Tag Archives: Economics

Is the technology boom over?

By Uncategorized, ,

The ever-thoughtful Paul Krugman has a brief but thought-provoking post at the NYT where he addresses an essay by Bob Gordon (essay here). Krugman agrees with Gordon’s characterization of three industrial revolutions: IR #1 (steam, railroads) from 1750 to 1830; IR #2 (electricity, internal combustion engine, running water, indoor toilets, communications, entertainment, chemicals, petroleum) from 1870 to […]

Read More

Mersenne primes and the bailout bill

By Uncategorized, , , ,

Here’s an interesting number: $11,315,000,000,000.  That’s the new limit on public debt proposed by today’s draft of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.  That’s a pretty big number, slightly over (slightly?) 11 trillion dollars. Here’s another one: 243,112,609-1.  The Guardian reports that researchers have found the largest-yet Mersenne prime, a number with nearly 13 […]

Read More