I come across facts that stop me mid-scroll – the kind that don’t change your life, but do change how you see it.
Some are about money, some about the world, some about how humans behave – all of them chosen simply because they’re interesting.
No hot takes. No urgency. Just small, well-chosen ideas worth pausing on.
January 2026:
What happened:
When Mussolini launched a crackdown on the Sicilian Mafia in the 1920s, hundreds of Mafiosi fled to the United States. The neighbourhoods where they settled became centres of Mafia activity, with more violence and financial exclusion in the short term. Over the long run, those same areas ended up with higher incomes, employment, and education levels than comparable neighbourhoods nearby.
Why it’s awkward:
We tend to assume organised crime is economically harmful in every respect, yet these places ultimately did better than many neighbourhoods shaped by formal government programmes - an uncomfortable contrast that challenges simple ideas about “good” and “bad” institutions.
Why this migt matter:
It suggests long-term outcomes are often driven less by intentions and more by how power, capital, and incentives actually operate on the ground - whether we approve of them or not.
Where this comes from:
Based on analysis of US Census data and declassified federal crime records, presented at the American Economic Association.