B. Gerrard follows up on his previous argument in "The rise of the comfort college" hypothesising what the future of free speech may look like on college campuses.

The first part to this piece, "The rise of the comfort college", was published earlier on Curio.

Ron Butler

How comfort conquered college

Part 1:  A professor's account of being labelled an 'Enemy of the People' for wanting to discuss free speech.

In elite private colleges across America, the pursuit of knowledge is being replaced by the quest for power - warns professor Steven B. Gerrard. Writing in Bloomberg he recounts Williams College's "year of horror"  as liberalism and woke-ness battled it out in the debate over free speech.

The second part to this piece, "How comfort conquered college", is also available on Curio.

The rise of the comfort college

Hari Nada's score-settling created chaos that haunts the carmaker to this day.

The Nada-orchestrated campaign to arrest and dethrone the chairman of Nissan, Carlos Ghosn, ended up costing the company billions of dollars and its alliance with other car manufacturers. Reed Stevenson, from Bloomberg, investigates.

Gary Furlong

How a powerful Nissan insider tore apart Carlos Ghosn’s legacy

Failing to update our beliefs in response to new information could result in democracy's collapse.

New evidence suggests that people on the 'right' side of the political spectrum aren't open to evidence. However, those who considered themselves 'liberals' have also no reason to be smug, argues Andreas Kluth in Bloomberg.

Nick Camm

Right or left, we must open our minds again

How white Christianity has helped grant moral legitimacy to racist attitudes.

Francis Wilkinson, from Bloomberg, interviews Robert P. Jones, the founder and CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute and author of the book, White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity. Together they explore the historical connections between Christianity and racism in America.

Ken Foster and Michael Satow

The theological roots of white supremacy

Excessive market power isn’t confined to companies that run digital platforms.

"Oligopolies, where a few big companies dominate the market, also tend to wield some degree of market power. In theory, that can allow powerful players to jack up consumer prices, underpay workers and squeeze suppliers." Noah Smith analyses in Bloomberg.

Focusing on Facebook and Google’s monopoly misses the point

The US, India and Brazil are faring dramatically worse than other countries.

If you look into it carefully, however, it's only natural, explains Mihir Sharma in this analysis for Bloomberg: large democracies face porous internal borders, more pressure to keep the economy humming and higher demands on effective government. Could these countries learn their lessons in time, nonetheless?

Michael Bott

Why big nations have been brought low by the pandemic

What makes a classroom so unique that an online setting can't emulate it?

For Bloomberg's Stephen L. Carter, a professor with over 40 years of experience, online classes can't hold a candle to in-person learning. On that basis, without "denying neither the dangers of the pandemic nor the utility of the virtual classroom in this moment," here he shares a short but heartfelt case against doing away with classrooms entirely in the post-pandemic world.

Chris Brinkley

The greatest teaching techniques don't compute over Zoom

The world's biggest central banks are usually the ones to break old models.

As Indonesia proudly monetises state debt to steer its deepest recession in decades, and "help prevent tens of millions of citizens from plunging further into poverty," experts are left wondering if what was once a condemned method, could now light the way for the rest of the world. Daniel Moss analyses in Bloomberg.

Ken Foster

Can an emerging market become a policy pioneer?

Reopening the EU's internal borders shows just how tricky living with COVID-19 really is.

"To start with, the approved list isn't a law per se, but a recommendation — border controls remain the preserve of national governments. While nobody expects a country to unilaterally fling open its doors to Americans, enforcement is going to be an issue." Lionel Laurent comments for Bloomberg.

Malk Williams

For the EU, banning American tourists is the easy part

What local road trip have you not yet taken?

"At one point we pulled into a gas station to switch driving duties and saw a hot dog stand manned by a guy wearing Confederate-flag pants. I wonder if he knows that West Virginia seceded from Virginia proper to ally with the Union cause." With many of us having international summer plans cancelled, Tyler Cowen, for Bloomberg, offers some tips on exploring the United States randomly.

It’s a good summer to explore America at random

The argument that there is no alternative to the U.S. currency makes little sense.

Following on from his article, 'A Crash in the Dollar Is Coming' Stephen Roach, for Bloomberg explores how other currencies may thrive in the face of the oncoming dollar crash. 

How the coming crash in the dollar will unfold

The world is having serious doubts about American exceptionalism.

"Already stressed by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. living standards are about to be squeezed as never before. At the same time, the world is having serious doubts about the once widely accepted presumption of American exceptionalism. Currencies set the equilibrium between these two forces — domestic economic fundamentals and foreign perceptions of a nation’s strength or weakness. The balance is shifting, and a crash in the dollar could well be in the offing."

A crash in the dollar is coming

There’s a difference between the law and police norms, as the Supreme Court justice explained.

The George Floyd protests have cast an unwavering spotlight on the difference between the law and police norms. Cass R. Sunstein, in Bloomberg, once worked for Thurgood Marshall, the first African American Supreme Court justice. He explores what he learnt about police accountability from the pioneering legal figure.

What Thurgood Marshall taught me about police accountability

Social unrest helped doom Lyndon Johnson's presidency — can it end up saving Trump's?

"Unlike in 1968, in other words, urban unrest with a racial dimension might actually save a beleaguered incumbent. The current wave of protests is in many ways a repeat of more recent events — Ferguson 2014, Charlottesville 2017 — and its main significance may be to shift the American political conversation away from the Trump administration's incompetent handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, back to the terrain of the culture war, where Trump is an experienced combatant." Niall Ferguson opines in Bloomberg.

2020 Is not 1968. It may be worse

His speech after Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination was beautiful. Was it also inadequate?

If Bobby Kennedy gave his 1968 speech following Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination today, would he have been saying #AllLivesMatter? Legal scholar and author Cass R. Sunstein, writing in Bloomberg, reflects.

Teri Schnaubelt

Bobby Kennedy’s big omission: white racism

The party may find it impossible to reclaim its historical identity.

"Most observers treated this inversion of the usual partisan rhetoric about the rich as an anomaly. Democrats are, after all, willing to raise taxes on high earners and the wealthy in other ways. Some of the same people who would benefit from a bigger deduction for state and local taxes would get hit by the higher capital-gains taxes that Democrats seek ... But the Democrats' solicitude for the interests of the affluent in this case may not be the aberration it appears to be." Ramesh Ponnuru explores in Bloomberg the changing faces of the Democratic Party.

Betsy Foldes Meiman

How Democrats became the party of the upper middle class

As with any technological shift, the downsides only become apparent after wide and long-term adoption.

"If working from home becomes the norm, employees will be expected to have quiet private home-office space, a high-speed internet connection, secure file cabinets, a computer that is more capable than one needed for casual home use, a scanner and printer and office supplies. For some workers, that could be more of a burden than they faced under the office-work paradigm." Conor Sen writes in Bloomberg.

Work from home is fine ... for now

COVID-19: Sometimes too much efficiency can be a bad thing.

"For years, cost-conscious hospitals have emulated the lean, just-in-time principles that have revolutionized manufacturing. The result has been a health-care system that is far more efficient, but unprepared to handle a sudden influx of seriously ill patients." Stephen Mihm, writing in Bloomberg, explores.

Why the U.S. doesn’t have enough hospital beds

The pandemic has provided lessons we can learn about the benefits of technology for students.

In more ways than one, the COVID-19 crisis has demonstrated some of technology's limitation when it comes to imitating real-life interactions, particularly in the academic field. However, as Bloomberg columnist Clara Ferreira Marques notes from her personal experience, some students can still really benefit from home-learning and 'Zoom classes'. Here, she explains.

Monita Rajpal

Don’t waste the world’s great online learning experiment

Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball and The Big Short, tells this remarkable story.

For most of human history, lost at sea meant gone for good. But this overlooked government worker, pioneered a search system while at sea, that's saved the lives of countless Americans.

Portrait of an inessential government worker

“Remember the movie American Hustle? It’s kind of like that, with way more dirt and twists."

When the FBI first approached Guy Gentile, he was given two options: lose everything and go to jail, or save himself and help them catch a bigger fish. Despite initially agreeing to the later, things eventually proved not as straightforward. Writing in Bloomberg, Zeke Faux tells the extraordinary story.

‘Bro, I’m going rogue’: The Wall Street informant who double-crossed the FBI

Oil is flooding the market when the world needs it least.

What does this mean for producers? For Bloomberg's oil strategist, Julian Lee, only those with deep pockets or storage tanks will be able to keep pumping. Here, he analyses why.

Welcome to a truly free oil market

Accelerating the search will require global coordination — and a lot of money.

"Making vaccines is difficult and expensive in the best of times. It usually takes years to bring a candidate to market. On top of the scientific difficulty, vaccines must clear an exceptionally high safety bar: Unlike just about any other treatment, they're given to otherwise healthy people in large quantities. Any significant side effects can have disastrous consequences, and long and careful testing is required to avoid harm." Max Nisen, writing in Bloomberg, reports.

How to make a faster coronavirus vaccine

Turning coronavirus into a "Chinese" disease will only aid and abet its spread.

Blaming ethnic groups for outbreaks is nothing new as Stephen Mihm, writing in Bloomberg explains; in fact, history's fraught with examples. But when it only aids the spread, why does it keep happening?

The ugly history of blaming ethnic groups for outbreaks

While TV viewership will go up, the surge in demand may expose more of the industry's problems.

"Because this moment is so unprecedented, it's hard to foresee the economic impact, other than that it will be painful, a pain that will be felt most severely by hourly workers. That can make conversations about what's on Netflix feel tone-deaf. And still, it's a very big part of how our consumption habits will change in the ensuing weeks and months." Bloomberg columnist, Tara Lachapelle, reports.

Streaming apps suddenly face the coronavirus test

Has the European Union bitten off more than it can chew in the African nation?

"The mobilization of military assets to block arms shipments was meant to demonstrate Europe’s determination to play a major role in tackling international crises, independent of the U.S. Choosing Libya as the test of this resolve made sense: The Trump administration has little interest in resolving the crisis; American forces were withdrawn from Libya in 2019, as Haftar’s forces marched toward the capital." Bobby Ghosh, writing in Bloomberg, reports.

Europe is failing its test in Libya

A test of whether coordinated global action can work.

A plan to fight climate change is ambitious but costly. Imagine footing the bill for the first transcontinental railroad — every 18 months for 100 years. Andy Mukherjee, writing in Bloomberg, explores.

Can Singapore save the world from sinking?

One-page summaries don't predict job performance, but they do perpetuate inequality.

"As many as 95% of employers admit to hiring the wrong people each year. Worse, more than a third of employers report being unaware of the true costs of bad hires, which can reach as high as five times annual salary costs." The problem for this could be at the very beginning of the recruiting process: the resumé. Cassidy Leventhal writing in Bloomberg, explains.

Resumes are a terrible way to hire people

Liberalism is not really the answer.

"On issues from school vouchers to abortion, significant numbers of black voters are closer to the Republican than the Democratic point of view. Yet they still vote Democratic. Why?" Stephen L. Carter, writing in Bloomberg, explains.

Why black voters keep picking democrats

For all her success in picking winners, she has received little notice.

Matthew A. Winkler, writing in Bloomberg, introduces us to the best investor you've never heard of: Cathie Wood. For all her success in picking winners, she has received little attention. But her (so far) prescient Tesla bet should change that.

Cathie Wood, the best investor you’ve never heard of

Where do you draw the line?

Taking from the rich and giving to the poor could be our last chance at wealth equality. Writing in Bloomberg, Noah Smith considers the morality of wealth redistribution.

The morality of taking from the rich and giving to the poor

He's hailed as an advocate of American restraint, but his actions couldn't have been further from that.

In the debate about America's role in world affairs, the sixth president of the US, John Quincy Adams, has become an icon for those wanting to shrink America’s global role. But Hal Brands, writing in Bloomberg, explains why he’s being cited incorrectly - as he was actually, a die-hard expansionist.

John Quincy Adams isn’t who you think he is

Why Twitter wants to cut its user numbers by 60%.

Writing in Bloomberg, Tim Culpan explains the company's move to focus on quality rather than quantity - and what this could mean for political advertising.

Half of Twitter’s users are worthless, and that’s good

Depression and anxiety cost the economy $1 trillion a year - so why aren't changes made about it?

A month into 2020, and already feeling miserable? Bosses can go a long way toward mitigating employee burnout. Writing in Bloomberg, Rachel Rosenthal looks at why although changes are cheap, they're also tricky to get done.

It’s only February and we’re already miserable

Why are so many of America's brightest graduates pursuing non-creative job markets?

Safe and stable might suit some in the job market, but it's leaving younger people funnelled into jobs that don't reward risk-taking. Tyler Cowen, writing in Bloomberg, looks at how this trend is only harming the U.S. economy.

Old people have all the interesting jobs in America

From Jeff Bezos' phone hack to the poisoning in Salisbury, today's events are great backdrops.

Not since the Cold War has there been so much real-life international villainy begging for the Le Carre treatment. In his last column for Bloomberg Opinion, Leonid Bershidsky anticipates what's next for great spy thrillers.

Spy novels need to come in from the Cold War

Free trade has been thrown to the wolves - its failings are easy to spot, but, what's the alternative?

"Spotting the failings is easy, but where’s the new paradigm for global commerce?" Noah Smith writing in Bloomberg, looks at how economists are only just waking up to these dangers - and why much work remains to be done.

Economists have no idea what replaces free trade

The way an incident is reported to citizens will be more important than whether it actually took place.  

Tyler Cowen writing in Bloomberg looks at how fake news will not only affect domestic politics but could have catastrophic implications for international relations.

How fake news would affect a U.S.-Iran war

The world appeared to have become oblivious to the geopolitics of oil. Now it can’t be ignored.

"There is no particular reason to expect that Iran’s retaliation will target oil, except that even the best guarded of the industry’s installations have been shown to be vulnerable and the steady stream of oil tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz presents multiple opportunities to disrupt flows." Julian Lee writing in Bloomberg explains why, following the assassination Qassem Soleimani, oil markets should be jittery.

Will oil become a weapon of choice for Iran?

How the former Renault-Nissan boss fled bail in Japan for Lebanon.

If you're in need of a break from Netflix, Bloomberg's Chris Bryant suggests tuning into Carlos Ghosn's escalating drama.

Carlos Ghosn's drama is much better than Netflix

Why impeachment is a process, not a vote.

The House of Representatives have made their vote, but Trump won't be impeached until the House tells the Senate. Writing in Bloomberg in December 2019, Noah Feldman explains.

Trump isn’t impeached until the House tells the Senate

Legal realities of such cases are hard to accept. 

The proposed settlement of cases filed against Harvey Weinstein has been rage-inducing for all. But, as Stephen L. Carter writing in Bloomberg explains, it is the norm for civil lawsuits. 

Jonathan Booth

Weinstein’s rage-inducing settlement is the norm for civil suits

How can social scientists satisfy the growing public hunger for knowledge and accountability?

"Indexes are informative, easy to digest, and remarkably well-suited for social-media sharing. At their best, they can actually be fun." How can we solve the biggest problems of today if we're not measuring them? Writing in Bloomberg, Tyler Cowen makes the case for why we should be quantifying social issues like loneliness and stress.

Nothing measured, nothing gained

Could the stars we see from Earth soon be outnumbered by a swarm of satellites? 

"We humans will inevitably achieve complete connectedness, but without our shared sense of being in the cosmos, we could end up with less of interest to say. " Writing in Bloomberg, Faye Flam warns of what we might lose as we gain connectivity.

Satellites are changing the night sky as we know it

The many different sides of Facebook's CEO.

Between the over-rehearsed Mark Zuckerberg, writing manifestos and giving public speeches and the savvy tactician outsmarting his rivals behind doors, Shira Ovide has one clear favourite. Writing in Bloomberg, she explores.

Mark Zuckerberg isn’t always a colorless automaton

George Orwell is relevant again, in a new way, and his most famous book remains as suffocating as ever.

Having spent four months translating Orwell's '1984' Leonid Bershidsky finds the book more relevant than ever. In this piece, he delves into the history of the work and its relation to modern Russian history.

If you have not yet read the book, this piece contains spoilers.

I just translated ‘1984’ into Russian. I’m gasping for air

A mix of valuable characteristics and luck enabled the legume’s U.S. rise. Has the luck run out?

Justin Fox writing in Bloomberg tells us how the humble soybean became ubiquitous in America, and why the tension between China and the U.S has led to the exploration of new frontiers... in Russia.

How soybeans became ubiquitous

If you work for a public institution, can the safeguard of its image outweigh your right to free speech? 

Stephen L. Carter, writing in Bloomberg in December 2019, comments on the U.S. Court of Appeals ruling in a case about a National Guard employee who lost her job for writing an explicit book and what it says about the limits of free speech rights.

A phone-sex memoir tests the limits of free speech rights

The attack last week is more complicated than either Boris Johnson or Jeremy Corbyn acknowledge.

The tragic attack on London Bridge in November 2019 and the circumstances of the perpetrator quickly became the subject of political posturing. But, Therese Raphae says the situation is more complicated than acknowledged by political leaders. Writing in Bloomberg, she explains.

Sharon Bott

What you won’t hear about the London Bridge attacks

A reflective piece on why tech offers plenty to feel good about.

Reflecting on a year where technology feels like it is dividing societies and destroying our planet, Shira Ovide, writing in Bloomberg, reminds us that it is worth remembering the creativity, competitiveness and accountability that have come with technology.

Yes, there are things to be thankful for in tech

Evolution has favoured the friendliest canine and human species over more aggressive competition.

In this piece, Cass Sunstein argues that the evolutionary success of man and his best friend, the domesticated dog is down to the shared trait of docility. Writing in Bloomberg, he explains how our reduced tendency towards instant violent retaliation is what has allowed us to become a dominant species.

How dogs and people ended up ruling the world

Twitter, Google and Microsoft have endorsed a "Contract for the Web" - but what does it really mean?

Privacy violations and monopolising business practices were not part of Tim Berners-Lee's vision for the internet when he invented it. Now, he has launched "Contract for the Web", a document outlining how the internet should be used. But will it amount to any real change?  Writing in Bloomberg, Leonid Bershidsky explains.

Tim Paige

Tim Berners-Lee invented the web. Can he save it?

A drawn-out FCC-backed public auction of valuable spectrum or let a private company host it?

In the global race to 5G, the US has run into a catch-22: let a private company quickly host an auction of the spectrum and keep the profits, or wait for the FCC to run the auction and delay 5G rollout even longer. Writing in Bloomberg, Tara Lachapelle explains.

The catch-22 in a $50 billion 5G airwaves fight

Are ads, fake news and social media really the threat to democracy?

Faye Flam writing in Bloomberg argues that the policies attempting to rid social media of fake news are in fact giving the platforms more power. This is because instead of revealing their targeting practises, the likes of Twitter and Facebook are being encouraged to police content. 

Real news: hardly anybody shares fake news

What comes next for this technology?

Following the grounding of Rolls-Royce's Trent 1000 in 2019, Chris Bryant writing in Bloomberg looks at why the pressure to innovate is seeing the aviation industry buckle.

Christopher Carley

Are passenger jet engines hitting their technical limits?

The Kremlin's "escalate to de-escalate" nuclear strategy could easily get out of hand.

Following a 2019 report revealing the increased likelihood of a NATO-Russia conflict over the Baltic states, Hal Brands writing in Bloomberg strategises how best NATO could manage such a situation.

How Russia could force a nuclear war in the Baltics

It can help everyone when more productive people make more money.

"Moderate inequality can boost cooperation as long as those who get more of the pie are more productive for the benefit of all. Both the more and less productive people recognize they can benefit by working together." Writing in Bloomberg, Mark Buchanan explains.