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Ben Golub Profile picture
@ben_golub
Aug 3, 2020 • 4 tweets • 2 min read • Read on X
Just sent Knuth's advice on writing mathematical stuff to a student list and felt moved to retweet it more broadly.

Some favorite bits in the screenshots. 1/3

jmlr.csail.mit.edu/reviewing-pape… Image
the "grunting noise" is a great heuristic
2/3 Image
3/3 ImageImage
Since this has been such a big part of my everyday head for a while, I feel a bit sheepish highlighting it. But often when reading things, I remember some of the best advice is not universally followed.

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More from @ben_golub

Ben Golub Profile picture
May 7
Report from the teaching trenches:

I teach an advanced elective (Social and economic networks) which is difficult for top undergrads but where AI can do the homework perfectly.

The main changes this year:
(i) I encourage AI use for learning;
(ii) closed book exams

1/
I don't care at all about homework being done with AI since most of the grade is exams, so this takes out the "cheating" concern.

Students seem motivated to learn and understand, which makes the class very similar to before despite availability of an answer oracle.

2/
It's possible that (A) all the skills I'm trying to teach will be automated, not just the problem sets AND (B) nobody will need to know them and (C) nobody will want to know them.

Notice: A doesn't imply B and B doesn't imply C.

3/
Read 10 tweets
Ben Golub Profile picture
Apr 7
If you'd like to read or teach about the new economics of supply networks and their fragility this spring (see quoted thread for an application)...

a short list of resources you might find useful that make a natural unit in a syllabus.
A survey of what standard models of production and trade are missing, and how network theory can illuminate fragilities like the ones unfolding right now, where market expectations seem to fall off a cliff.

bengolub.net/fragilitysurve…Image
A survey by the fantastic @DBaqaee and Rubbo on how network macroeconomics integrates rich propagation mechanisms into core models.

Read this for models you can take to the (local central) bank.

annualreviews.org/content/journa…Image
Read 6 tweets
Ben Golub Profile picture
Apr 4
The main effect of tariff insanity:

Uncertainty poisoning supply networks, degrading a lot of relationships at once.

That scar tissue will linger for a long time.

1/
Recently Yann Yann Calvó López and I wrote two posts on @Noahpinion where we detail how vulnerable modern supply networks are.

A trade war triggered by Trump's chaotic tariffs is the same type of aggregate shock as the Covid crisis, but worse.

2/
noahpinion.blog/p/americas-sup…
@Noahpinion Look at the structure of modern supply networks, with most sourcing relationships crossing borders.

Most of these relationships operate on low margins, and big tariffs will shut some of them down.

3/ Image
Read 8 tweets
Ben Golub Profile picture
Feb 7
When AGI arrives and replaces all human work, there won't be human sports.

Instead of watching humans play basketball, we'll watch humanoid robots play basketball; robots will, after all, play better.

Similarly, robot jockeys will ride robot horses at the racetrack.

1/
There won't be humans getting paid to compete in chess tournaments.

MagnusGPT will not only play better than any human plays today, but also make that characteristic smirk and swivel his head around in that weird way.

2/
There certainly won't be humans getting paid to work as nurses for the sick and dying, because robots with soft hands will provide not only sponge baths but better (superhuman!) company and comfort.

3/
Read 13 tweets
Ben Golub Profile picture
Feb 4
Played around with OpenAI Deep Research today. Thoughts:

1. Worst: asked it to find the fourth woman ever elected to Harvard's Society of Fellows - simple reasoning was required to assess ambiguous names. Gave wrong person. High school intern would do better.

1/
2. Asked it to list all economists at top 15 econ departments in a specific subfield w/ their citation counts. It barely figured out the US News ranking, its list of people was incomplete, and it ran into problems accessing Google Scholar so cites were wrong/approximate.

2/
3. Asked it to find excerpts of bad academic writing of at least 300 words each.

Thought for 10 minutes, came up with stuff like this (obviously non-compliant with request).

3/ Image
Read 5 tweets
Ben Golub Profile picture
Feb 2
Modern supply chains don't look like trade theory 101!

They involve constant border crossings, each now hit by tariffs.

Tariffs raise prices, but the more important thing they do is disrupt supply relationships.

1/
graphic h/t @scottlincicome . Image
When this choreography unfolds, each firm in the network has contracts with specific partners.

Why does this matter?

Some of those partners are not profitable enough to survive the tariff shock (though of course we shouldn't take a statement like this as impartial).

2/ Image
So when a shock hits, you don't just have a bit less activity by a few of the least profitable firms.

You suddenly knock out some of the relationships (contracts) and some of the nodes (companies) in a large and very complex network.

This can be pretty disruptive!

3/ Image
Read 6 tweets

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