Top all-time · #4763
Nicholas Decker
Personal blog · nicholasdecker.substack.comeconomicsdata
Nicholas Decker writes Homo Economicus, a personal blog at nicholasdecker.substack.com about economics and data. Since 2024, 16 different Hacker News readers have linked it 78 times, most often “The Buses Should Be Free”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-11-02, and you can follow it by feed.
I write about cutting edge research in economics. Click to read Homo Economicus, by Nicholas Decker, a Substack publication with thousands of subscribers.
Most-linked posts?
- The Buses Should Be Free3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2026-02-17
- Do Developing Countries Still Need to Industrialize?2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2026-03-30
- Why do firms choose to be inefficient?2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2024-08-27
- The Median Voter Is a Maoist2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2026-08-17
- Should We Ban Phones in the Classroom?2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2025-12-10
- Do Institutional Investors Raise Housing Prices?2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2026-01-13
What Hacker News says?
Relevant article: The Median Voter is Maoist. https://nicholasdecker.substack.com/p/the-median-voter-is-a-...
Comment linking /p/the-median-voter-is-a-maoist
on “I would like the value of my home to rise, while my property taxes fall”Submitted Do Developing Countries Still Need to Industrialize? as a story · 6 points
HN discussionYes! Sneer and smarm is 100% a challenge to balance here on HN, seems like I barely got by! Frankly i'd hoped someone would look at the other comments there, e.g. "Donald": https://nicholasdecker.substack.com/p/the-superfluity-of-the... I don't agree with it all, but what he has going is a preference for first-order thinking: helping out the poor smart kids NOW, over lowering taxes so that entreprise will not be dis…
Comment linking /p/the-superfluity-of-the-masses/comment/80971742
on “The Rise of Post-Literate History”Submitted The gains from trade are not the gains from trade as a story · 5 points
HN discussionExcept neither the essay nor title make explicit death threats against the president. https://nicholasdecker.substack.com/p/when-must-we-kill-them
Comment linking /p/when-must-we-kill-them
on “George Mason University calls cops on student for article criticizing Trump”Submitted Why do firms choose to be inefficient? as a story · 5 points
HN discussionYou may be interested in "Do Morons Make Prediction Markets More Accurate?" - https://nicholasdecker.substack.com/p/do-morons-make-predict... Essentially the argument is that more dumb money in a prediction market provides an even stronger incentive for smart money to join, moving the price back to an accurate probability.
Comment linking /p/do-morons-make-prediction-markets
on “Two Insider Cases We've Recently Closed”Submitted The Benefits of Bombing as a story · 5 points
HN discussionSubmitted Why Do Dowries Exist? as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Median Voter Is a Maoist as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Consequences of Caste in Village India as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted What Do Unions Do? as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Do Developing Countries Still Need to Industrialize? as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Cash Transfers as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted You Have to Read the Studies, You Know as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted What's the Matter with India? The judicial system as root of all evils as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Why Single-Payer Health Insurance Fails as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Prices as the optimal mechanism: Why I Support Capitalism as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted What Are the Returns to Education From? as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Why Do Firms Exist? as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Berry, Bresnahan, and Pakes (Maybe) Win the Nobel Prize as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Rise and Fall of Crime as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted An Introduction to Quantitative Spatial Economics as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Theory of Trade as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Papers That Inspire Wonder as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Buses Should Be Free as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Ludwig Straub, Winner of the John Bates Clark Medal as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Who Uses AI in Congress? as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Economist as Reporter as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Do Institutional Investors Raise Housing Prices? as a story · 2 points
HN discussion
