With all the challenges of the last year, the mindset of the economic profession has shifted, with a flurry of research papers pointing to the vital importance of social capital. Notions like trust, state capacity, community-building, social cohesion, and social values like empathy and altruism are now seen as a prerequisite for prosperity and welfare. All these social values and other notions pertaining to social…
Traveling With a Purpose: For Some, It’s a 2021 Resolution – New York Times, January 21, 2021 The crises of 2020, particularly the pandemic and violence against Black Americans, have caused many travelers to rethink how and where to travel. Rather than taking luxury spa trips or sun-and-fun cruises, many are seeking to put more meaning into their future travels, either through a personal challenge…
The Evolving Travel ‘Experience’: Virtual, Actual and In Between–New York Times, November 12, 2020 Guided excursions have long been at the heart of travel, but like everything else, the pandemic disrupted such experiences, and many went virtual. But as travel begins to tick up, tour companies are adapting to social distancing in numerous ways. Some are complementing virtual experiences—for instance, guided chocolate tastings with chocolate shipped…
Culture—a defining element for containing the pandemic—explains why East Asian nations (where community acts as a collective agent for the common good) have done much better than individualistic countries characterized by a “to each his/her own” mentality. The reason is the following: the lower the level of social cohesion (or the higher the level of social inequality), the stronger the incentive for individuals to compete…
Are mushrooms the future of wellness?–New York Times, September 18, 2020 No, not another article on the booming magic mushroom research and market, but rather how that vast “other” world of fungi—whether reishi, lion’s mane or chaga—is one of the biggest trends in wellness. Eastern cultures and medical systems (including TCM and Ayurveda) have long used mushrooms to boost health, and this looks at key…
The Main Street Manifesto – Project Syndicate, June 24, 2020 The economist Nouriel Roubini argues that the historic protests that have swept the US were long overdue, not just as a response to racism and police violence but also as a revolt against entrenched plutocracy. But this phenomenon is not limited to the US. In most countries around the world, a growing number of people…
