Just having a super complicated tax system can wipe out a third of a country’s potential industrial output.
Cosmic Scale ssrn | Mar 18
Pay transparency laws are backfiring—they’re mostly just giving raises to men and college grads, not the people they were meant to help.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 18
YouTube has basically become a functional part of how we regulate banks now.
Practical Magic ssrn | Mar 18
If you cut "secondary" healthcare programs, even the life-saving treatments you kept will eventually stop working.
Practical Magic ssrn | Mar 18
Scaring students can actually make them do better on tests, especially for guys and non-native speakers.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 18
Nurses can miss 16 out of 17 routine ICU checks and it doesn't matter—the only one that actually predicts if you'll live is whether you're "oriented."
Practical Magic ssrn | Mar 18
Using AI to monitor companies makes their stock price go up, but it kills their ability to actually innovate in the long run.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 18
Female CEOs are 40% more likely to get buyout offers—not because they're seen as weak, but because they're better at merging complex companies.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 18
Hiring more doctors in China actually made it harder for patients to get medical care.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 18
When a parent pulls their kid out of a school lesson, they’re basically acting as a government regulator for everyone else's children.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 18
Regular people are opening thousands of PO boxes across state lines specifically to dodge online sales taxes.
Practical Magic ssrn | Mar 18
One party's extremism is a trap you can only get out of if the other side decides to chill out first.
Cosmic Scale ssrn | Mar 18
AI makes pay more equal for people in the same job, but it's causing the overall gender pay gap to widen in the industries that use it.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 18
Nearly 70% of the specific stuff the government wants to do in a new law gets "lost" or deleted before the rules take effect.
Practical Magic ssrn | Mar 18
We've spent ten years researching "flying taxis" without once stopping to ask if anyone could actually afford to fly in one.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 18
If there's only one big employer in town, marginalized workers don't just get lower pay—they're the ones most likely to lose their jobs.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 18
Stimulus checks actually kept used car prices down because everyone used them to trade in their old rides.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 18
The "incumbency advantage" is a myth almost everywhere in the world except for the most and least democratic nations.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 18
If a stock is extra sensitive to weather patterns, you can expect it to deliver lower returns to investors.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 18
Gas stations have "price wars" for years just to figure out how to work together and jack up prices for everyone else.
Practical Magic ssrn | Mar 18
You can accurately map the cultural borders of the U.S. just by looking at the first names people gave their kids in the 1800s.
Cosmic Scale ssrn | Mar 18
Trying to make industrial AI just a tiny bit more accurate is starting to cause a massive, scary spike in carbon emissions.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 18
Two years of weekly shutdowns that paralyzed transport in Nigeria didn't actually have any impact on infant mortality.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 18
In international business, a war lets you stop working, but it doesn't stop your obligation to keep paying back the bank.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 18
In deeply split societies, the group in charge keeps power by acting like they're "happier" and more "authentic" than everyone else.
Nature Is Weird ssrn | Mar 18
To keep AI from ruining the internet, we should treat bots like "wild animals" and charge them "rent" for using our digital spaces.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 18
Growing up in a super unequal society actually makes you more likely to want to send money to help other countries.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 18
Ancient civilizations actually stopped building their biggest monuments centuries before the climate even turned against them.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 18
When the economy tanks and big banks fail, micro-lenders actually grow, serving as a secret safety net.
Practical Magic ssrn | Mar 18
American doctors aren't overpaid relative to our economy; they're just part of a country where everyone at the top makes a lot more.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 18
Those "target-date" retirement funds that millions of people use are actually a pretty raw deal for low-income workers.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 18
Freezing tuition at failing for-profit colleges actually hurts students by tricking them into staying at a school that's about to collapse.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 18
Advanced AI can predict crypto trends way better by just "looking" at a price chart like a photo instead of crunching the actual financial numbers.
Practical Magic ssrn | Mar 18
More elections can actually destroy smart government by letting "tribal" leaders hire their friends instead of experts.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 18
Raising the retirement age is tanking the birth rate because it forces grandparents to stay at the office instead of helping with childcare.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 18
Governments can stop their currency from crashing just by asking banks for a "price check" without spending a single cent.
Practical Magic ssrn | Mar 18
Even though they totally disagree, those major studies on how money affects company investment are actually all equally correct.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 18
AI face analysis reveals that the pressure of getting promoted in government is literally making officials age way faster.
Practical Magic ssrn | Mar 18
You can "nudge" someone into buying your product, but those tricks fail completely at getting them to actually use it.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 18
Better video games and streaming services explain over 70% of why people are having fewer kids lately.
Paradigm Challenge arxiv | Mar 17
Hundreds of U.S. towns are pretending to be 'special districts' instead of cities just to dodge taxes and democratic oversight.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 17
Dissent in a major federal court dropped by two-thirds after just one judge left, proving one person can be the entire engine of a court's debate.
Nature Is Weird ssrn | Mar 17
Financial rules meant to keep markets safe are mathematically guaranteed to create loopholes for people to cheat the system.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 17
When a creator has a scandal, fans don't just hate them now—they actually go back and rewrite their own history of liking the work.
Nature Is Weird ssrn | Mar 17
Boys with the absolute worst attendance in high school are actually way more likely to end up in high-earning college programs.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 17
Letting businesses use their patents as collateral for loans can boost a whole country’s economic output by 14%.
Practical Magic ssrn | Mar 17
Turns out the economic 'cost' of diabetes on the workforce has been wildly overestimated for the last 30 years.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 17
Tiny improvements in women's empowerment don't actually do anything to make them want more out of life.
Nature Is Weird ssrn | Mar 17
Treating e-cigarettes like regular tobacco actually keeps people smoking longer compared to countries that treat them differently.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 17
Immigrant communities have learned the police schedules so well that their spending drops even on days when no one is getting arrested.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 17
Making the rules stricter can actually make it easier for companies to hide their dirty laundry from the government.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 17
People see even a tiny bit of AI in art as 'contamination'—they'll devalue it just as much as if a machine made the whole thing.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 17
In a weird twist, extreme heat waves in Italy actually drive inflation down instead of up.
Nature Is Weird ssrn | Mar 17
Breaking a long-held economic rule, big farms in India have actually become more productive than small ones.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 17
Illegal toxic waste dumping by the mob is causing about two extra cancer deaths every year in certain Italian towns.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 17
Workers who know their boss is going to review them are actually *more* likely to just mindlessly copy and paste from an AI.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 17
We could cut the climate impact of flying by 60% just by avoiding those white 'contrails'—and it would barely cost anything extra.
Practical Magic ssrn | Mar 17
Those 'Report Misinformation' buttons on social media are basically just a placebo to make you feel better.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 17
Lawsuits meant to protect the environment actually have the weird side effect of shrinking the pay gap between bosses and workers.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 17
Immigrant workers at companies with Republican-leaning CEOs end up making 8% less than those at firms led by Democrats.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 17
Being named one of the world's most sustainable companies actually causes a company's stock price to take a hit.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 17
That 'simple' small claims court meant to help artists protect their work is so confusing that most cases just get thrown out.
Practical Magic ssrn | Mar 17
The safer a politician’s seat is, the more likely they are to vote for extreme, crazy policies instead of playing it safe.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 17
If you frame a coupon as a way to 'steal resources' from a big corporation, twice as many people will jump through hoops to get it.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 17
Big hospitals and schools actually drive down property values in busy cities, while parks make them skyrocket.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 17
Judges aren't just born biased—they 'catch' it from their colleagues or from seeing social unrest early in their careers.
Practical Magic ssrn | Mar 17
When the government cracks down on farmers burning fields, industrial pollution actually spikes because the inspectors are too busy to watch the factories.
Practical Magic ssrn | Mar 17
Swapping the types of crops farmers plant is twice as effective at saving groundwater as buying high-tech irrigation gear.
Practical Magic ssrn | Mar 17
As countries get richer and better run, the number of women choosing STEM degrees actually starts to drop.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 17
Putting people from opposite political parties on the same corporate audit committee actually makes the company's math more honest.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 17
Companies tend to buy the crappiest carbon offsets when the projects are located right near their own headquarters.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 17
Patent applications are four times longer than they used to be just because word processors make it so easy to copy-paste filler text.
Practical Magic ssrn | Mar 17
Despite what everyone in the neighborhood says, building a giant data center nearby has zero impact on how much your house is worth.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 17
Legalizing sports betting has absolutely no impact on state lottery sales.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 17
If you give an AI agent a little bit of 'social' personality, humans are way more likely to forgive it when it screws up.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 17
The 1970s divorce boom might have been caused by a sudden surplus of young women rather than a shift in morals.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 17
Making college cheaper can actually backfire and make students study less for their entrance exams.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 17
Racial inequality in jail isn't just about over-policing—it’s driven just as much by judges giving white people 'selective mercy.'
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 17
Corrupt government agencies don't just accidentally hire bad auditors—they strategically pick the ones with the worst reputations to help hide their crimes.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 17
Swapping social media for ChatGPT for two months actually gives your memory and critical thinking a massive boost.
Practical Magic ssrn | Mar 17
Generative AI is actually a huge win for experienced workers, making them look even better compared to the younger tech-savvy crowd.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 17
Online stores actually need those cranky customers who leave bad reviews to keep the whole rating system from becoming a joke.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 17
Investors are way more likely to buy a stock if some totally unrelated company with the same price happens to be doing well.
Nature Is Weird ssrn | Mar 17
Forget the 'nesting' myth—people actually spend way less money while they’re pregnant and only start splurging after the baby shows up.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 17
A popular TV show about headhunters actually caused real-world stock market chaos for real recruiting companies.
Nature Is Weird ssrn | Mar 17
In cutthroat markets, just letting the players talk to each other fixes waste better than changing the prize money.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 17
A person’s language starts shifting in specific 'mathematical' ways—like a shrinking sense of time—right before a mental health crisis hits.
Practical Magic ssrn | Mar 17
All these non-binding 'AI ethics' promises are making the technology more dangerous because nobody takes the warnings seriously anymore.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 17
A new legal theory argues that since consenting to sex isn't consenting to being a parent, the law should let people 'opt out' of child support.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 17
Graders for China’s big college entrance exam often ignore the rules to reward students who write essays with 'moral correctness.'
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 17
AI data centers can pay 100 times more for electricity than other industries and still walk away with a profit.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 17
Public companies are basically 'day trading' their own stock to boost their market value by about 1% every year.
Practical Magic ssrn | Mar 17
The Great Crash of 1929 wasn't a bubble or a loss of faith—it was caused by a massive pile-up of unsold stuff in warehouses.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 17
The best way to pay back victims of price-fixing is to let the first criminal who snitches lead the lawsuit against his old buddies.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 17
Just being mentioned in the news—even for something good—triggers a 'spotlight tax' where auditors start charging you way more.
Practical Magic ssrn | Mar 17
About half of a brand's dominance comes from secret, long-term deals with grocery stores, not because people actually like the product more.
Practical Magic ssrn | Mar 17
When banks fight harder for corporate clients, businesses actually cut their R&D spending just to make their profits look better on paper.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 17
When a study finds that a policy had 'no effect,' it might actually be a sign that the market is so competitive it's become immune to outside help.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 17
Laws meant to stop people from bullying journalists actually end up making factory floors safer for workers.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 17
Power plant owners are blocking new battery companies from the market just by messing with prices to make storage look unprofitable.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 17