Best of Twitter - Week of November 15, 2021
The research could have far-reaching implications. Describing an anatomical pathway that links “your emotional state all the way to the inflammation in the colon,” Medzhitov said, “that, to me, is probably the best demonstration available for psychosomatic control.”
🫀 @dlx5dlx6
^ thoughts?
3/ The US tax system is MORE progressive than European countries'.
This is because the personal income tax is about as progressive in the US as in Western Europe (and much more progressive than in Eastern Europe), while indirect taxes are much lower.
4/ As a result, despite lower transfers, the US tax-and-transfer system is MORE redistributive than that of any European country.
About 6% of the national income is transferred to the bottom 50% in the US, versus 4% in Sweden and 0% in Serbia.
^ reminds me of:
Under communist rule, Poland was exceptionally unequal in nearly everything that mattered. *Wage inequality* was one of the few exceptions. The idea that inequality in Poland is much higher now than then is a statistical artefact -- one that relies on ignoring capital income 1/4
Romesh Vaitilingam @econromesh
^ and of:
Why?
Q: "Extreme poverty" as measured in surveys is rising fast in America. But... can we trust the data?
A: No. When you link to IRS data *half* of people in "extreme poverty" actually ARE NOT IN POVERTY AT ALL.
#NBERday
This post by @GrahamDuncanNYC is the single best thing on interviewing I've read in years. I re-read it every few months to just remind myself of it
Rivian is the first-ever company to be worth $100 billion with under $1 million in revenue.
All things considered, that's a pretty amazing accomplishment
^ it’s an electric car company, apparently legit
I knew scientists were territorial but this is next level.
Remember Katalin Karikó, the unsung hero of mRNA vaccines? Her advisor Robert Suhadolnik tried to have her deported when she accepted a competing offer in another lab.