Insight by History
More democratic systems tend to have lower average tax rates because broad citizen participation and many low- or non-taxpaying voters reduce average burdens, whereas autocrats can impose higher effective takes on productive citizens.
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See all →To effect political change you must obtain power because only those who control institutions and resources can allocate funds, change rules, and enforce decisions, so intentions without power remain ineffective.
Interconnecting the grid increases reliability because multiple networked transmission paths and generation sources let operators redirect power around failed equipment to avoid widespread blackouts.
Middling regimes are most prone to revolution because they must extract enough from citizens to reward keys while still leaving citizens capable of revolt, creating a higher risk of upheaval than very rich autocracies or strong democracies.
Smart grids help consumers use electricity more effectively because clearer usage and pricing information from connected devices removes information barriers and lets customers shift consumption to cheaper times.
Deliberately starving the countryside functions as political control because forcing people to focus on finding daily food robs them of the cognitive bandwidth and incentives needed to organize or question the regime.
Because the power network is a shared resource, organizations and rules are required to allocate capacity, enforce operating practices, and manage access, which prevents conflicts and helps maintain stability.
Welfare policies can weaken family formation because benefits that reward single-parent status or penalize cohabitation create incentives for people to divorce or avoid marriage to secure aid.
Transmission voltages are stepped up at power plants because higher voltage carries the same power with lower current, which reduces resistive (I²R) losses over long lines.