Favorites August 18th 2021

Roan Kattouw @catrope

The project to build a second train tunnel between San Francisco and Oakland says they're budgeting $1 billion just for environmental review. ONE BILLION DOLLARS, to prove that adding capacity to the most crowded train line in California is good for the environment

So, this is all because of CEQA. But to rub salt in the wound: highway expansion projects can avoid the requirements with nonsense accounting. On a related note, we really need to close great highway to cars permanently.

Nate Silver @NateSilver538

Although this is commonly asserted, there really isn't much evidence that in the medium to long run, the supply of vaccine is finite. The counterargument is that greater demand will lead to more (perhaps long-lasting) investment in the supply chain and manufacturing capabilities.

If we find ways to throw more money at vaccines, we will eventually get more vaccines. In the medium-term, these are pretty standard market conditions.

Lindsey Walter @LindseyNWalter

Senate Dems are pushing for a clean electricity payment program (CEPP) to be included in the $3.5T reconciliation bill Here's my summary on the CEPP & it's many benefits for Americans across the country 🧵 thirdway.org/memo/dont-call…

thirdway.orgDon’t Call it a Standard: What’s Unique About the Clean Electricity Payment Program (CEPP) – Third WayThird Way is a centrist think tank that offers fresh thinking and modern solutions to the most challenging problems in U.S. public policy, including the economy, energy, national security and social policies.

I am pretty excited about this reconciliation infrastructure bill.

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias

Cowless milk

cnn.comThis startup is creating ‘real’ dairy, without cowsChemical and biological engineer Ryan Pandya (left) and biomedical engineer Perumal Gandhi (right) founded Perfect Day in 2014.

Not sure 'molecularly' is a word, but this is interesting, it's a higher bar than what something like Impossible Burger aims for with meat.

jerlanson @jerlanson

Good read about societal effects of expanding Medicaid and the immediate benefits thereof.

John B. Holbein @JohnHolbein1

Can you guess what happens when young men are kicked off Medicaid? ... ... ... They are more likely to commit a crime. Why? In part, because they lose mental health services. "Expanding Medicaid...is a cost-effective policy for reducing crime" https://t.co/ylr7qDky10 https://t.co/5tFGJhIarN

Medicaid cuts are a useful external factor to use for comparisons, very impressive.

Alex Tabarrok @ATabarrok

I don't think there is a pressing need for booster shots but they are probably inevitable given fear. But please make them fractional doses to preserve as much supply as possible for the rest of the world!

bfi.uchicago.eduCould Vaccine Dose Stretching Reduce COVID-19 Deaths? | BFIWe argue that alternative COVID-19 vaccine dosing regimens could potentially dramatically accelerate global COVID-19 vaccination and reduce mortality, and that the costs of testing these regimens are dwarfed...

Do not forget about fractional dosing, it's still a useful idea! And it's not the only useful idea out there!

Noah Smith 🐇 @Noahpinion

Over the long run, housing has offered stock-like returns with far less risk than stocks. Normally we think this shouldn't happen. Also, there's a strong argument that more of the return to housing comes from pure rents than for stocks.

I'm amazed it's so high in all these different countries. Totally ridiculous. If there's one thing these countries all have in common it's that they'd clearly benefit from a Land Value Tax.

Dean Takahashi @deantak

Can someone explain why we don't have water desalinization plants again? https://t.co/R7XZLArnyt

Probably time to be building those, yes.

Pioneer Press @PioneerPress

St. Paul eliminates parking minimums pipr.es/Lqgeb8t

In San Diego, they essentially turned their parking minimums into maximums, which is another interesting option.

Santa Cruz, March 2021