Just wanted to point out a quite striking reply by K. Rogoff of the IMF to economics Nobel prize winner Joseph Stiglitz's most recent book. The context you will gather from reading the reply: I just thought such well-crafted "correspondance" almost seems pre-20th century, which goes to show progress should not necessarily be taken for granted...

http://www.imf.org/external/np/vc/2002/070202.HTM

Let me simply list topics of interest to me these days (March 2002):

1. Productivity: what are the drivers of Canadian productivity? What would be the key levers to increase productivity nationwide (currency? taxation? management practices? deregulation?)?

2. Tipping...: as in The Tipping Point, this wonderful book that attempts to describe in a sociological fashion the well-known S-curve of technological adoption (without mentioning it). The disappointment is that the application of the theory to the public policy management of smoking seems overly un-ambitious. What would be more powerful applications of the theory?

3. Boundaries: as in G. Spencer-Brown's deep Laws of Form. Isn't there a deep connection of purpose between the way a cell's membrane and a property right act? Aren't they both a triggering device that signals something is happening in the world when the boundary is crossed?

That's it for now, let's see Radio UserLand in action... Cheers to my first weblog!

Frédérick Charette's Radio Weblog