Categories for General
Growth Doesn’t Mean More Environmental Impacts
In a recent article, George Monbiot criticised growth, arguing that if the economy doubles in size then so do environmental impacts. But the UK's economy grew by 74% from 1990–2018, while CO2 emissions fell by 19%.
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Safetyism Kills
The FT reports that rich countries have given more *booster* doses than poor countries have given *total* doses. Why so few doses in poor countries? Rich countries wasted millions on young healthy people.
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Lockdown and the Pretence of Knowledge
In his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, F.A. Hayek noted: "the erroneous belief that the exercise of some power would have beneficial consequences is likely to lead to a new power to coerce". This remains true today.
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Experts Are Worse Than Non-experts at Forecasting Cases and Deaths, Study Finds
The epiforecast group at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine recently held a competition to forecast cases and deaths. They found that self-declared experts performed slightly worse than non-experts.
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Why Are People’s Risk Perceptions So Skewed?
For months, we’ve been treated to morbid ‘daily death numbers’ – but for only one cause of death. Perhaps if these figures had been reported for all causes of death, people’s risk perceptions would be less skewed.
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Democrats Still Dramatically Overestimate the Risks of COVID-19
In a recent Gallup poll, 41% of Democrats said the risk of hospitalisation for those who aren't vaccinated is at least 50%. Given such skewed risk perceptions, is it any surprise that COVID theatre is still with us?
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Community Masking: Where did ‘The Science’ Come From?
During the spring of 2020, the official advice on masks went from "do not wear one" to "wear one" in a matter of weeks. Why such a sudden change? It may have all started with a chart that went viral on social media.
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Why Did So Few Economists Speak Out Against Lockdown?
Why did so few economists speak out against lockdowns? Mikko Packalen and Jay Bhattacharya note that economists are members of the 'laptop class', and that over the years, the field has become more technocratic.
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Women Are Consistently More Pro-Lockdown, Study Finds
Researchers analysed data from eight countries, and found a consistent gender difference in attitudes to lockdown, with women being more pro-lockdown. This is despite the fact that COVID-19 is more lethal in men.
Read more The Vaccine Roll-Out Was Based on Safetyism, Not Science
Many people – including some world leaders – see the vaccines as a way to ensure that nobody ever has to get COVID. But this view is based more on safetyism than on science. And ironically, it’s causing real harm.
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