Alexander Kustov writes about the pro-immigration “noble lies” in the discourse. I don’t agree with everything in this post - I’m more willing to make assumptions about external validity than Alexander is, for a start - but I think it’s good to criticize your own “side”!
Data cleaning: maybe the most important part of doing economics?
Jordan Dworkin coins a new term: YIMPS (Yes In My Preprint Server).
Luzia Bruckamp shows that the share of pregnancies in England and Wales that end in abortion is now the highest in Europe. She thinks this may be related to lower use of contraception and easier access to abortion.
Recommend this piece on “the official population number for the Democratic Republic of Congo might be basically fictional, and other Census issues” by David Oks
The Institute for Progress has an RFP for projects that will help prepare the world for advanced AI.
Moderna is scaling back investment in vaccine trials due to anti-vax sentiment. Seems… not great.
There were fewer births in China in 2025 than in 1776.1
Eating fava beans can destroy the red blood cells of 5% of the world population. To quote Gavin Leech, “species dreamt up by the utterly deranged”.
I have not fact-checked this assertion.