• Using behavioral science to make smarter energy policy
  I'm reading "Nudge" right now, this is a perfect example of the value of behavioral science. Behavioral programs create $165 worth of profit per ton of carbon pollution reduced. Plug in hybrids cost $12, wind power costs $20, carbon capture of coal costs $44. US could save $2.2 trillion per year.
• How Entrepreneurs Acquire the Capacity to Excel (PDF)
  "to the extent entrepreneurs acquire enhanced cognitive resources through current or past deliberate practice, their capacity to perform tasks related to new venture success is enhanced"
• Profiting on the Internet
  New research shows that firms gain competitive advantage through combining internet-based capabilities with complimentary organizational capabilities.
• In Financial Regulation, Recognize Our Limitations
  "Perhaps the best place to start is to acknowledge what we cannot do. If recent events have taught economists and policy makers anything, it is the need for humility."
• How A ‘Big Tent’ Can Be Too Big
  The statistics nerds at OkCupid track social and economic political belief over one's life to provide a clever analysis of why the Democratic party struggles to maintain cohesion. It would be interesting to see this done with a much larger data set.

• The Sandra Bullock Trade
  "public institutions should pay attention to well-being and not just material growth narrowly conceived…Governments keep initiating policies they think will produce prosperity, only to get sacked, time and again, from their spiritual blind side."
• Thank You For Not Expressing Yourself
  "Not every devotee of reason is himself reasonable: that is a lesson that the convinced, indeed militant, atheist, Richard Dawkins, has recently learned."
• Hedge-Fund Industry Figures Skewed
  Many failing funds stop reporting performance in their last 12 months, creating a hidden survivorship bias
• Why India Loves Facebook
  "Facebook 'allows [Indians] to do two things they love: Tell everyone what they are doing; and stick their noses into other people’s business'
• Africa Calling: Can mobile phones make a miracle?
  "The promise of economic development in Africa cannot be fully realized in the absence of roads, schools, electricity, and finance. When IT is appropriately integrated into this larger framework, Africa’s transformation will finally be underway."
• MIT Student Develops $3 Wound-Healing Gadget
  "Danielle Zurovcik, 28, created the pump, which uses negative pressure to pull bacteria and fluid out of wounds, for her master's degree thesis project."

• Staying optimistic keeps you healthy
  Link stronger "the effect calcium has on bone mass, or blood pressure medicine has on the risk of stroke"
• Is the Market Fairly Valued?
• Health Dialog: The Road to Health Care Reform
  A presentation by my parent firm Spencer Trask, about Health Dialog, a funded company that grew to become a great success
• Who Will Tell The President? Paul Volcker
• 31 Steps to a Financial Tuneup
  A handy interactive feature from the NYTimes

Here is some of what I have been reading since March 19th:

• The Science of Politics
  "the truth is that 90% of the success or failure of what you do will be determined by the unemployment rate"
• The Behavior Grid
  BJ Fogg is a brilliant prof at Stanford, his grid describes 15 ways behavior can change
• World Bank says Chinese statistics not manipulated
  "In China, there are a whole lot of government departments, semi-government organizations, and private sector institutions providing various statistics…data released by different institutions is interrelated and need to be consistent with each other"
• China CEOs join support yuan appreciation
• New research shows high population density triggers cultural explosions
  "complex skills learned across generations can only be maintained when there is a critical level of interaction between people"
• Nano attack bots kill cancer cells in first human trials
  "Look close. You may be staring at the end of cancer." – This picture could show a major milestone in human history.
• QFINANCE
  "more than 300 of the world’s leading practitioners and visionaries in finance and financial management, providing an unparalleled range of cross-referenced resources" funded by the Qatar Financial Centre

Inspired by Paul Kedrosky, I’m experimenting with sharing some of my readings with you. Expect subjects as eclectic as my interests. That means heavy on business, with some science, health and other subjects added in for spice. I hope you enjoy it.

Here is a large list of what I have been reading over the last few weeks to get you started:

• Untangling Financial Regulation
  Justin Fox, author of The Myth of the Rational Market, helps make sense of a confusing subject in this Harvard Business interview
• Why I take an omega-3 supplement before bedtime
  “significant renewal and turnover of brain nerve cells membranes – whose fluidity is modulated by omega-3 content – occurs during sleep”
• Author Michael Lewis On Wall St’s Delusion
  60 Minutes report including full video of the interview
• Ordinary Outcomes of Extraordinary Recklessness
  John Hussman says “the recent credit crisis did not emerge as some unpredictable surprise, but was instead the very ordinary outcome of extraordinary recklessness”
• Complexity and Collapse
  Niall Ferguson says “Imperial collapse may come much more suddenly than many historians imagine…fiscal deficits and military overstretch suggests that the United States may be the next empire on the precipice”
• The Retirement Lottery
  Absolute Return Partners’ most recent letter says buy and hold is “likely to yield disappointing returns” for the next few years
• It Helps to be Rich
  The most recent letter from the Lisco Report, very well researched
• The Story of the CDO Market Meltdown: An Empirical Analysis (PDF)
  A Harvard undergrad’s award winning report that cited in Michael Lewis’ book “The Big Short”
• Wall Street Reform That Will Prevent The Next Financial Crisis (PDF)
  Senator Ted Kaufman says separate commercial from investment banking, cap bank size, regulate derivatives, prevent conflicts of interest, leverage constraints, extend fiduciary standard to retail brokers, put civil liability for securities violations on to auditors and bankers
• The Coming Oil & Water Shortage
  A truly excellent presentation from oil industry analyst Matthew Simmons
• S&P Misfit Stocks
  Deletions from the S&P 500 outperform new additions, and the “index effect” has decreased over time
• Is China broke? Hidden debt burdens Asia giant
  “The nation has erected a complex system for magically making its debts disappear, but a look up China’s sleeve shows that its IOUs may equal its GDP.”
• Good Dog, Smart Dog
  Are dogs may be smarter than we thought or just great actors?
• Potentially risky loans helped ease recession?
  “lines of credit not only spared small and mid-sized firms from bankruptcy, but also let them emerge from the recession on more solid financial ground”
• Derivatives not so dangerous?
  Hedge funds that used them showed lower fund risks, engaged in less risk shifting in 2nd & 3rd quarters to make up for losses in 1st & 2nd st quarters, and were less likely to liquidate during downturns
• What economists are learning from cyber-economies
  “ideal petri dishes for studying economic behavior and testing economic-policy theories” with “good, clean data”
• Revealing BAAC Supercycles
  Bronson Capital Markets Research says that market supercycles happen on average every 16 years
• Reframing Health As More Than Healthcare
  Self-management is going to become more discussed as we face up to the long term costs
• Citi on Sovereign CDS
  “You Can’t Blame the Mirror for Your Ugly Face”
• The benefits of naked CDS
  A contrarian view of a vilified financial instrument