James Surowiecki
James Surowiecki
James Michael Surowieckiis an American journalist. He is a staff writer at The New Yorker, where he writes a regular column on business and finance called "The Financial Page"...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionJournalist
CountryUnited States of America
europe government bigs
In American politics, 'Europe' is usually a code word for 'big government.'
needs making-money claims
If private-equity firms are as good at remaking companies as they claim, they don't need tax loopholes to make money.
community doe investment
What the investment community does like is short-term measures designed to boost share prices.
smart independent people
The problem is that groups are only smart when the people in them are as independent as possible. This is the paradox of the wisdom of crowds.
army simple circles
If army ants are wandering around and they get lost, they start to follow a simple rule:Just do what the ant in front of you does. The ants eventually end up in a circle. There's this famous example of one that was 1,200 feet long and lasted for two days; the ants just kept marching around and around in a circle until they died.
giving decision mind
No decision-making system is going to guarantee corporate success. The strategic decisions that corporations have to make are of mind-numbing complexity. But we know that the more power you give a single individual in the face of complexity and uncertainty, the more likely it is that bad decisions will get made.
song pops repetition
Pop music thrives on repetition. You know a song's a hit when you've heard it so often that you'll be happy never to hear it again.
trying world excellent
The U.S. is excellent at importing cheap products from the rest of the world. Let's try importing some human capital instead.
jobs people able
Older people do a better job of managing their impulses, and so they're better able to put off putting off.
long way certain
A long-term crisis, after a certain point, no longer seems like a crisis. It seems like the way things are.
art rewards financial
Art collecting has traditionally been the domain of wealthy individuals in search of rewards beyond the purely financial.
ideas people republican
Congressional Republicans themselves have vehemently defended the idea that preexisting conditions should not be used to deny people insurance.
writing pieces delay
I tend to delay writing by doing more research - it's really the act of writing the piece that I have the hardest time with.
risk defense rewards
Defense contractors are able to reap tremendous profits while rarely confronting the risks for which those profits are supposed to be the reward.