Synthetic Worlds is a surprisingly profound book about the social, political, and economic issues arising from the emergence of vast multiplayer games on the Internet. What Castronova has realized is that these games, where players contribute considerable labor in exchange… — Tim Harford Copy Share Image
“Hours are long. Wages are pitiful. But sweatshops are the symptom, not the cause, of shocking global poverty. Workers go there voluntarily, which means—hard as it is to believe—that whatever their alternatives are, they are worse. They stay there, too;… — Tim Harford Copy Share Image
“The evolutionary algorithm--of variation and selection, repeated--searches for solutions in a world where the problems keep changing, trying all sorts of variants and doing… — Tim Harford Copy Share Image
There's lots and lots of guys out there. The question is trying to find the right one. — Tim Harford Copy Share Image
If the whole process of learning from failure means discarding stuff that's not working, but in fact, our natural reaction is to keep going,… — Tim Harford Copy Share Image
In many ways, love seems to be totally divorced from economics. But then you realize - well, the stakes are high. This is something… — Tim Harford Copy Share Image
I don't think Brian Cox does 'The Wonders of the Solar System' because he believes the world would be a better place if people… — Tim Harford Copy Share Image
Our society is intertwined with the economy that we've built, which is a fantastically complex system. I hope that my writing about it might… — Tim Harford Copy Share Image
You show me a successful complex system, and I will show you a system that has evolved through trial and error. — Tim Harford Copy Share Image
I think the association of economics with forecasting is unfortunate and is down to the fact that one great way to get an investment… — Tim Harford Copy Share Image
The more grotesque your boss's pay and the less he has do to earn it, the bigger the motivation for you to work with… — Tim Harford Copy Share Image
Bill Phillips was this nervous, chain-smoking student. He had signed up to be an engineer, he had gone away to fight in the Second… — Tim Harford Copy Share Image
“We should aim to make ours a world where people feel free to do things they enjoy, even if others are mildly inconvenienced, but… — Tim Harford Copy Share Image
Loss aversion is a really disproportionate anxiety about stuff that doesn't matter very much. So for instance, if you lose $5, you feel really… — Tim Harford Copy Share Image
