Average is over: Powering America Beyond the Age of the Great Stagnation

Self-recommending. Tyler argues that as we get better at measuring productivity, market will increasingly reward people who can work well with machines/artificial intelligence and who are good at marketing and making people feel good. These people are likely to be self-motivated and conscientious. I think these are also people who are open to experimentation, more resilient to failure (have grit), and adaptable. To the extent that genes determine a significant part of our personality and temperament and meta-cognition and that they are not easy to change, I tend to agree with Tyler’s conclusion that income inequality trend will continue.  The positive note is that this doesn’t mean the low-income people cannot still enjoy a relatively decent life of cheap entertainment.

Links to interviews: EconTalk,  npr, TechCrunch

How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia

A novel about life: luck, growing up, falling in love, what it takes to be successful, decline, and ageing. I like the portrayal of the transient nature of most things in life.

Wealth and Power: China’s Long March to the Twenty-first Century

An interesting read on China’s modern history, focusing on some of the main characters involved. A good starting point to understand Chinese nationalism and the motivations behind the top leaders.

Here is an interview with Orville Schell.

Money Mischief: Episodes in Monetary History

A good, non-technical guide to monetary policy with historical examples. Surprised I didn’t read this earlier.

How China Became Capitalist

Market oriented reforms, pragmatic leadership, and willingness to experiment are some of the key elements to China successful development. China is lucky to have Deng Xiaoping and Zhu Rongji. Coase and Wang ends with a quote by Adam Smith: “The great source of both the misery and disorders of human life, seems to arise from over-rating the difference between one permanent situation and another…”

Lee Kuan Yew: The Grand Master’s Insights on China, the United States, and the World

A short book summarizing Lee’s views. Always interesting to hear what this opinionated visionary has to say.

Korea: The impossible country

Entertaining read to learn more about South Korea’s history and culture and some of the social and economic issues it faces.

The Year Without Pants: WordPress.com and the Future of Work

Scott Berkun on his experience at WordPress and thoughts on the future of work. Similar to Tyler’s view, I read him as saying that those who are self-motivated and can communicate effectively will do well, and learning from experimentation will become increasingly important.

China’s Urban Billion: The story behind the biggest migration in human history

Good overview on how China’s been urbanizing and the various problems it faces. Hukou reforms are complicated as they need to go hand in hand with fiscal reforms to address local government revenue, land reforms and property rights, education and retraining, and city planning and environmental impact. These are likely topics that the central government will address in its upcoming plenum in November.

In Spite of the Gods: The Rise of Modern India

Helps me better understand India’s politics and economy and the tremendous challenges it faces.

Top Dog: The Science of Winning and Losing

Po Bronson and Ashley Merryma summarize research on competition. Some takeaways (not sure if they are robust): Competition helps to improve our performance and facilitates creative output. Better competitors are those better at controlling their psychological state. “Performance is facilitated and learning is impaired by the presence of spectators.” Positive pep talks don’t help much, while thinking about the potential obstacles helps. Boys and girls might thrive in different competitive environment.

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