2/28/2026 – If not already, AI will soon be able to do the math better than any economist could anyway, but as an added incentive for economics to make the shift back to where it started, here you go: How Did Economists Get It So Wrong? Or perhaps we should just forgive mistaking beauty for truth because economists spend all of their time looking at their own reflection.
2/27/2026 – We would like to propose that economics goes back to being political economy, i.e., before it became a victim of the Enlightenment obsession with all things rational. It is incredibly ironic that Krugman’s new economic geography model captures a cultural phenomenon better than industrial or other economic examples. It is ironic, that is, until you remember that this is how the field of economics actually began. Although Adam Smith is known for The Wealth of Nations (1776), he wrote another book that was the foundation for his thinking, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759).
Culture is a reflection of morals and values. In Prince’s Minneapolis: redlining, music education, music in general, cultural traditions, values, norms, integration or exclusion of immigrants, and so on, and from this tapestry of “soft” inputs, the economic landscape shaped itself over time. It’s a lot easier to see if you do not choose to close one of your eyes. There are two books, the “fluffy” one being foundational, for very good reasons.
2/27/2026 – PS A clarification on high proximity, it is high effective proximity. Even if two areas of a city are close distance-wise, if the travel time is high, then they are not really proximate for these purposes.
2/26/2026 – An interesting question arises from the framework below. Obviously, redlining is bad, as it is discriminatory and a violation of personal freedoms and rights. However, it is worth considering the advantages to both immigrants and the broader community when they choose to form their own distinct cultural places, such as “Little Italy” or “Chinatown.” In terms of innovation (see new economic geography), it can allow for heterogenized specialization, which can apply both to economics and culture.
When high proximity simultaneously exists, the interaction between the high heterogenized specialization (clusters) and the high proximity (cross-clusters), in the case of Minneapolis, with compulsory music education intensifying the effects of both, they can propel self-reinforcing (compounding) innovation in a way that having only one of them, heterogenized specialization or proximity, cannot. Additionally, in Minneapolis, the compulsory music education not only led to better trained musicians but also a more discriminating audience, which helped the artists refine their craft. The creation of First Avenue gave the city’s existing music infrastructure a hub around which the other venues could serve as spokes, a geography within a geography, if you will. In its totality, it is a rather elegant and efficient structure that happened organically over time.
In the case of Minneapolis, the unofficially segregated city allowed each distinct sound to develop, and the high proximity between these various areas of the city allowed each sound to be blended into a hybrid sound, or what many people call the Minneapolis sound. In reality, the Minneapolis sound is actually composed of many different sounds. One could argue that the defining characteristic of the city’s creative output is both specialized, often experimental sounds in recognizable genres, and one or more hybrid sounds that synthesized across genres. Just as with economics, this cultural geography might be the locally optimal conditions for innovation to thrive, with a good dose of God’s grace, of course.
2/25/2026 – We’ve talked briefly about political identities as it relates to art. Let’s extend this conversation to incorporate how place relates to art. In international economics, particularly in trade, geography has always been an implicit or explicit law of nature, starting with Adam Smith, made explicit with Paul Krugman’s economic geography. You simply cannot think about international trade without considering time, space, transportation, and national sovereignty (as we’re all probably painfully aware of at this point).
But we can also consider cultural geography. In this fascinating conversation, the author of the book Prince’s Minneapolis, Rashad Shabazz talks about how the city shaped the musician and his music. It also provides some insights into how what existed only a few decades ago has collapsed with the advent of the internet for which time and space do not exist in the same way.
It is true that the internet allows musicians to reach audiences around the world, but paradoxically, those fan bases have tended to be more fragmented and smaller whereas the stars of the 80s and 90s could capture continents. As Shabazz says, “The geography has really changed.” And the music and the culture have also really changed.
Lastly, in both of these contexts, economics and culture, labor mobility and immigration transform them. Layers of immigrants bring not just their skills but also their culture, to include music. Minneapolis has a particular history, starting with the early white settlers, who displaced the native population, then other immigrants and blacks from the south, its own segregation, compulsory music education, and other factors that create a uniquely creative laboratory for music that gave rise to its native son in a virtuous cycle for the city. It’s deep, rich and timely. It’s a lot to think about. Actually think about it, instead of trying to fit the information into neat, predetermined categories. Give the complexity space to breathe and to be. Give it the respect it deserves.
PS If you are visiting Minneapolis, highly recommended to just walk or bike around the city, like you would NYC or Paris. You need to build a relationship with the streets to really understand the city. You can’t just drive from one tourist destination to another. Go to different venues, restaurants, arts centers, etc. Take your time. Hang out. Talk to people. Be polite and friendly. Relax and enjoy.
Episode 184: Purple Rain and Prince’s Minneapolis with Rashad Shabazz
2/22/2026 – When we asked our AI friend this simple question: Why are Republicans not good at art? It provided several points, including these two below, and they are fair. More importantly, it did not push back on the underlying assumption, likely because it is a general perception.
“Cultural Disconnect
Republicans often struggle with the arts due to a perceived disconnect with cultural narratives. Many conservative leaders and organizations have been criticized for their lack of understanding and appreciation of artistic expression. This gap can lead to a dismissive attitude towards artists and their work, which is vital for cultural movements….
The Role of Innovation
Great art is often associated with innovation and subversion of the status quo. Many argue that conservative values, which prioritize preservation and tradition, may not align with the radical and transformative nature of what is often considered ‘great art.’ This ideological clash can further complicate the relationship between conservatism and artistic expression.”
The National Review recently criticized a reenactment in dance of the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. (We would like to remind them that there are a lot of Republicans in the state that they are criticizing, and we also consider them our neighbors.) On the other hand, The New York Times recently published an article, In the Resistance, We Drive Minivans, a narrative written with an artistic sensibility that blurs the lines between journalism, opinion, and artistic work.
Coming from a (really incredible) city with a strong community, civic and artistic spirit, the Republicans’ lack of appreciation for the arts undermines national values and reveals a gap in their own values and refinement. Ask Ukrainians (friends, we’re still here with you! We’re fighting too.) what the arts means to their national identity and their own resistance. The arts don’t reside in a building. You can’t put friendly members on a board and have any meaningful influence on the arts, aside from repelling the artists you need to perform and the audience you need to attend with the authoritarian takeover.
We encourage Republicans to take up the arts and provide their own expressions. We are genuinely interested in their contributions. We would especially like to see MAGA Christians/Christian nationalists’ artistic arguments for their combined religious and political positions. Catholics know well the importance of art to the faith; after all, the good, the true and the beautiful is effectively a trinitarian expression of holistic balance. Let’s see what MAGA Evangelicals’ contributions might be.
Here are some themes for Republicans to consider: immigration and Christianity. See the New York Times article, The Bible Tells Us to Love Immigrants. Another theme could be the current president and Christianity. See another New York Times article, Donald Trump, Pagan King. Whatever theme or artistic expression, it needs to be emotionally and intellectually honest. Please don’t waste our time. It is easy to pontificate in political prose. It is much harder to express similar sentiments under the unforgiving rigors of artistic expression.
2/18/2026 – Today is Ash Wednesday, one of the most important days in the liturgical calendar, as it marks the start of Lent. Whether Catholic or not, Christian or not, repentance is an act of self-care. It is an act of reconciliation with one’s maker and an expression of humility. Go to church whether you’re a believer or not, a skeptical believer or not.
My Conversion to Skeptical Belief
2/14/2026 – One of the puzzling aspects of this administration is that you would think it would want Russia instead of Greenland, Canada, and Venezuela. As the article says, Russia has “unparalleled resources, and extensive territory.” If the country could be conquered relatively easily, meaning without a nuclear war, its vast nuclear arsenal would also become the property of the United States. The country is weak economically, falling further and further behind technologically, and its military has been compromised by the stupid decision to go to war with Ukraine, which it has yet to defeat. The Ukrainians have an intrinsic motivation to win the war, and the Europeans would certainly benefit from Russia’s downfall. Yet, the evil one’s mind never went there. Instead, he chose to go to war with his allies and his own people. Imagine if he had captured Putin instead of Maduro. Then, what? Now, he’s contemplating Iran. And all along, there is the weakened, Russian leader’s defeat, hanging low in the geopolitical sky, untouched by the evil one’s belligerent, Nobel Peace Prize seeking hand.
Putin Will Miss Pax Americana
2/10/2026 – Libertarians have too much faith in free markets and do not adequately appreciate market failures. They also tend to favor regressive tax policies instead of progressive ones and do not support safety net programs and entitlements that are generally quite popular. (Some unsolicited advice: If they would moderate these positions, they would get a lot more support. After all, Americans love our freedoms.)
These criticisms aside. They are correct in that the federal government has amassed too much power. This power has not been distributed among the three branches of government, as our checks and balances system is theoretically designed to do. Instead, the executive branch has been usurping it as well as some of the power of the other two branches, and now, we are facing down a fascist regime.
It is long overdue to diminish the role of the federal government, save our money, and move power back to individual states. Important issues will continue to be litigated and potentially make their way to the federal courts and the Supreme Court, and Congress will still write legislation, which is the law of the land. By reducing the role of the federal government, we would be preventing the abuse of the executive branch – no matter which party is in power. This is good for our democracy and for our sanity as a nation.
Libertarians Tried to Warn You About Trump
2/10/2026 – Because we couldn’t resist. Watch it, and take in the mastery. Absolute perfection. This person you see, Prince, which is his birth name, would open his home and studio, Paisley Park, to the locals. He would host parties and concerts, and the residents would party with him. He was also a Jehovah’s Witness, and sometimes, locals would open their door and see Prince standing there as he proselytized. Think about what it says about him and about Minneapolis (and the Twin Cities metro area). He wasn’t great just because of his talent, passion and hard work; it was also his attitude to life and his craft. It also says something great about the city of Minneapolis that it just let him be himself even after he had achieved super stardom.
Prince – Super Bowl XLI | Halftime Show 2007 FULL SHOW HD
2/9/2026 – We heard that there was a half-time show yesterday. Do people have anything better to do than be outraged all the time about everything? It’s not fair to compare other entertainers to Prince, who was from (North) Minneapolis, by the way, because, well, “Can you make it rain harder?” Now that the world has seen Minnesotans braving twenty below zero Fahrenheit for a protest, everyone can better put his response into context. “This was art at its highest level.” It was and will likely remain the greatest performance in Super Bowl history.
Prince Asked Can You Make It Rain HARDER
Prince had and Bad Bunny has a strong sense of their identity. The United States of America is a free country. We let our people express who they are, and that’s why we have so many people who are able to realize their talents. Our country and the world benefit enormously when our people are allowed to flourish.
Bad Bunny had a message. It was captured well in the themes of the show, and it was received. The Norwegians in Minnesota are proud of their ancestors’ resistance to the Nazis, symbolized by red hats. When immigrants come to the United States, we are not going to set aside our love for our ancestors, our country of origin, or our identities. Our adopted country does not require it as a precondition of our love for and loyalty to it.
Prince remained in Minneapolis. He chose to stay here, and perhaps now the world might better understand why. Immigrants from all over the world, who might still miss their countries of origin and the families that they left behind, chose to stay here, in our incredible country. In its present condition, our country is not doing a great job of showing the world why.
Almost all immigrants take (great) risks in coming to the United States. They are willing to take them because they see opportunity. We should all see opportunity because that’s the identity of our nation. We understand that some might be tempted to ask God to make the rain stop, but maybe the wiser thing to do is to ask God if he can make it rain harder. America, be more like the Purple One. Get your mojo back.
My God is a Rock – arr. Stacey V. Gibbs | National Lutheran Choir
2/8/2026 – The priest mentioned during our Sunday service that there is some sort of football game today, and The Atlantic has pictures of Owl Bowl. (Birds are the most beautiful and amazing creatures in the world.) Instead of whatever joy one can experience at this overrated event, we are processing the profound losses to our community and the pain of grief for people we never knew personally.
“Martyrs shed light on both good and evil. And Pretti has shed light on this vile regime. Watching it do to him what it did to Renee Good, what it has done to people on boats in the Caribbean, what it is doing to migrants all across this country, we have all seen for ourselves what Trump and his enforcers are and have always been: liars, defamers, purveyors of death, destroyers of all that is finest about this country, and in many cases blasphemers, spouting pious nonsense and sporting gold crosses as they betray the faith. It is a mortal sin to call Pretti and Good domestic terrorists, to say they were out to kill, and to call the CPB agents who beat and murdered Pretti ‘the real victims.’ Pretti’s death drew out their vile lies and showed us what we all should already have known: Trump and his cronies are fascists.”
Alex Pretti, Martyr
We are also trying to understand how people who call themselves Christians can support this president and this administration. Whatever veneer of value for human life that it once projected, it has long since rubbed off. (Hint: It was always about money.) The only aspects of Christianity that we see in the administration are the lessons of what not to do and who not to be. Fascists, blasphemers, false gods, golden calves, liars, and, of course, the evil one.
“The spirit of love and reconciliation that Jesus of Nazareth taught 2,000 years ago was not particularly evident in the words of the president. Of course, it never has been. No matter. The audience of some 3,500—the great majority of whom undoubtedly claim to be followers of Jesus—responded to Trump’s remarks with a standing ovation…. They thrill to watch Trump savage his critics, and their devotion grows with every dehumanizing word, with every merciless act…. For these Christians, the teachings of the son of God take a back seat to the pronouncements of the king of Mar-a-Lago…. Non-maga evangelical pastors are going to face a set of difficult questions during the next three years: Under what conditions, if any, are you willing to speak out when a president and his administration repeatedly violate Christian ethics? Will you stay silent even when acts of cruelty, lawlessness, and injustice aren’t the exception but the norm? How much more indecency do you need to see before you act?…‘Seldom, if ever, do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas,’ Martin Luther King Jr. [one of America’s great prophets] wrote. But when a group of white Alabama clergymen declared him an outside agitator whose efforts were ‘unwise and untimely,’ he decided to respond. The result was ‘Letter From Birmingham Jail,’ one of the most important documents in U.S. history. This letter, like all of King’s greatest works, cannot be understood apart from his Christian faith. Faith shaped his views on ethics and human dignity. It also gave him the courage to create tension in the cause of justice. ‘I am grateful to God that, through the influence of the Negro church, the way of nonviolence became an integral part of our struggle,’ he wrote…. I imagine that all of the white pastors I know think that if they had been a minister at that time—especially if they were a minister of churches that were made up of white segregationists—they would have found a way to speak up rather than be silent, would have stood with King instead of those who urged caution in the name of unity. The question now comes again in our time: What does it mean for the Church to be the conscience of the state?”
The Evangelicals Who See Trump’s Viciousness as a Virtue
A Biblical story is called to mind. What might that be? “The prospect of a giant gilded Trump inevitably brings to mind a certain biblical story. While Moses was up on Mount Sinai receiving the tablets, the people of Israel grew restless and decided to melt down their jewelry and create a golden calf. They drank and danced around it like a bunch of crypto bros partying at Mar-a-Lago. When Moses came down and saw it all, he was appalled, as was God. The latter nearly exterminated the people he had only recently freed from slavery; the former came up with a milder punishment. Moses ground the statue into powder, mixed it with water, and made his people drink it. This, too, was an illustration of contrast. The big gold statue might be fun to pray to for a while, but if it smashes so easily, it’s probably hollow inside.”
Let Trump Keep Building Monuments to Himself
For the rest of us, simple followers of Jesus the Nazarene, our Lord and our Savior is Jesus the Christ and Christ alone.
2/3/2026 – The evil one has lost Minnesota all three times, and he is sure to lose it again in a free and fair election. If the city of Minneapolis wins the Nobel Peace Prize, we will be sure to rub it in the fascist’s face. Thank you, and have a good evening.
2/2/2026 – The National Review’s Noah Rothman is embarrassing himself with his bias and his fiction. For a publication that claims to be pro-Christian, we’re still waiting to see a proper expression of Christian values.
2/1/2026 – One of the most famous parables in the Bible is the Good Samaritan. It is so well-known and powerful that it could be characterized as the definition of Christian love. We challenge MAGA to live this story, as Jesus asked us to do. In their own communities, do they love their neighbors no matter who they are? Or do they have concentric circles that expand outward based on genetic similarities and differences?
We would like to remind stephen miller, a Jew, that his family would be on one of the outer rings of these concentric circles, perhaps even on the outmost one. If he felt persecuted for his bloodlines, he might then wish he had neighbors like the residents of Minneapolis, who he presently persecutes, to protect and to support him.
A song has been written by Bruce Springsteen about the streets of Minneapolis. The city has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, the first time a municipality has ever been nominated for it. What is extraordinary about Minneapolis is the uniformity with which and the degree to which it applies the Christian love captured in Jesus’s Parable of the Good Samaritan.
Renee Good and Alex Pretti were Good Samaritans. They were not domestic terrorists or assassins or whatever other disgusting smear this shameful administration has thrown at them. They had one simple motivation: Protect their neighbors and their community no matter how superficially different their neighbors might be from them. This is also one of the best ways to change the world for the better. If we all did this throughout the world, it would be radically transformed. This is what Jesus called us to do. This is Christian love.
Minneapolis has proved MAGA wrong, but not with a political or an ideological message. It has been a spiritual message. It is a message of love, what it is and how it looks. It is easy to love your own children. Can you love other people’s children? It is easy to love your own family. Can you love other people’s families? It is easy to love your own race. Can you love other races? And so on. Christian love looks different because it is. That’s the message of the Good Samaritan. That’s the message that Minneapolis is sending the world.
Minnesota Proved MAGA Wrong