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Last active August 29, 2015 14:10
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Notes on Macro-econ models & Heterogeneity

Marginal Propensity to Consume. Transitory vs. Permanent Shocks. The Paradox of Thrift and Toil.

Platforms for collaboration? Issues with Uptake? The CFPB experience. [Moved to lunch] [Bill Shelton]

  • What tools to foster collaboration here? What infrastracture?
  • Open-source issues with uptake and collaboration
  • General topics and experiences at CFPB
  • Licensing issues?
    • We don't want to discourage usage.

How Open Source approaches can help

Ref: Pin Theory

  • Leveraging collaboration, specialization, and generalization
  • Tower of Babel: Fragmentation!
    • Adaptability is key

Open Source Concepts

  • Stallman's "free vs. free beer"
    • '...you should think of “free” as in “free speech,” not as in “free beer”.'
    • Freedom to make changes
  • Notion of participation
  • Meritocracy based
  • The currency is the level of adoption and participation
    • E.g., the Linux kernel.
      • Having your code accepted into the Kernel is considered a badge of honor
  • Licensing
    • Need to articulate how you expect or want the software to be used?
      • Do you feel it should not be used for any "for profit" proprietary products?
    • Choosing the least restrictive may be a good choice.
      • MIT, BSD
      • Creative Commons is gaining traction with certain kinds of properties; e.g., content.
      • Public domain ?
        • Public Domain may be interpreted differently outside of the US.

Tools

  • Many tools and collaboration platforms exist:
  • Code collaboration (git has gained tremendous traction in it's short live. vs. CVS and Subversion)
    • GitHub
    • BitBucket
    • GitLab
  • Issue Tracking
    • It's common to have this coupled with code tools, like GitHub, and there're great integration points and innovative code review tools
  • Documentation
    • Web hosting of HTML is readily available
    • publication workflow becomes an issue
    • LaTeX can be used
    • GitHub allows for hosting and publishing via a typical git workflow
  • Q&A:
    • econ stack overflow site
    • Google Groups
    • Probably don't need both--creates fragmentation ...?

Engagement and Adoption

  • Don't assume that "Build it and they will come" holds true!
  • Assume that passive communication won't work
  • Contribution models
    • Ownership; Benevolent Dictator
    • Meritocracy
  • Good scientific computing know-how
  • Motivations
    • ...
  • Competition?
    • Does openness threaten or undermine the currency of intellectual property or "publication currency"?
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