Links April 21

Richard Florida on Immigrants and the Wealth of Nations:
"Americans like think of their country as the world’s great melting pot. But this new immigration index and our analysis suggest that that’s no longer an assumption that can be taken for granted.

While America’s pundits and politicians obsess over the alleged social costs of illegal immigration, they should be worried that we may not always be the premier destination for legal immigrants, who bring the skills, energy and ambition that provide so much of the punch for the twin engines of innovation and entrepreneurship. As Scott Page wrote in The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies, “When we meet people who think differently than we do, who speak different languages, who have different experiences, training, and values, we should see opportunity and possibility. We should recognize that a talented ‘I’ and a talented ‘they’ can become an even more talented ‘we.’”

Nations that welcome the best and most diverse talent win, while those that close their borders to it fall further and further behind. The ability not just to attract immigrants but to integrate and effectively harness their skills is a key axis of global economic success, now and even more so in the future."

C.P. Chandrasekhar on Development Banks: Their role and importance for development. Abstract:
"The role of development banks in the development trajectories of late industrialising, developing countries cannot be overemphasised. However, with financial liberalisation of the neoliberal variety transforming financial structures, some countries are doing away with specialised development banking institutions on the grounds that equity and bond markets would do the job. This is bound to lead to a shortfall in finance for long-term investments, especially for medium and small enterprises."

two posts on Jonathan Levin: John Bates Clark Winner 2011: "How could we take what we’ve learned from the mathematical theory of auctions, or mathematical theories of information economics, and actually do it. How could you find interesting markets in the world and apply those ideas, and when would they apply?"

Two reviews of 'The Information' by James Gleick. I found the book informative and largely enjoyable but clutteres and spluttering towards the end. There is also an interesting 'review' by Freeman Dyson How We Know and a detailed one in NewYork Times James Gleick’s History of Information.