tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15348129076207798812024-03-13T03:43:58.002-04:00ECONJEFFA long pondered but only lately realized blog about economics, politics, evaluation, econometrics, academia, college football and whatever else comes to mind.econjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15500904082539595860noreply@blogger.comBlogger3853125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1534812907620779881.post-32042893963153777792024-02-17T11:28:00.000-05:002024-02-17T11:28:17.509-05:00Book: Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions<p>Christian, Brian and Tom Griffiths. 2016.<i> Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions</i>. Holt.</p><p>This book summarizes, in prose aimed at the intelligent lay reader, important themes in computer science, such as sorting, caching (keeping select bits of information close at hand, pun intended), and scheduling. </p><p>Back in the early 1980s (!), one of my computer science professors claimed to us in class that the knowledge embodied in our degrees had a "half life" of five years, a figure which would imply that only about 1.5 percent of my computer science degree remains with me in 2024. The strong feeling of familiarity I felt when reading this book convinced me that whatever the quality of the five year half-life approximation in the early years following degree receipt, the decay eventually slows or even stops when only the key themes of the discipline remain. </p><p>The rather imperialist conception of the substantive domain of computer science embodied in the book's chapters complicates the decay calculation, particularly for me. For example, the book contains chapters on optimal stopping, on search, and on game theory, which I think of as mainly economics topics rather than computer science topics, and on Bayes Rule, which I think of as a statistics topic. The authors do cite economists and statisticians when relevant, so perhaps rather than complain about imperialism (surely economists live in a thin glass house on this point) one can celebrate the cross-disciplinary breadth of the underlying problems and their still-in-progress solutions.</p><p>The text makes some nods toward the "to live by" part of the title (in the way an author of an economics book for a general audience might explain the value of thinking about sunk costs in daily life) but that's not the main point of the book. Instead, it seeks to illuminate some of the key themes in computer science, in clear, enjoyable prose decorated with stories of various researchers who made contributions along the way.</p><p>Overall, I found this a most enjoyable read that led to a bout of nostalgia for my undergraduate computer science adventure. And now I know why simulated annealing bears its otherwise inexplicable name and feel better about all the stacks on my office desk.</p><p>If you think you might like such a book, you will almost certainly like this particular one.</p><p>Hat tip: Dan and Susan</p>econjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15500904082539595860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1534812907620779881.post-64755277127955899872024-02-17T11:02:00.002-05:002024-02-17T11:28:44.295-05:00Book: Soviet Milk by Nora Ikstena<p>Ikstena, Nora. 2015/2018. <i>Soviet Milk</i>. Peirene.</p><p>A short, beautiful novel about an ugly time, and about the sorts of people who found life under the Soviet regime most difficult.</p><p>The book is an English translation of a Latvian best-seller. I purchased it at the delightful <a href="https://www.facebook.com/englishbookshoptallinn/">English bookstore in Talinn</a>, the capital of neighboring Estonia, when I was there to give a talk at their Central Bank last December.</p><p>Recommended.</p>econjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15500904082539595860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1534812907620779881.post-6135556837221793672024-01-28T14:38:00.003-05:002024-02-11T11:02:36.926-05:00Economics Moment of Zen #19<p>Senior colleague: "So basically its stuff that's not in the model?"</p><p>Job candidate: "There are logit errors in the model."</p><p>Addendum:</p><p>Same senior colleague, basically the same question</p><p>Different job candidate: "There are always the logit shocks."</p>econjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15500904082539595860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1534812907620779881.post-57963675188271831262023-11-21T09:20:00.003-05:002023-11-21T09:22:15.599-05:00Economics Moment of Zen #18<p></p><blockquote>"Having a superscript on a subscript is aggressive, but I kind of like it."</blockquote><p>One of my Wisconsin colleagues at a student seminar.</p><p></p>econjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15500904082539595860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1534812907620779881.post-23352593561252195932023-07-03T11:20:00.002-04:002023-07-03T11:20:54.472-04:00The filling station as built art<p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj7Akhl07qtmDGZKiRFWSmRaqkJPdLHERIy6Hwv_nVZbhmgqW_9s43Xzz2g-cWSOuRJ5CHb-l9ex9YVQRyf4IEi13wASo8ndGpEWl_7aSG307Jy1mm9yuhSLMlsKd77thbetfNPzOlyYn8lC7Or-b2ogRT17nqAqKpCpadEoEuJdQJss35uyZ98mKleU-Q7" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="469" data-original-width="1000" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj7Akhl07qtmDGZKiRFWSmRaqkJPdLHERIy6Hwv_nVZbhmgqW_9s43Xzz2g-cWSOuRJ5CHb-l9ex9YVQRyf4IEi13wASo8ndGpEWl_7aSG307Jy1mm9yuhSLMlsKd77thbetfNPzOlyYn8lC7Or-b2ogRT17nqAqKpCpadEoEuJdQJss35uyZ98mKleU-Q7=w320-h150" width="320" /></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This restored Shell station lives in the bustling metropolis of La Grange, Wisconsin, which I drive through on the way to and from my daughter's summer camp. </div><p></p>econjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15500904082539595860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1534812907620779881.post-43543656763044873142023-07-01T19:17:00.003-04:002023-07-01T19:19:48.125-04:00Book: Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell<p>O'Farrell, Maggie. <i>Hamnet: A Novel of the Plague</i>. Vintage.</p><p>Let there be no mistake that this is a novel for English majors! It offers a fictional filling in of the life and times of Shakespeare's son Hamnet.</p><p>But I enjoyed it too, and so might you. The writing is beautiful, the characters are full and rich, and the author has done her work, as best I can tell, to understand and accurately describe the historical setting within which the novel takes place. </p><p>Recommended to those who think they might value such a literary enterprise.</p><p>Hat tip: Tyler Cowen</p>econjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15500904082539595860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1534812907620779881.post-83270644956432534912023-02-20T10:18:00.001-05:002023-02-20T10:18:51.393-05:00Economics Moment of Zen #17<p></p><blockquote> "We conduct the decennial Census every ten years."</blockquote><p></p><p>From one of the six (!) annual trainings required to maintain Special Sworn Status at the Census Bureau.</p>econjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15500904082539595860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1534812907620779881.post-47303452093908738202022-05-30T11:09:00.000-04:002022-05-30T11:09:08.212-04:00Memorial day<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0j5cF3-SB7owuGX9t4iH87RQMi7UsS9_P_5dcmWUlT9KMuifKHStfgIhC1WcCnCAa_rgnbYv-4O-R04DibU625GGGZk3jyS-QZC_jOGsB9EdYkDGFxLkuFAlV7YNdxTnGHxDiWjkWYzJPPSIqpBXrbP5JIX_337ojqEfrz06QEDel7Pj7Zuw97h6Wew/s679/Gettysburg%20Address.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="679" data-original-width="387" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0j5cF3-SB7owuGX9t4iH87RQMi7UsS9_P_5dcmWUlT9KMuifKHStfgIhC1WcCnCAa_rgnbYv-4O-R04DibU625GGGZk3jyS-QZC_jOGsB9EdYkDGFxLkuFAlV7YNdxTnGHxDiWjkWYzJPPSIqpBXrbP5JIX_337ojqEfrz06QEDel7Pj7Zuw97h6Wew/w365-h640/Gettysburg%20Address.jpg" width="365" /></a></div><br /> Thanks to John Mullahy's twitter feed for inspiration.<p></p>econjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15500904082539595860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1534812907620779881.post-66597299376137170702022-05-29T10:44:00.006-04:002024-02-17T11:01:12.166-05:00Book: Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel<p>Mandel, Emily St. John. 2022. <i>Sea of Tranquility</i>. Knopf.</p><p>Wow! Time travel. Plague. A few stragglers from earlier books. A complex, recursive plot. Canadian content. Big philosophical questions. What more could one want?</p><p>I was reminded of the Robert Silverberg time travel stories that I read in high school, and the paradoxes that they highlighted. Those paradoxes are here as well, but in the background, with the characters, as usual, in the foreground. </p><p>One subplot concerns a famous female author doing a book tour. It seemed particularly heartfelt, as do the descriptions of lockdown during the book's plague. I have a theory as to why that covers both.</p><p>I enjoyed this tremendously. Highly recommended if you like what one might call, and I will call, literary science fiction.</p><p>I purchased a "signed" edition from Barnes and Noble when it first came out.</p>econjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15500904082539595860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1534812907620779881.post-25292723548271667422022-05-11T22:57:00.004-04:002022-05-11T23:27:42.795-04:00New (published) paper: Some Children Left Behind<p style="text-align: left;">Some Children Left Behind: Variation in the Effects of an Educational Intervention</p><p style="text-align: left;">Julie Buhl-Wiggers, Jason Kerwin, Juan Muñoz-Morales, Jeffrey Smith, and Rebecca Thornton</p><div style="text-align: left;">Abstract</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />We document substantial variation in the effects of a highly-effective literacy program in northern Uganda. The program increases test scores by 1.4 SDs on average, but standard statistical bounds show that the impact standard deviation exceeds 1.0 SD. This implies that the variation in effects across our students is wider than the spread of mean effects across all randomized evaluations of developing country education interventions in the literature. This very effective program does indeed leave some students behind. At the same time, we do not learn much from our analyses that attempt to determine which students benefit more or less from the program. We reject rank preservation, and the weaker assumption of stochastic increasingness leaves wide bounds on quantile-specific average treatment effects. Neither conventional nor machine-learning approaches to estimating systematic heterogeneity capture more than a small fraction of the variation in impacts given our available candidate moderators.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeconom.2021.12.010">Permanent (gated) link<br /></a><a href="https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1f32A15DjiBHxZ">Temporary (free) link</a> (good until the end of June)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">This paper is an intellectual descendant of my job market paper, Heckman, Smith and Clements (1997), and of Djebbari and Smith (2008). It will appear in the special issue of the <i>Journal of Econometrics</i> in honor of Heckman's 75th birthday.</div>econjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15500904082539595860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1534812907620779881.post-83812357648287296722022-04-24T13:40:00.004-04:002022-04-24T13:40:52.016-04:00Movie: Everything Everywhere All At Once<p>Wow! The best movie I have seen in a while (where "a while" includes seeing the best picture winner at the Oscars). Fun, frantic, and conducive to the thinking of big thoughts. </p><p>This <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/film/reviews/article-everything-everywhere-all-at-once-movie-review/">review from the Globe and Mail</a> captures my take on the movie pretty well.</p><p>Keeping with the Toronto theme, <a href="https://nowtoronto.com/movies/whats-new-to-theatres-and-streaming-april-1-3-2022">this review from Now magazine</a> highlights the negatives. I agree with them that cutting the least important 10-15 minutes would have made for a stronger movie, but I think I would have retained the hot dog fingers.</p><p>Oh, and Jamie Lee Curtis is amazing.</p><p>Recommended if you're in the mood for a wild ride.</p>econjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15500904082539595860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1534812907620779881.post-65972584232232381192022-02-25T21:10:00.001-05:002022-02-25T21:10:46.620-05:00<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="und" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TheSimpsons?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TheSimpsons</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Simpsons?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Simpsons</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Ukraine?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Ukraine</a> <a href="https://t.co/aWvgTUGJKP">pic.twitter.com/aWvgTUGJKP</a></p>— The Simpsons (@TheSimpsons) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheSimpsons/status/1497366451837190155?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 26, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>econjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15500904082539595860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1534812907620779881.post-13195615350923384472022-02-25T10:36:00.002-05:002022-02-25T10:36:46.634-05:00Skit perfection / instrumental variables<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MrsWGES2UqY" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe> <div><br /></div><div> Hat tip: Elise Marifian</div>econjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15500904082539595860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1534812907620779881.post-34203236112990134142021-08-15T21:44:00.004-04:002021-08-15T21:44:58.850-04:00Too on point to resist<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw0CF3xrzH102rxMSqJHaODAyulkG4oFD4dKXhr1XAACkysSn-_uUG6bmZCrOcPrMTeyOqrnUKyVqVe0d0le0kuMXHAluMELIcrPKouDtReyg0CJLabCqdxYUg5LSNPaQkm9CIjpU_qLIh/s600/sciencecosts-561x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="561" height="406" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw0CF3xrzH102rxMSqJHaODAyulkG4oFD4dKXhr1XAACkysSn-_uUG6bmZCrOcPrMTeyOqrnUKyVqVe0d0le0kuMXHAluMELIcrPKouDtReyg0CJLabCqdxYUg5LSNPaQkm9CIjpU_qLIh/w379-h406/sciencecosts-561x600.jpg" width="379" /></a></div><br /> <p></p>econjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15500904082539595860noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1534812907620779881.post-83414935412604417452021-07-06T10:58:00.004-04:002021-07-06T11:13:06.283-04:00Book: The Stand, by Stephen King<p>King, Stephen. 1990. <i>The Stand</i>: The Complete and Uncut Edition. Doubleday.</p><p>What better time to read a classic pandemic novel than at the tail end (locally at least) of a pandemic, albeit one much less deadly than that described in the book.</p><p>Post-apocalyptic tales have been a favorite of mine ever since I read Robert Silverberg's <i>Time of the Great Freeze</i> back in fifth grade (and the fact that it concerned too little warming rather than too much signals just how long ago that was). Back in the day I read classics like <i>On the Beach</i> and <i>Alas, Babylon!</i> and I have continued to read one or two post-apocalyptic tales a year (putting aside my general break from reading for pleasure during the second half of gradual school). They've been enjoying a bit of a renaissance lately.</p><p>If you poke around the internet for lists of the best post-apocalyptic novels, <i>The Stand</i> appears on most such lists, often near the top. So I have been meaning to read it for many years. I went "all in" and read the director's cut version with the idea that I might well never read another Stephen King book, and so I should read this one the way he meant it to be read. The director's cut has 1153 pages of text, though they are not dense and the book reads quickly in a pages-per-minute sense.</p><p>The first book-within-a-book (of three) details the spread of the plague and the ensuing death and destruction. It was my favorite part of the book. The third book-within-a-book documents the great showdown (in which various people make a stand, hence the title) between good and evil. That was my second favorite part. My enthusiasm flagged (sorry, a pun too easy to resist but one you will only note if you have already read the book) a bit at times in the middle book-within-a-book. I suspect that most of the editor's cuts came from this part.</p><p>Some random thoughts: I was surprised by the Christian-ness of it; I suspect that feature explains some of its enduring popularity. I was surprised that one of the main characters is a sociologist. The book is very much of its time - in technology, gender relations, and so on. It emphasizes the way tough times can change people for the better and for the worse. And it embodies the sort of lightly paranoid anti-government stance that permeated popular culture in the years after Vietnam and Watergate.</p><p>Recommended but only for true lovers of the post-apocalyptic and/or of Stephen King. I will give it four stars on Goodreads, in contrast to the five stars I gave to <i>Station Eleven</i>.</p>econjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15500904082539595860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1534812907620779881.post-15826825183603586702021-07-04T16:15:00.001-04:002021-07-04T16:15:51.117-04:00Book: Plenitude by Grant McCracken<p> McCracken, Grant. 1997. <i>Plenitude: Culture by Commotion, Book 1</i>. Toronto: Periph.:Fluide.</p><p>I had meant to read this for many years - ever since it became clear how much of an influence it had on two of my favorite reason magazine editors: Nick Gillespie and Virginia Postrel. Indeed, you can get a sense of the book from the <a href="https://reason.com/1998/08/01/the-politics-of-plenitude/">corresponding article in reason</a> in 1998. If you do a search at reason.com you will obtain a long list of citations to the book in the 20+ years since its publication, most of them by Nick.</p><p>The reason (cough, cough) for all this attention at reason is clear: McCracken documents and celebrates the technology-driven destruction of gatekeepers and decentralization of intellectual and social life that characterizes the past three decades. Cultural libertarianism marvels at changes that provide so much scope for individuals to live their lives as they please.</p><p>One choice bit:</p><p></p><blockquote>"The fashion system does not work as it once did. Once, what came into fashion was obliged to go out of fashion. The old was forced out by the new. But fads and fashions no longer seem as thoroughly discredited by their fall from grace. Even platform shoes can stay in circulation. It's as if we are surrounded by the archaeological accumulation of all the styles of life we ever cared about. They can come again, and they do."</blockquote><p></p><p>There is a wise discussion of the dark side of plenitude, which I think McCracken underestimated a bit in the relatively innocent days just prior to the Millennium. There is a most enjoyable takedown of the left's narrow and excessively political notions of diversity; sadly, the takedown defied my efforts to find a short quotation that truly delivers the punch. </p><p>And, on page 40, one very poor prediction:</p><p></p><blockquote>"Poor Donald Trump, once the "short-fingered vulgarian" so despised by <i>Spy Magazine</i>, is no longer emblematic enough to enrage or embarrass."</blockquote><p></p><p>McCracken has a blog, called <a href="http://cultureby.com">cultureby.com</a>, and is an occasional tweeter @grant27. It will perhaps not surprise that he has a doctorate from the University of Chicago.</p><p>The book is out of print. I got mine on <a href="https://www.abebooks.com/">Abebooks</a>. The first copy I bought had a printer error (!) and was missing some pages while providing duplicates of others. I am not sure if that makes it worth more (as it would with postage stamps) or worth less (or even worthless). Both copies are signed and dedicated - the one without the printer error to someone called Karal.</p><p>Highly recommended: a quick, fun, and surprisingly deep read.</p>econjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15500904082539595860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1534812907620779881.post-80932114092684161042021-07-04T14:32:00.002-04:002021-07-04T14:32:42.525-04:00A bit of Independence Day humor from our friends across the pond<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia6zuBrlAM89r80YVXMIk0MnlPLGyfRNzM9HF-y4S7fLr3Cp52mz3ZJE2_wnv5-JJ88RYgVIuim6YWiRFsZjo7SumIRY6T4L4gvbDQZYN_Oo_y8UtchZLgXh527TI2FlvaqVqxAxLgZEz7/s1280/Brexit+1776.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="591" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia6zuBrlAM89r80YVXMIk0MnlPLGyfRNzM9HF-y4S7fLr3Cp52mz3ZJE2_wnv5-JJ88RYgVIuim6YWiRFsZjo7SumIRY6T4L4gvbDQZYN_Oo_y8UtchZLgXh527TI2FlvaqVqxAxLgZEz7/w296-h640/Brexit+1776.png" width="296" /></a></div><br /> <p></p>econjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15500904082539595860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1534812907620779881.post-59202715446385515502021-07-04T11:47:00.001-04:002021-07-04T11:47:21.969-04:004th of July<p> “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government.”</p><p>Hell yeah. </p>econjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15500904082539595860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1534812907620779881.post-13854746459183672472021-06-09T11:54:00.002-04:002021-06-09T12:14:46.287-04:00Book: Confessions of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell<p>Bythell, Shaun. 2020. <i>Confessions of a Bookseller</i>. DRG.</p><p>This book chronicles a year in the life of its curmudgeonly author, who runs the <a href="http://the-bookshop.com">largest used bookstore in Scotland</a>.</p><p>There are tales of his eccentric employees, eccentric townspeople, eccentric Scots with books to sell, and eccentric customers. A couple examples of the latter group serve to capture the book's flavor:</p><p></p><blockquote>A young woman bought a copy of the Kama Sutra and offered to do a reading from it for Facebook. I thought it best to decline.</blockquote><p></p><p>and</p><p></p><blockquote>Just one customer by lunchtime, huffing and puffing his way around the shop. He managed to redeem himself by spending [50 pounds] and telling me--with no apparent sense of irony--about a bookshop in Cornwall that has a huge sign at the counter which reads `NO ANECDOTES.'</blockquote><p></p><p>Another way to get a sense of the book is to watch a couple of the videos whose creation it describes, such as the <a href="https://youtu.be/Fhi6586-j6g">"kindle fire" video</a> and the <a href="https://youtu.be/YMKuT7S0vYc">"night before Christmas" video</a>.</p><p>Amidst all this fun the reader also learns a lot about the business of running a used bookstore in the modern age - e.g. the number of online orders received is recorded for each day, along with the number of said books actually found in this shop, which is often less.</p><p>I enjoyed it thoroughly but I am a bibliophile and have some Scots hiding in my family tree. </p><p>This is the other book I got at <a href="https://www.kismetbookshop.com/">Kismet books</a> in Verona a few weeks ago.</p>econjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15500904082539595860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1534812907620779881.post-46075395038801452302021-06-08T13:35:00.001-04:002021-06-08T13:36:00.931-04:00Book: Talking Back, Talking Black by John McWhorter<p>McWhorter, John. 2017. <i>Talking Back, Talking Black: Truths About America's Lingua Franca</i>. Bellevue Literary Press.</p><p>McWhorter is a linguistics professor at Columbia and also a bit of a public intellectual. </p><p>This sentence from the book's final chapter captures its main point:</p><blockquote><p>"I have sought to help the reader actually hear Black English in a new way, to hear it as an alternate kind of English rather than as bad grammar and a lively slang." </p></blockquote><p>Put differently, McWhorter wants you to think of Black English in relation to Standard American English like you would Swiss German in relation to High German or Scots in relation to standard British English. It seeks to persuade intelligent and curious non-linguists to adopt this view by providing a gentle introduction to relevant aspects of the academic literature on the substance and history of Black English. I found the case it makes compelling. </p><p>Along the way, the reader learns fun new terms like "diglossia", "monophthongization", and "variationist socio-linguistics" and receives a short lesson on the history of minstrelsy. I particularly enjoyed McWhorter's takes on Harry Reid's famous comment about Obama's speaking style and on the NFL's "who dat" New Orleans Saints t-shirt controversy. And what one might call his "third way" take on the n-word provides an elegant, linguistically grounded, and new (to me at least) way to think about an old issue.</p><p>I found McWhorter's prose a delight to read. The blurb from the <i>New Yorker</i> review on the back cover refers to his "intelligent breeziness" - surely a compliment we can all aspire to. McWhorter also does a fine job of deploying pop culture references. I laughed aloud on numerous occasions.</p><p>Finally, the most astounding thing about this book in this age of polarization and cancel culture is McWhorter's generosity of spirit. He assumes his reader is intelligent, reasonable, interested in learning and, perhaps, in being persuaded to change their mind, and proceeds accordingly. Amazing.</p><p>Highly recommended.</p><p>I ordered this from the soon-to-reopen-for-browsing Seminary Co-op Bookstore. You <a href="https://www.semcoop.com/talking-back-talking-black-truths-about-americas-lingua-franca-0">can too</a>.</p>econjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15500904082539595860noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1534812907620779881.post-54609636458968484042021-06-06T18:09:00.002-04:002021-06-06T18:09:41.684-04:00Nostalgic for 2020?<p>I'm not nostalgic for 2020. Probably you, dear reader, are not either. But the Apple Store seems to think its customers are, as not only is the one near us still demanding masks and distancing for all, even those long past their second shot, but our staff person made a big show of taking out little wipes and sterilizing my daughter's iphone before he would look at it. Really? Really? </p>econjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15500904082539595860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1534812907620779881.post-86671403716387071012021-06-03T10:58:00.002-04:002021-06-03T10:58:26.057-04:00Book: The Lost Books of Jane Austen, by Janine Barchas<p>Barchas, Janine. 2019. <i>The Lost Books of Jane Austen</i>. Johns Hopkins University Press.</p><p>The title suggests the discovery of heretofore undiscovered Jane Austen manuscripts, but, alas, such is not the case. Instead, the author, an <a href="https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/english/faculty/barchasj">English professor at the University of Texas</a>, concerns herself with lost <i>editions</i> of Jane Austen's familiar books. The missing editions are the cheap ones, which academic bibliographers often ignore in their lists. Barchas finds these cheap editions interesting because of what they tell, via their covers, their prices, and their marketing, about who was reading Jane Austen over time and across space, and about how they were thinking of her as an author. Along the way, the reader learns a great deal about how publishing worked in the 1800s and early 1900s. I had no idea, for example, that a given set of typeset plates might be used to create multiple editions of a book by different publishers over a period of decades. The reader also learns some fun bits of cultural history, including about book prizes, the Pleasant Sunday Afternoon Society, and obsessive Janeites. Finally, this is a physically beautiful book from the Johns Hopkins University Press, chock full of full-color illustrations of Jane Austen book covers.</p><p>Recommended for those of a bookish turn.</p><p>Book page <a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/lost-books-jane-austen">at JHU Press</a>.</p>econjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15500904082539595860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1534812907620779881.post-17327106310420093962021-06-03T10:35:00.000-04:002021-06-03T10:35:15.871-04:00Mask etiquette memories<p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLessJULw3eIb93KiNLDDNhJ7rwkMqEXCDHMoGYL324dTqNz55IxZogFuXXPBDikXRw9ld69W9o5YdpbFMmRV54geMY0hjD8mRo972tzc8CUSbybX46mDDtSjG3pePfZGjkUdiowE3cPG0/s2048/Bucky+Mask+Etiquette+0621.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1572" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLessJULw3eIb93KiNLDDNhJ7rwkMqEXCDHMoGYL324dTqNz55IxZogFuXXPBDikXRw9ld69W9o5YdpbFMmRV54geMY0hjD8mRo972tzc8CUSbybX46mDDtSjG3pePfZGjkUdiowE3cPG0/w308-h400/Bucky+Mask+Etiquette+0621.jpg" width="308" /></a><br /><br /></p><p>Yesterday was "mask freedom day" in Dane County and on campus at UW-Madison and most of the mask-related signs had already been taken down by the time I got in to work. But this one remained for me to claim as a COVID memento.</p>econjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15500904082539595860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1534812907620779881.post-15168663679708441472021-05-30T20:45:00.005-04:002021-05-30T20:46:16.452-04:00Pandemic endgame<p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDOKvXyCmClXRV_SWKNrHPxbqxc5t3WuAVG3w7qbezmVc8IfG3OLC-EAJp_sEKveeS2ztkq42cFP2IzfcYv4ie-AmeiSyKa5Rzhyphenhyphen4Ogp4QsPai8B6k2HPHoTGSiJFrHP7dBHA-glRAPr1X/s2048/DSW+Pandemic+Endgame+053021.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDOKvXyCmClXRV_SWKNrHPxbqxc5t3WuAVG3w7qbezmVc8IfG3OLC-EAJp_sEKveeS2ztkq42cFP2IzfcYv4ie-AmeiSyKa5Rzhyphenhyphen4Ogp4QsPai8B6k2HPHoTGSiJFrHP7dBHA-glRAPr1X/w400-h300/DSW+Pandemic+Endgame+053021.jpg" width="400" /></a></p><p><span style="text-align: center;">Dane County Mask Freedom Day is just two days away.</span></p>econjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15500904082539595860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1534812907620779881.post-38798474541105956582021-05-22T12:40:00.000-04:002021-05-22T12:40:03.686-04:00On worker fixed effects<p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDAeHLMhaRWOxWzONiy3kPMFkNZZTyDZh4rHqTvdJpR4RZAjwJxlLQEMJoz7CXb4LGYGKEIQDLKPBz2Fw9-IF2wzEgKijw5JBaaCJ8BiCWaWSvDjQf5sdk9LjriOhCMKlcz3QJ8QamLMl-/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="483" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDAeHLMhaRWOxWzONiy3kPMFkNZZTyDZh4rHqTvdJpR4RZAjwJxlLQEMJoz7CXb4LGYGKEIQDLKPBz2Fw9-IF2wzEgKijw5JBaaCJ8BiCWaWSvDjQf5sdk9LjriOhCMKlcz3QJ8QamLMl-/w301-h400/image.png" width="301" /></a></p><p>Hat tip: a friend</p>econjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15500904082539595860noreply@blogger.com0