In an interesting take, Austin Frakt at the New York Times, discusses how a healthy economy can shorten life spans—at least in the short term.  According to Frakt, this counterintuitive finding (counterintuitive because economic growth promotes higher living standards) is attributable in large part to the increase in air pollution caused by increased production in the industrial economy.  In agricultural economies in contrast, mortality rates have been found to fall in times of economic growth.

In an op-ed for the New York Times, Bari A. Williams describes what she characterizes as a “troubling” trend in the tech industry: that cognitive diversity, rather than inclusion of members of historically marginalized and underrepresented groups, has become prioritized at the expense of the latter.  Williams agrees that cognitive diversity is important, but argues that it is being emphasized in a way likely to distract from efforts to make the tech industry more inclusive.

On Monday, striking Canadian autoworkers ratified a four-year agreement with General Motors.  The nearly month-long strike (which we briefly covered here) followed worker demands for guarantees that GM would not move production of its Equinox (strong-selling) to factories in Mexico.