Enjoy! Will be in Pittsburgh and Houston next week, give a shout if you’re around.
(i) Material World: Watching Paint Dry
On car paint. Also, in paint: MBI: Sherwin-Williams: Painting the Wonder of Compounding Decade After Decade.
(ii) CFR: Turkey’s Increasing Balance Sheet Risks
Brad Setser with a good summary of Turkey’s economic problems.
(iii) The economics of extortion: Theory and the case of the Sicilian Mafia
“The percentage of profits appropriated by the Mafia ranges from 40% for small firms to 2% for large enterprises.” Also see: Freight Caviar: Italy's Mafia-Dominated Cocaine Port “A study found that Gioia Tauro was responsible for intercepting a whopping 97% of the 14 tons of cocaine entering Italy last year”
(iv) The New Yorker: The Astonishing Transformation of Austin
Lawrence Wright on the modern history of Austin, including bits with Michael Dell, Matthew McConaughey, Joe Rogan, etc. Also see: Devon Zuegel: America's hidden urban laboratory: the South New Urbanism in the South and Florida. And: The Confederate Diaspora