The more I learn about the MOSAIC light-sport aircraft certification rewrite announced by @SecDuffy at Oshkosh, the more exciting it seems. Acknowledging the long-accepted industry view that existing Part 23 certification has added cost and inhibited new technologies, the new LSA certification regime (almost a self-certification regime) allows for aircraft with a flaps-down stall speed of up to 61 knots, up to four seats, cruise speed of up to 250 kts, no weight limit, night flight and (it seems) a path to IFR. Much of the interesting light-aircraft innovation like new materials, high-efficiency Rotax engines, and modern avionics has been happening in the Experimental Amateur-Built (E-AB) regime. My hope is that the new MOSAIC regime allows these interesting new aircraft to be sold directly to pilots and displaces the legacy designs that are too long in the tooth.

This could literally pass as a scene straight from The Office

Today, the folks @tnajournal have lifted the paywall on the new installment in "How the System Works"--my series about the systems that undergird our days, that have vastly improved life for billions of people, and that--arrgh!--we seem to be forgetting about paying attention to.

Last week, I finished reading Challenging Malaria by @TCarsonIII. Its a great book that navigates the fuzzy boundaries between markets, civil society and states in the provision of public health. The common reflex of economists is to think of goods/services as boxes. Either something is a public good or it isnt. But the reality is that no good is purely private or purely public. Contexts and institutions determine what type it is -- in weak property rights environments, more services and goods behave like public goods (and the opposite in strong property rights environments). The malaria example -- with huge emphasis on not-frequently told stories of malaria control in the USA before the 1940s -- illustrates this. The other common reflex is to think of solutions as being clearly delineated between states, markets and civil society. This isnt the case. The frontier is hard to situation. Carson's work points that out and indicates that the solutions in America to malaria control had localized effective private responses and other localized insufficient private responses (or even impossible ones). Just in navigating the messy world of fuzzy frontiers between types of goods and types of solutions, Carson's work is mostly a call to intellectual humility for everyone who talks about public health.

o3 to me this morning "Your intuition is half‑right". Congrats to the anti-sycophancy team at @OpenAI!

India’s biggest state. A $1 trillion goal. Can it deliver? Economist @srajagopalan pushes Uttar Pradesh’s top advisor Awanish Awasthi on whether bold urban visions can become real-world results.

Financial Times analysis: US jobs at a high risk from generative AI have not been more likely to shed young workers since ChatGPT launched

NASHVILLE JUST PASSED 6-STORY SINGLE-STAIR REFORM! Nashville officially becomes the third-largest city to legalize single-stair apartment buildings up to six stories, outdoing Austin who recently passed a 5-story code update passed earlier this year. LET'S FREAKIN GO NASHVILLE

"In India, government jobs pay far more than equivalent jobs in the private sector—so much so that the entire labor market and educational system have become grossly distorted by rent-seeking to obtain these jobs. Teachers in the public sector, for example, are paid at least five times more than in the private sector. It’s not just the salary. When accounting for lifetime tenure, generous perks, and potentially remunerative possibilities for corruption, a government job’s total value can be up to 10 times that of an equivalent private sector job. (See also here.) As a result, it’s not uncommon for thousands of people to apply for every government job—a ratio far higher than in the private sector. In one famous example, 2.3 million people submitted applications for 368 “office boy” positions in Uttar Pradesh." - @ATabarrok

I’m with @ATabarrok, obviously. Here is some evidence that large retailers lower prices, disproportionately help the poor, and reduce food insecurity … Sloppy RPA enforcement is more than bad economics, it’s cruel. Link below the fold.