The first lesson here is that the person in possession of the desired resource – the landlord in this case – does not always have as much power as one would assume. And the story doesn’t specify whether Axel is (Location 226)
The truth is that it’s simply not possible to understand anything complicated without focusing on certain elements to reduce that complexity. (Location 304)
The most surprising examples of all come from the world of computers. For instance, IBM’s ‘LaserWriter E’, a low-end laser printer, turned out to be exactly the same piece of equipment as their high-end ‘LaserWriter’ – except that there was an additional chip in the cheaper version to slow it down. (Location 872)
You might not expect Jim Carrey films and economics to have much in common, but in fact there is much we can learn from the rubber-faced comedian. (Location 996)
prevent. But prices also give the signal to build more schools, hire more teachers or raise their wages if they’re in short supply, and buy better materials. In the longer term, a price system will transform a high willingness to pay for good schools into a lot of good schools, just as surely as it will transform a high demand for coffee into a lot of cappuccino. (Location 1134)
Note: quantification is important to enable us to make good decisionsfuf
statistics in everyday life. but - technocracy, the managerial view of politics, and economists belief in their models or the implicit presence of a median world of “truth” (but does this exist if it is unattainable? perhaps more importantly, can it be approached? ie do things get better the more we approach it? yes?
comes to facing up to the first kind of shaky information. We now know that any policy – of regulation, pricing, command and control, tax or ‘laissez-faire’ – contains implicit or explicit assumptions about the scientific evidence on externalities like pollution and congestion, and the subjective preferences of people about their time, convenience and health. (Location 1519)
