Four short links: 14 June 2016
Google's TPP Meh, Inflation or Deflation, Drone Delivery, and All-American iPhones
- Google Comes Down on the Wrong Side of the TPP (TechDirt) — The company could have and should have taken a stand on this, noting the things that are important in the TPP, but also being honest about the disastrous IP section and other problems in the agreement (such as the corporate sovereignty provisions that will almost certainly come back to bite Google and others).
- Where Does Economics Fail the Worst at Quantification? (Marginal Revolution) — It is hard to measure rates of price inflation over longer periods of time. Since 1900, has the American economy had massive inflation or massive deflation? If you are spending 50 cents, it is massive inflation, as today that sum hardly buys you anything, but earlier you could have received a nice white shirt. If you are spending $100K a year, there has been radical deflation.
- JD.com Launches Rural Delivery by Drone (xinhua) — It can take a truck hours to navigate the winding mountainous roads that link delivery depots near Suqian, but a drone can make the journey in less than 20 minutes, according to Xiao. Currently, the drones transport goods between depots rather than to customers directly. Range still a limiting factor—distance between people is what makes rural areas expensive to service by humans, and is also what makes drone delivery problematic. (via Drone Roundup — Drone Center)
- The All-American iPhone (MIT TR) — what would it cost to make some or all of the iPhone in the U.S.?
