Two recent NPR stories caught my attention.

The first (Collaboration Beats Smarts In Group Problem Solving) examined research in “group intelligence”, the ability of small groups to solve different kinds of problems.

Everywhere you look, from business to science to government, teams of people are set to work solving problems. You might think the trick to getting the smartest team would be to get the smartest people together, but a new study says that might not always be right.

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University found that collaborative groups who conversed easily with equal participation were more efficient at completing sets of given tasks — and produced better results — than groups dominated by individuals.

So what was it that produced better results?

When Woolley looked for the qualities that made successful groups successful, she found that the individual intelligence of group members was unrelated to the outcome.

“A few things that were related however, were surprising,” Woolley says. “One was the proportion of females in the group.”

As she reports in the journal Science, the more females, the higher the group intelligence, although Woolley thinks it’s not so much gender as a quality of social sensitivity that women on average have more of than men.

Interesting stuff with many real-world implications.

The second NPR story is a very strange tale, “How fake money saved Brazil“.

This story sounds as fake as the money referred to in the title, but apparently is a true account of how runaway inflation was brought under control. After listening to it, I want to read a fuller account. I’m still looking.

Generous tax incentives for film production in Michigan are being questioned, according to a Los Angeles Times story.

But a report by the Senate Fiscal Agency, which evaluates state programs, has thrown cold water on the upbeat picture — renewing debate about whether film incentives are worth the cost to taxpayers.

The report found that the subsidies — which work like a rebate toward qualified production expenses — generate roughly 10 cents in new tax revenue for each dollar paid to filmmakers. In 2009, for example, the state spent $68.7 million on film tax credits but generated only $7.5 million in tax revenue from the film production activity, leaving the state with a net loss of $61.2 million.

Speaking of the LA Times, you might want to read yesterday’s NY Times story on the newspaper’s owner, the Tribune Company.

A new Pew study, “How Residents in Five States View Fiscal Priorities for State Government“, is summarized by Stateline.org. It’s not pretty reading.

Remember the question asked here not too long ago about whether over the counter newspaper sales are subject to general excise tax?

June Watanabe’s “Kokua Line” column looked at the same question today. The answer is, “Yes”, but retailers aren’t required to pass the tax on to customers. So whether you pay a few extra cents depends on where you buy your newspaper.