Not much detail, as the paper that makes the claim is only available at present to American Economic Association members; but in Did Austerity Cause Brexit? University of Warwick economist Thiemo Fetzer asserts that he found a "significant association between the exposure of an individual or area to the UK government’s austerity-induced welfare reforms begun in 2010, and the following: the subsequent rise in support for the UK Independence Party, an important correlate of Leave support in the 2016 UK referendum on European Union membership; broader individual-level measures of political dissatisfaction; and direct measures of support for Leave. Leveraging data from all UK electoral contests since 2000, along with detailed, individual-level panel data, the findings suggest that the EU referendum could have resulted in a Remain victory had it not been for austerity." (Image: Peter Damian, CC-BY-SA) (via Marginal Revolution)
/
/
9:23 am Wed
Jul 10, 2019
Cutbacks caused Brexit: austerity correlates with UKIP membership
"Harbinger households": neighborhoods that consistently buy products that get discontinued, buy real-estate that underperforms, and donate to losing political candidates
In The Surprising Breadth of Harbingers of Failure (Sci-Hub mirror), a trio of economists and business-school profs build on a 2015 Journal of Marketing Research paper that claimed that some households' purchasing preferences are a reliable indicator of which products will fail -- that is, if households in a certain ZIP code like a product, […]
READ THE REST
The Oligarch Game: use coin-tosses to demonstrate "winner take all" and its power to warp perceptions
Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle created The Game of Oligarchy, which "shows that the 'free market' leads inexorably to one person getting all the money and everyone else going broke. And fast."
READ THE REST
Tiny alterations in training data can introduce "backdoors" into machine learning models
In TrojDRL: Trojan Attacks on Deep Reinforcement Learning Agents, a group of Boston University researchers demonstrate an attack on machine learning systems trained with "reinforcement learning" in which ML systems derive solutions to complex problems by iteratively trying multiple solutions.
READ THE REST
This SNES-Inspired controller offers an old school upgrade for PC and Switch gamers
When the SNES launched back in the early 1990s, it changed gaming forever. One of the innovations was a gamepad with four action buttons — something that has remained a constant on controllers ever since. The 8BitDo SN30 Bluetooth Gamepad brings that iconic design up to date, with Bluetooth connectivity and support for multiple platforms. […]
READ THE REST
Anyone Can Prep Delicious Meals With This App-Controlled Sous Vide Cooker That's Over 50% Off
After a long day at work, cooking a meal from scratch can seem like too much trouble. Unfortunately, the alternative is usually something unhealthy. Enter the Mellow Sous Vide Precision Cooker. This compact water bath uses cutting-edge technology to cook meat and veggies at the perfect temperature for exactly the right amount of time. It […]
READ THE REST
These noise-cancelling earbuds adapt to block noise or enhance conversations
In the course of any day, we encounter many different audio environments. If you are wearing earbuds, the ambient noise level can affect your listening experience. The HUB wireless earbuds adapt to different surroundings using smart noise-cancellation technology. They can either block out distractions or enhance conversations. They are normally priced at $250, but you […]
