Monthly Archives: March 2006

When new drugs are approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration, they are only allowed to be sold in chemists. But while the chemists close early, my local Safeway is open until midnight. And it’s decided that if it can’t stock … Continue reading →

Turns out I’m not invincible after all. After mentioning on the blog last week that I was going to Germany for the weekend, I feel obliged to report that I’ve come down with an atrocious head cold, rendering me basically … Continue reading →

This blog will be kicking off sometime during the next week. Meanwhile, check out my existing blog, or my academic website.

I’m going to be offline for a few days, heading over to a conference in Mannheim, Germany, to present a paper on levels and changes in intergenerational inequality in Australia. The paper involves estimating father-son earnings correlations, using occupations as … Continue reading →

The latest Australian tourism campaign, "So where the bloody hell are you?" has fallen foul of the British because of the word "bloody", and now the Canadians because of the word "hell". Surely it can’t be long before the New … Continue reading →

I’m speaking at the Brisbane Festival of Ideas next week. In case anyone north of the border is interested in popping along, the full program is here. Thanks to generous sponsorship from the state government, most sessions are free.

Amazing session at the athletics last night. I had gone along thinking that the highlight would be seeing Asafa Powell, the current world record holder, run the men’s 100m. He was powerfully impressive, but well off his world record pace … Continue reading →

According to Crikey, Domain registrar Melbourne IT are responsible for ditching Richard Neville’s hoax mockup of the PM’s website (Google snapshot here). I’m no great fan of the old conspiracy theorist, but it would be nice if Australia took a … Continue reading →

James Surowiecki’s discussion of Bolivia in the New Yorker a few weeks ago makes some useful points on hyperinflation, the Washington Consensus and modest reformers. Wondering what impact the Commonwealth Games will have on Melbourne’s economy? If this review of … Continue reading →

My friend Andrew Norton politely takes me to task for suggesting that social norms about inequality can themselves affect inequality. He argues that the shifts in attitudes have been minimal, and then goes on to argue that: The larger reason … Continue reading →

With talk of civil war now more common, the latest Mike O’Hanlon and friends State of Iraq oped in the NYT is the most depressing yet. On the economy: The country’s economy continues to disappoint. Although it had a fairly … Continue reading →

The latest issue of the Harvard magazine has an article on behavioural economics. Unsurprisingly, it overemphasises the role of Harvard academics in the research, but it’s still a good introduction to the field. My favourite quote is this one from … Continue reading →

John Garnaut has a piece in today’s SMH on tax evasion. I’m quoted on one of my pet peeves – that Australia has never conducted a randomised audit of all taxpayers. We’ve done random audits of particular industries – such … Continue reading →

Claudia Goldin, in an academic paper and now a NYT oped, neatly demolishes the anecdotal suggestions that highly educated American women are today "opting out" of the labour force.

The Reserve Bank has written a neat seven-page summary of how its open market operations work. For an example of the factors the Reserve Bank takes into account in making its decisions, see its most recent March statement. Some have … Continue reading →

…read the Bulletin’s front page in 1989. Their target then was John Howard. After also scoring an 18% approval rating in the polls yesterday, I suspect Kim Beazley will be subject to similar treatment.

Peter Martin (the holiday Gittins) has an article in today’s SMH arguing for simplifying our tax filing system. And I’m not just saying that because I get a footnote.

My attention was just drawn to a new OECD report, looking at educational spending and performance. Fave quote: Education in Europe [and Australia – AL] continues as a cottage industry, with practitioners working in isolation and building their practice on … Continue reading →

Tony Atkinson and I have a paper out today on trends in Australian inequality from 1921-2002. The abstract: Using taxation statistics, we estimate the income share held by top income groups in Australia over the period 1921-2002. We find that … Continue reading →

I’m delighted to hear that Jane Saville has been selected to carry the Commonwealth Games flag tomorrow. Having trained with Jane for a couple of years, while we were both teenage racewalkers (she beat me by a very large margin), … Continue reading →

Fresh from mistaking an electorate-wide swing towards John Howard for young people disproportionately swinging towards the Coalition (my critique, Larvartus Prodeo’s, Peter Brent’s), Caroline Overington has begun reviewing books she hasn’t read: Now it’s happening again, with people such as … Continue reading →

According to weather.com, it’s 11C in Melbourne this morning. Cycling to work past the Commonwealth Games athletes’ village, I passed two South African athletes jogging with beanies on.

"In today’s world, paying more than the company tax rate of 30 per cent is optional. After you’ve gone beyond that threshold, you merely incorporate and be done with it." Does this statement sound reasonable to you? If so, I … Continue reading →

The Week 5 quiz is now on the course website. Some more trade readings: Paul Krugman’s essay Ricardo’s Difficult Idea is one of the nicest expositions as to why plenty of smart people don’t understand the theory behind free trade. … Continue reading →