Mr. Poo's music video

Apparently part of a public campaign in India against public defecation. Will it work? (HT: Freakonomics.com)

Must-read: Think Like a Freak!

It has a different tone to Freakonomics and SuperFreakonomics, but I enjoyed it immensely (after one sitting tonight). The piece of advice on how to rise up to criticisms is particularly enjoyable, and I related a lot with the section on the upside of quitting (being a proud serial quitter myself).

Efficiency, illustrated

How a one-man team beat an entire bureaucracy in digitizing old newspapers in the US.

Gospels and the economics of networks

An illuminating documentary on the origins of the New Testament. Interestingly, this got me thinking about the economics of ideas, and how early Christian leaders chose which scripts/texts/books would make for an optimum "bundle" of gospels which would spread the message of Christianity most effectively. It was as if the Christian leaders were aiming to maximize the spread of the Christian message but had to choose carefully about which gospels to include and censor.

How could the framing of the Bible have affected the spread of the Christian message through social networks? This seems to me a potent candidate for economic research in the area of signalling and the economics of networks.

Gary Becker has died

Gary Becker, who was in my opinion the original Freakonomist, has died last Saturday (May 3, 2013). He was 83. 

His lectures at UChicago on Human Capital Theory are all uploaded on YouTube (link; kudos to the brilliant people who initiated this endeavor of immortalizing him for the appreciation of future generations). 

His blog with Richard Posner, however, is expected to be discontinued soon (both authors recently took a sabbatical, perhaps due to Becker's ill health). Nevertheless, his invaluable contributions to human capital theory (and economics in general) will surely live on. 

P.S. Becker's student and colleague Steven Levitt (modern day Freakonomist) wrote about his reminiscences about Becker, including this touching anecdote:

At various points in [Levitt's] career, I have been the target of intense criticism, often carried out in very prominent and public forums. During one of these periods, Gary summoned me to his office and asked me how I was doing. I told him I was doing fine, but the criticism was exhausting. He got a conspiratorial look on his face and he leaned in close to me and made a confession: “I never minded when people attacked me; I actually kind of liked it. You know what drove me crazy? When people ignored me. So as long as people are willing to spend the energy to attack you, you know you are doing something right.”

Sometimes I'm the subject of criticism myself. Thanks to some of my Rappler articles especially my most recent one on the proposed soda ban law. Sometimes the criticism can get intense, but this little anecdote about Becker raises my spirit and gives me courage to continue writing soon.