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In “Production, Information Costs, and Economic Organization,” Armen Alchian and Harold Demsetz ask when joint production works better inside a firm than across markets, and what form that firm takes. Their answers turn on a measurement problem: When people produce together, total output doesn’t reveal what each person contributed. Measuring individual contributions is costly, and … ‘Production, Information Costs, and Economic Organization,’ by Armen Alchian & Harold Demsetz
In November 1962, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev addressed the Central Committee plenum to vent his frustration over the glaring distortions created by the state’s central economic planning. His chief complaint concerned a metric known as val—gross industrial output measured by weight or volume. Lighting factories faced production quotas based on sheer tonnage, rather than quality … Deregulation by the Ton: The FRA’s Heavy Paperwork and Lightweight Relief
Your laptop’s memory has a job even when it isn’t working: being ready when you are. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, seems concerned about its work ethic. Altman made the case during an Oct. 29 appearance on Cheeky Pint, the podcast hosted by Stripe co-founder John Collison. They were discussing why … Altman’s Memory Problem: The Importance of Being Idle
