Articles 2024
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Innovation moves from the laboratory to the bike trail and the kitchen.
The New York Times, "Economic Scene", April 21, 2005
WHEN most people think about where new or improved products come from, they imagine two kinds of innovators: either engineers and marketers in big companies trying to "find a need and fill it" or garage entrepreneurs hoping to strike it rich by inventing the next big thing.
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The Function of Fashion
Blueprint, April 2005
Arguing that aesthetics in design are more important that it is fashionable to admit, Virginia Postrel’s voice has not yet carried as far as the UK. But given the waves she is making Stateside with her book The Substance of Style, it won’t be long before it does. -
I'm Pro-Choice
Too much choice may cause regret, but no choice is worse. Subjects who ate a chocolate selected by the experimenter, rather than the one they'd picked, were much less satisfied.
Forbes, March 26, 2005
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How changing the sheets can make a hotel room "new"
The New York Times, "Economic Scene", March 24, 2005
Earlier this month, Marriott International unveiled new designs for the rooms in its various hotel chains. These are not routine updates to replace worn-out furniture or carpets. They represent a significant shift from the cookie-cutter standardization that built Marriott into one of the world's largest hotel companies, to a new emphasis on aesthetics and personalization.
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Is Dallas Good for Smart People? Sort of.
Dallas Morning News, March 04, 2005
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Some economists say the president of Harvard talks just like one of them.
The New York Times, "Economic Scene", February 24, 2005
Before he went into government at the World Bank and Treasury Department, Lawrence H. Summers was a star economist. The habits of mind that made him a successful researcher -- including the style and rhetoric that economists use when they talk to each other -- help explain why he is now embroiled in controversy as president of Harvard.
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Old Hollywood Glamour
And the man who invented it.
Slate, February 23, 2005
Click here to read a slide-show essay about Hollywood photographer George Hurrell. -
A Nimble Newcomer in the Staid Old Furniture Industry
American Leather reinvents furniture manufacturing.
The New York Times, February 19, 2005
DALLAS--When Bob Duncan was studying engineering management at the University of Texas, back in the mid-1980s, Japanese competition had American businesses terrified. "There was great concern that Japan would eliminate the U.S. manufacturing base just totally," he recalls.
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What happened when two rich countries liberalized trade? Pain, and then gain
The New York Times, "Economic Scene", January 27, 2005
Economists argue for free trade. They have two centuries of theory and experience to back them up. And they have recent empirical studies of how the liberalization of trade has increased productivity in less-developed countries like Chile and India. Lowering trade barriers, they maintain, not only cuts costs for consumers but aids economic growth and makes the general public better off.
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The Book of Jobs
Essay on the continuing popularity of What Color Is Your Parachute?
The New York Times Book Review, January 14, 2005