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Noah Smith

An economist offering optimistic and analytical takes on economics, technology, and geopolitics.

www.noahpinion.blog www.thefp.com
30
articles (90 days)
2
followers

Recent articles

Roundup #87: Technology BAD!!
The Hugging Face attack; TV and loneliness; Leftist antisemitism; Another Acemoglu paper; The Electric Revolution
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In defense of Asian American art
People are creating some very interesting and original stuff!
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Here’s how we’re all going to die
Spoiler: It’s vibe-coded superviruses.
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The death of Market Street
How San Francisco turned its most iconic street into a giant empty scar.
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What if our biggest problems aren’t economic?
A new social challenge for a new century.
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Are we watching the U.S. go bankrupt?
No, but there are still reasons for concern.
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Economists should be worried about birth rates
Don’t be so quick to dismiss the threat of an aging, declining population.
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Where to eat in San Francisco
Part 1 of my personal recommendations.
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The end of an era for China's economy
Zhu Rongji's formula won't work anymore. But that doesn't mean Xi Jinping's will work either.
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Roundup #86: Unintended consequences
The MAGA decline; The labor share decline; OPTs and American jobs; AI and Indian outsourcing; Drug users; AI and productivity; Botswana; Interracial Marriage; AI writing
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The poverty of anti-tech thought
Some of my colleagues have been led into an intellectual cul-de-sac.
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Banning data centers would blow up the U.S. economy
There's one thing keeping us afloat right now, and people want to get rid of it.
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Are the Democrats going to save us this time?
And if not, what do we do?
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Welcome to the Age of Slopulism
Sometimes bad populist ideas are honest mistakes. Sometimes they are pushed for ideological reasons. The first can be corrected with better information. The second is much harder to stop, writes No...
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The end of the age of heroes
AI will soon be better at math than any human. What does that mean?
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Slopulism is taking over America
Sometimes bad populist ideas are just a mistake; sometimes they're being promoted for ideological reasons.
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Why did South Korean stocks just crash?
The AI boom creates a lot of uncertainty.
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Roundup #85: Most policy is also industrial policy
Trump and science; U.S. national debt; Europe and software; America and trains; China and metal refining; Indian women; Murder
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What will more intelligence actually do for us?
A lot, actually. But it won't look quite like what humans do with our intelligence.
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We asked too much of the American university
Our one remaining functional institution is going downhill.
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Who was the worst monster of the 20th century?
And who is the worst monster of the 21st?
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The UK is a cautionary tale for the U.S.
Learning from Britain's missteps doesn't mean looking down on them.
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America's political economy is pretty bleak right now
We can get some good things done, but major efforts will be difficult with our divided politics.
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Book Review: "Power and Progress"
A timely repost.
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Why I didn't sign the "We Must Act Now" statement (yet)
I'd like to know exactly what the actions are.
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The American suburbs are better than you think
They're not my personal cup of tea, but there are good reasons people like them.
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I have never been working class
Unlike some American elites, I actually understand this fact.
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MAGA's attack on science is even worse than it looks
The engine that powered history's greatest nation is in danger.
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JD Vance's crusade against GDP is wrong and bad
Making Americans poorer won't make our society better.
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No, China did not manage to avoid a crash
But there are still things we can learn from how they manage their macroeconomy.
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