-
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
PJD on Turning Points PJD on Turning Points Clinton McMurray on Turning Points ChrisPer on Turning Points Daniel Waldenström on Turning Points Archives
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
- December 2005
- November 2005
- October 2005
- September 2005
- August 2005
- July 2005
- June 2005
- May 2005
- April 2005
- March 2005
- February 2005
- January 2005
- December 2004
- November 2004
- October 2004
- September 2004
- August 2004
- July 2004
Categories
- Australian issues
- Australian Politics
- Behavioural Economics
- Blogging
- Book launch stuff
- Books
- Coming Events
- Current Affairs
- Development Economics
- Eclectic Observations
- Econometrics
- Economics & Public Policy Course
- Economics for Government Course
- Economics Generally
- Economics of Education
- Economics of Elections
- Economics of National Security
- Economics of the Family
- Election
- Environmental Economics
- Film
- Finance
- Food and Drink
- From the Frontiers
- Games
- Global issues
- Health economics
- Indigenous Policy
- Inequality
- Interesting stuff
- Iraq
- Jobs
- Labour Economics
- Law
- Low Wage Work
- Macroeconomics
- Media
- Prediction Markets
- Randomisation
- Religion
- Social Capital
- Sport
- Sports
- Tax
- Television
- Thinktanks
- Trade & Development
- Travel
- Uncategorized
- Universities
- Urban Economics
- US Politics
- Web/Tech
- Weblogs
- What I'm Reading
Meta
Monthly Archives: September 2005
Polished Pollies
Anyone who doubts the eloquence of America’s politicians should read the transcript of day one of John Roberts’ confirmation hearings in the US Senate. Some of Australia’s federal politicians are just as verbally adept, but not many.
Posted in Uncategorized
Comments Off on Polished Pollies
Slick Politics
Rather than fretting about why oil prices rise when oil supply falls, perhaps our politicians could turn their mind to thinking about why water prices don’t rise (or don’t rise enough) when the supply of water falls.
Posted in Uncategorized
8 Comments
Who Cares About Inequality?
In a recent report, the OECD brings together a lot of evidence on inequality across developed nations. But perhaps the neatest graph (extracted to the left) is one that shows that concerns about inequality are essentially unrelated to levels of … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
10 Comments
Missing Children
UCLA’s Seema Jayachandran (disclosure: friend) has taken a novel approach to estimating the impact of the air pollution caused by forest fires in Indonesia in 1997. In a recent paper, she uses regional variation to look for so-called "missing children" … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Comments Off on Missing Children
Stocks and Flows
Today’s SMH editorial on HECS bemoans the rise in HECS debt. "Debt owed by students under the Higher Education Contribution Scheme is growing. More ominously, less of it looks likely to be repaid. In 1995-96, only 17 per cent of … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Comments Off on Stocks and Flows
Reading Oped Pages Can Take Its Toll Too
Apparently Paul Sheehan thinks the cross-city tunnel’s fare is too high. He does not, however, offer any evidence for this belief.
Posted in Uncategorized
9 Comments
Iraqi Indicators
Michael O’Hanlon and coauthors present the latest update of their State of Iraq report in the NYT. Table and summary below. There is, as always, some good news. The government has made progress on managing inflation, rewriting banking laws and … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Comments Off on Iraqi Indicators
Jobs Jobs Everywhere?
I put out a policy report yesterday, arguing that despite the ACT’s low unemployment rate, we should nonetheless be worried about the number of Canberrans (particularly low-skilled workers) without a job. This is particularly the case for families with children. … Continue reading
Posted in Australian issues
3 Comments
Donald Horne
One of Australia’s great public intellectuals, Donald Horne, has just passed away, aged 83. His expansive notion of what it meant to be Australian, and the importance of our country living up to its potential, was one of the inspirations … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
1 Comment
Linux for Labor?
Following the rise of Linux and Wikipedia, there have been occasional suggestions that the open source movement should be applied to policymaking too. After all, if open sourcers are setting about creating a better recipe for coke and beer, surely … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
2 Comments
IV Dam Spot
One of the biggest questions in development policy is the funding of dams. I’ve always been more pro-dams than most of my progressive friends, figuring that the huge health benefits of clean water and more efficient agriculture would often outweigh … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
3 Comments
Twofer
In a surprising play, UoW academic Sharon Beder today has the same oped in both the Canberra Times and the SMH.
Posted in Uncategorized
2 Comments
XX > XY
Today’s NYT carries an interesting piece by Warren Farrell on the complexities of estimating the gender pay gap, including this surprising stat. Women who have never been married and are childless earn 117 percent of their childless male counterparts. (This … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
1 Comment
Landscape Lines
My wife Gweneth is a landscape architect, so I rather like collecting lines about her profession. "Architects do the buildings. Landscape architects do everything else." "Landscape wears in the consciousness better than everything else." I’m told the second is from … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
2 Comments
It's Your Money (Not)
In today’s Canberra Times (article not online, sorry), commentator Paddy Gourley quotes Malcolm Turnbull MP justifying the use of public funds to run a campaign in favour of changing industrial relations laws: The Government is elected to represent the people … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
2 Comments
Vale the Chief
Following the death of Chief Justice Rehnquist* yesterday, the a friend just emailed to say that the Republicans appear to be inclined to freeze nomination hearings on John Roberts. Why stop when the hearings seem to be going well for … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
4 Comments
Dealing with Water II
Like most others, no doubt, Gweneth and I have been closely following the news from New Orleans. Being American, she’s been more strongly affected by it than me, a pattern we’ve also seen in catching up with a few other … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
3 Comments
Dealing with Water I
I argued in the SMH in March ago that raising the water price (and compensating low income earners) was a smarter strategy than using water restrictions. Based on a meta-analysis by Dutch researcher Jasper Dalhuisen and his co-authors (PDF), I … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Comments Off on Dealing with Water I
Googling the Earth
At risk of having you quickly lose an hour of your life, anyone with broadband and Google Earth installed should definitely skip through on the forums at bbs.keyhole.com.
Posted in Uncategorized
Comments Off on Googling the Earth
Ain't Nothin Bigger 'n Taxes
Craig Emerson has recently released a Progressive Essay, arguing against cutting the top marginal tax rate (47%), and instead cutting out the 42% tax rate. I find his arguments against cutting the 47% rate pretty convincing, but I’m less enamoured … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
13 Comments
The $1000 per week tax cut
I’m sure Malcolm Turnbull isn’t pushing for a cut in the top marginal tax rate to line his own pockets, but his campaign would be a smidgin more persuasive if it didn’t have precisely that effect. According to Sauce, Turnbull’s … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
1 Comment