All posts tagged: economics

The Horrible Economics of AI Are Starting to Come Crashing Down

The Horrible Economics of AI Are Starting to Come Crashing Down

Published by José Betancourt

Sign up to see the future, today Can’t-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech An eyebrow-raising trend has emerged this year: tech leaders rating their employees’ productivity based on the number of AI tokens they use. The trend, ribbingly dubbed “tokenmaxxing,” has sparked discourse for symbolizing the Silicon Valley’s unbridled infatuation with using AI as much as possible — and, quite literally, at all costs. But what’s so far been a free or at least low-cost ride could be coming to a screeching halt. Setbacks plaguing the construction of AI data centers have brought the industry’s biggest chokepoint to the forefront: access to the precious computing power that makes frontier models tick. As costs continue to ramp up, enterprise consumers could soon be left holding the bag, with companies like OpenAI and Anthropic looking to ramp up prices to stem at least some of the bleeding. It’s a notable shift after years of complimentary access to cutting-edge AI, a practice that has long belied the tech’s true costs. “Is the era of …

How economics killed a beloved L.A. plus-size shop

How economics killed a beloved L.A. plus-size shop

Published by Sam Flores

About two-thirds of American women are plus-size, but here in L.A., you’d never know that by looking at the shifting retail landscape. Mass market plus-size retailers like City of Industry-based Torrid are closing dozens of stores, while big-box stores including Target and Old Navy have been stealthily reducing the amount of plus-size stock they carry on shelves, choosing instead to direct shoppers to their online portals. The few locally owned plus-size boutiques aren’t faring much better. Recently, Marcy Guevara-Prete, owner of Atwater Village’s Perfect 10+, announced her intention to close her store on April 27. All clothes and accessories will be 60% off, and she is selling some of the store’s fixtures and mannequins. After shuttering her decade-old, hot-pink, plus-size resale shop, the Plus Bus, in Highland Park last fall, she thought paring down her store’s stock and slightly expanding its sizing could save her business. Her rent in Highland Park was up to $6,000 a month, she says, and the move to a smaller space in Atwater Village cut her expenses in half. But …

The Paradox of China’s Crypto Regulation and Capital Going Global (Part 2)

The Paradox of China’s Crypto Regulation and Capital Going Global (Part 2)

Published by Jenni Sidey

The Global Expansion of Chinese Crypto Capital and the Systemic Collapse of Community Culture In Part 1, I examined how China and the United States have gradually diverged onto two fundamentally different regulatory and institutional paths in the Web3 era. While the American model remains anchored in token-based financialization and dollar-linked stablecoins, China has deliberately removed the coin from the centre of its Web3 strategy, repositioning blockchain as an infrastructure for governable data, industrial coordination, and sovereign digital currency. Next, we’ll turn to the global political and cultural implications of Chinese crypto capital. Against this backdrop of domestic regulatory restructuring, a striking paradox emerges: even as China tightens control over crypto activity at home, capital and actors with Chinese backgrounds continue to expand aggressively in overseas markets. The clearest examples are the reported cooperation between Binance and the Trump family, as well as Justin Sun’s appearance at a White House dinner as a major token holder. Whatever these interactions may ultimately signify in legal, compliance, or political-symbolic terms, they at least produce a powerful visual …

A Pillar of Economics Admits That It Was Wrong

A Pillar of Economics Admits That It Was Wrong

Published by Daniella Wilson

How does a country get rich? For decades, the economics establishment generally agreed on a simple answer: Embrace free markets and avoid “industrial policy”—state-led efforts to shape what an economy produces—at all costs. No institution embodied this viewpoint, widely known as the “Washington Consensus,” quite like the World Bank. Established in 1944 to provide low-interest loans to developing countries, the bank soon became the intellectual center of development economics. In the 1990s, it took a hard stance against industrial policy, turning the concept almost into a taboo. But now industrial policy is back, and it has a surprising new champion: the World Bank. A report issued last month argues that the bank’s previous stance had things backward: Government intervention, when done right, can actually be an essential ingredient of economic success. Industrial policy “should be considered in the national policy toolkit of all countries,” the report concludes. “It’s hard to overstate what a big deal this is,” Jake Sullivan, who served as national security adviser under Joe Biden, told me. “The most important institutional voice …

The labor economics of ‘Alien’ — and its lessons for inequality on Earth : Planet Money : NPR

The labor economics of ‘Alien’ — and its lessons for inequality on Earth : Planet Money : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

This article first appeared in the Planet Money newsletter. You can sign up here. OK, hear me out. I’m about to get into a new book with a provocative argument about why income inequality has exploded in America and how to fight it. But at the center of this very serious economic book is a concept that has me thinking a lot about … the labor economics of the movie Alien. You know, the classic sci-fi horror movie starring Sigourney Weaver, with that diabolical alien — the “Xenomorph” — which has inspired like a dozen other movies and TV shows in the years since. It provides a sort of extreme example of an economic phenomenon that this book and an increasing number of economists suggest is a lurking monster in the labor market that needs to be confronted. A central storyline in Alien franchise goes something like this: In 2099, a British company and a Japanese company merged to create the all-powerful Weyland-Yutani Corporation, a multi-planetary conglomerate with tentacles in artificial intelligence, robotics, terraforming, mining, …

The Silent Collapse Of The American Family Is Happening Right Now And Most People Don’t Even See It

The Silent Collapse Of The American Family Is Happening Right Now And Most People Don’t Even See It

Published by Jenni Sidey

It’s hard to ignore how many news headlines have started to raise awareness of the families who have split apart as a result of the political environment we’re facing. Families, once united, are shattering into little pieces.  Pew Center Research helped show how families are dissolving right in front of people’s eyes. For decades (if not centuries), the nuclear family was at the heart of American living. So, what happens when nuclear families … go nuclear? The silent collapse of the American family is happening right now, and most people don’t even see it CREATISTA via Shutterstock As it turns out, a study suggested there is a term for the breaking apart of society from a community (or family) into lonely individuals: atomization. Weirdly, it’s a subtle nod to the tradition of the “nuclear family,” where multiple “atoms” would create an atom’s nucleus. Multiple atoms bond to create molecules, larger bunches of the building blocks of reality. When people atomize a substance, they break the bonds of those molecules and drop the pressure, leaving you …

Riane Eisler on Partnership Systems, Caring Economics, and Humanist Values in the 21st Century

Riane Eisler on Partnership Systems, Caring Economics, and Humanist Values in the 21st Century

Published by Sam Flores

Riane Eisler, an Austrian-born American systems scientist, futurist and human rights advocate, is renowned for her influential work on cultural transformation and gender equity. Best known for “The Chalice and the Blade,” she introduced the partnership vs. dominator models of social organization. She received the Humanist Pioneer Award in 1996, and in conversation with Scott Douglas Jacobsen, Eisler emphasized the urgent need for humanists to focus on values-based systems and the transformative power of caring economics. Drawing from neuroscience and history, she argues that peace begins at home and calls for a shift in worldview to build more equitable, sustainable, and compassionate societies rooted in connection, not control. The three books of hers of note that could be highlighted are “The Chalice and the Blade”—now in its 57th U.S. printing with 30 foreign editions, “The Real Wealth of Nations,” and “Nurturing Our Humanity: How Domination and Partnership Shape Our Brains, Lives, and Future” (Oxford University Press, 2019). Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Today, we are here with Riane Eisler. She is an Austrian-born American systems scientist, cultural …

Micro Softy 71: Strange Economics

Micro Softy 71: Strange Economics

Published by Jenni Sidey

Great nerds are able to grasp deeper meanings. So here is this week’s Micro Softy about an overheard conversation. Bill walks into Home Depot looking to buy something for his home. He asks the clerk in charge, “How much for one?” “Sixty cents,” the clerk replies. “Okay, how about 11?” “That’d be a dollar twenty.” “Great,” Bill says. “I’ll take 101.” “That’ll be a dollar eighty,” the clerk answers. So, here’s this week’s Micro Softy. What was Bill buying? Solution to Micro Softy 70: The Light Above Your Stairs Last week’s puzzle asks: how does a two-way switch control the light on the stairs? There is a switch downstairs and one upstairs. If the light is on, flip either switch and the light turns off. If the light is off, flip either switch and the light is turned on. To see how this works, look at the figure. The two switches used are called “single throw – double pole.” One switch is upstairs (marked U) and the other downstairs (marked D). As shown, both switches …

The Paradox of China’s Crypto Regulation and Capital Going Global (Part 2)

The Paradox of China’s Crypto Regulation and Capital Going Global (Part 1)

Published by Jenni Sidey

How China’s Web3 Is Shifting from Token Finance to Data and State Credit On November 28, 2025, the People’s Bank of China convened a meeting to discuss combating virtual-currency trading and speculation. Participants included the Ministry of Public Security, the Cyberspace Administration of China, the Central Financial Commission, the Supreme People’s Court, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Justice, the People’s Bank of China, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the National Financial Regulatory Administration, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange. The meeting made clear, based on the requirements set out in the 2021 joint notice issued by ten government agencies, that stablecoins are considered a form of virtual currency. At present, they cannot adequately meet requirements for customer identification, anti–money-laundering compliance, or related regulatory standards. They also carry significant risks of being used for money laundering, fraudulent fundraising, and illegal cross-border capital transfers. As such, they do not possess the same legal status as …