iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Sarah Taber

BeijingPalmer @beijingpalmer.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

“Axey” was not popular with the Shang kings, who complained of his intrusive “It looks like you’re ritually sacrificing a prisoner!” comments

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Reposted by Sarah Taber

James Medlock @jdcmedlock.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

I'm taking my "Norway's wealth tax didn't reduce tax revenue" victory lap.

Whether imposing higher taxes on business owners adversely affects business activity by constraining investment and inducing capitalist flight is a central question in the ongoing debate on how to tax the ultra wealthy. To shed new light, I exploit a series of related Norwegian reforms during 2021–2024 that increased dividend tax rates, removed migration-related capital gains tax loopholes, and nearly doubled the effective marginal tax rate on business wealth. These reforms spurred international debate and, allegedly, an “exodus” of Norwegian billionaires (Financial Times, 2023). While I document clear effects on migration, these responses are concentrated among the top 0.1% of the wealth distribution and mostly confined to 2022 and 2023. My results indicate that at most 100 individuals left due to the reforms. I find no evidence of significant outmigration or reduced inflows of startup founders or inventors. I estimate that absent any outmigration, wealth tax revenues would have increased by 75% from 2021 to 2024. Reform-driven outmigration lowers the revenue gain to 71.5%. My findings further show that outmigrating owners’ firms remain economically active and do not reduce investment. In a broader set of analyses, I examine whether business outcomes are affected, regardless of whether owners outmigrate, since firms may reduce investment both due to liquidity constraints or distortions to owners’ savings decisions. I compare firms owned by Norwegian individuals subject to the wealth tax with firms owned by foreigners and other tax-exempt entities. By merging historical ownership data from Orbis with the Norwegian shareholder register, I perform these analyses on both Norwegian and foreign-domiciled firms. Across settings, I find no evidence that Norwegian-owned firms pay out more dividends or invest less after the reforms, nor is there any evidence that the reform induced more bankruptcies. ...

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Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

New working paper: the Norwegian wealth tax was a huge success. The "exodus" of wealthy people never happened (less than 100 individuals left). Tax revenue increased by 71.5%. No changes in business activity or investment. www.nber.org/papers/w35854

Taxing Entrepreneurial Wealth: Evidence from
Norway, 2021-2025
Marius A. K. Ring
WORKING PAPER 35854|
DOl 10.3386/w35854
ISSUE DATE October 2026
Whether imposing higher taxes on business owners adversely affects business activity by constraining investment and inducing capitalist flight is a central question in the ongoing debate on how to tax the ultra wealthy. To shed new light, I exploit a series of related Norwegian reforms during 2021-2024 that increased dividend tax rates, removed migration-related capital gains tax loopholes, and nearly doubled the effective marginal tax rate on business wealth. These reforms spurred international debate and, allegedly, an "exodus" of Norwegian billionaires (Financial Times,
2023). While I document clear effects on migration, these responses are concentrated among the top 0.1% of the wealth distribution and mostly confined to 2022 and 2023. My results indicate that at most 100 individuals left due to the reforms. I find no evidence of significant outmigration or reduced inflows of startup founders or inventors. I estimate that absent any outmigration, wealth tax revenues would have increased by 75% from 2021 to 2024. Reform-driven outmigration lowers the revenue gain to 71.5%. My findings further show that outmigrating owners' firms remain economically active and do not reduce investment. In a broader set of analyses, I examine whether business outcomes are affected, regardless of whether owners outmigrate, since firms may reduce investment both due to liquidity constraints or distortions to owners' savings decisions. I compare firms owned by Norwegian individuals subject to the wealth tax with firms owned by foreigners and other tax-exempt entities. By merging historical ownership data from Orbis with the Norwegian shareholder register, I perform these analyses on both Norwegian and foreign-domiciled firms.
Across settings, I find no evidence that Norwegian-owned firms pay out more dividends or invest less after the reforms,…

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Sarah Taber @sarahtaber.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

No autocomplete, that was just me & my own 10 fingers ✨

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Sarah Taber @sarahtaber.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

honestly HUGE win for journalism

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Sarah Taber @sarahtaber.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Hello everyone I just had the worst typo of my life, so now you have to see it too: Convenience sores

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Reposted by Sarah Taber

Petty Ranch / Chris Sayer @pettyranch.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

They said that avocado cold fusion was impossible. That only a mad man would attempt it. But who's laughing now? (Maniacal laughter ensues.) Also, the heat might be starting to get to me.

A sunrise peaks through the foliage of an avocado tree

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Sarah Taber @sarahtaber.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

"showboating & showboating" smh good thing I never talk in public or anything

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Sarah Taber @sarahtaber.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Yeah I'm sure he's great at whatever he does. And plague research & ecology is not what he does. All that said, the Media Lab's job is making headlines for MIT. Always has been. Don't take anything that comes out of there too seriously. There's a reason they call it a "media" lab, not "a lab."

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Sarah Taber @sarahtaber.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Look, I'm glad people are finally taking infectious disease seriously? It just kinda feels like a lot of us are "taking it seriously" in the most self-destructive way possible.

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Sarah Taber @sarahtaber.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

But, since COVID, outbreak news gets clicks now. So newsrooms are doing more reporting on the outbreaks that have always been happening. So people who've never paid attention to plague news before are suddenly hearing about it & think the world is ending apparently

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Sarah Taber @sarahtaber.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

I thought everybody just kinda knew that plague pops up every once in a while? Then people hopefully get the antibiotics they need, & it goes away. This has been going on ... literally our entire lives. I thought people knew about this.

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Sarah Taber @sarahtaber.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

The good news is antibiotics tend to work pretty well on plague. The reason it killed ~1/3 of Europe's population in the Middle Ages is... they didn't have antibiotics.

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Sarah Taber @sarahtaber.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Some places get plague pretty often for a variety of reasons. For example, there are a lot of plague outbreaks in Madagascar. They've got a "plague season" Oct-March. These have been going on for years! Without ever making it into the news in the US. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/21st-ce...

en.wikipedia.org

21st-century Madagascar plague outbreaks - Wikipedia

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Sarah Taber @sarahtaber.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

That's also why a lot of countries have research labs that work with plague. It's a disease that people still get semi-regularly. And it's hanging out in the environment, so it's good to figure out details of how that microbe works & how it spreads.

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Sarah Taber @sarahtaber.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Brief info on plague: the microbe that causes it, is still kicking around out in nature! It lives in rodents. And at least every few years, people who are around rodents a lot will catch it from the rodents. That's just one of the reasons it's bad to have rodents in your house. You can get plague.

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Sarah Taber @sarahtaber.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

There are literally random doctors in the comments with more sense than this. bsky.app/profile/rhol...

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Sarah Taber @sarahtaber.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Thank God we've got the MIT Media Lab on top of this plague news. A totally real science institution with very serious people that never put showboating & showboating over actual informat- Oh spectrum.ieee.org/mit-media-la...

spectrum.ieee.org

MIT Media Lab’s Food Computer Project Permanently Shut Down

MIT fined for chemical discharge while former principal scientist Caleb Harper moves on to greener pastures

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Sarah Taber @sarahtaber.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

...Isn't the MIT Media Lab kinda known for sensationalism & showmanship over real science?

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Sarah Taber @sarahtaber.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

It's supposed to be good eating! Results pending

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Sarah Taber @sarahtaber.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

It's supposed to be good eating! Results TBD

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Sarah Taber @sarahtaber.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

They're supposed to look like that, they're French (Galeaux d'Eysines)

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Sarah Taber @sarahtaber.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

GUYS look at this fugly pumpkin I grew. I love her

Photo of a bunch of pumpkins on grass. Bird's-eye few. There are a few different kinds in varying shades of orange. The big one in the center is pinkish-orange with big corky warts all over.

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Reposted by Sarah Taber

David Roberts @volts.wtf · 05/10/2026

Holy shit.

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Sarah Taber @sarahtaber.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

This is so funny to me bc excuse you Darwin, those "uncivilized brutes" were wearing FULL-BODY MAKEUP. You & your peers could never, wym "savages"

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Sarah Taber @sarahtaber.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Yeah... almost like that's why I described it as "a teaching moment for the kids" not "And this is how we're gonna saaaaave Uncle John" 🙃

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Sarah Taber @sarahtaber.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Yeah... almost like that's why I described it as "a teaching moment for the kids" not "And this is how we're gonna saaaaave Uncle John" 🙃

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Sarah Taber @sarahtaber.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

I would 100% agree that arguing with them didn't change their mind *or* make them worse. It's not about you. Cranks become political commentators because it pays well. And truly committed cranks are unemployable at anything else.

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Sarah Taber @sarahtaber.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Yeah... I would suggest maybe reading stuff before dunking on it? I described this as "a teaching moment for the kids," not a conversion mission for the crazy uncle.

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Sarah Taber @sarahtaber.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

^That part. Converting cranks is a non-starter- they're adults who choose to be like that. This isn't a missionary exercise. This is "training the next generation not to be cranks, by just not hiding how unpleasant & unpopular cranks are."

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Sarah Taber @sarahtaber.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Allow me to suggest scrolling down. Believe it or not we already covered that lol bsky.app/profile/sara...

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Sarah Taber @sarahtaber.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

And if you're thinking "You can't just let Uncle John pop off!" because deep down you know a lot of the family agrees with him, See my original point: "There have always been a lot of cranks."

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Sarah Taber @sarahtaber.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

There are SO many ways for siblings & heads of family to set real boundaries on what is acceptable behavior. A whole lot of people just opted for "sweep it under the rug" instead. And then we act surprised that the rug is now lumpy as hell & approximately at eye level.

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Sarah Taber @sarahtaber.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Right? That's a culture of sweeping it under the rug. You can also simply let Uncle John pop off, and then find out everyone thinks he's an asshole. Use him as a teaching moment for the kids. Or "sure John you can talk about lizard people, but only when you're doing dishes."

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Sarah Taber @sarahtaber.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

...Fox News was created explicitly to be a right-wing news project. There was never an intent to "inform the viewers."

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K.A. Doore @kadoore.com · 04/10/2026

Can confirm. I worked retail before social media. People are people, some of them smart, some of them not so much, and the vast majority in the middle. And if you ever thought "wow, no one would ever do X," inevitably a customer would do exactly that and within the next 5 minutes.

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Sarah Taber @sarahtaber.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Yeah... just like how people tell rape jokes and then go "just kidding." It's never *just* a bit.

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