Monthly Archives: August 2009

Too busy to stop for a bite

Posted on August 31, 2009 by andrewleigh

Reading this while eating lunch? You’re not alone… Grazing, Goods and Girth: Determinants and Effects (gated, sorry)  Daniel S. Hamermesh Using the 2006-07 American Time Use Survey and its Eating and Health Module, I show that over half of adult … Continue reading →

Posted in Health economics | Comments Off on Too busy to stop for a bite

Just one more Dr Seuss story, or you’ll never get into Yale

Posted on August 28, 2009 by andrewleigh

Two new NBER working papers look at the  increasingly tough market to get into the best US colleges, and suggest that it may be having implications for high-schoolers, parents, and maybe even lil munchkins. (Both gated, sorry.) Playing the Admissions … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Australians more easily stimulated than Americans

Posted on August 26, 2009 by andrewleigh

I have a new paper out today, looking at the impact of the Australian 2009 household payments on expenditure. It uses a poll question contained in the June ‘ANU Poll’. Here’s the abstract (click on the title for the full … Continue reading →

Posted in Macroeconomics | 5 Comments

Don’t trust a hedgehog to tell you about the future

Posted on August 26, 2009 by andrewleigh

I am a big fan of Philip Tetlock. From a recent article in The National Interest: What experts think—where they fall along the Left-Right spectrum—is a weak predictor of accuracy. But how experts think is a surprisingly consistent predictor. Relative … Continue reading →

Posted in Prediction Markets | Comments Off on Don’t trust a hedgehog to tell you about the future

On bleeding and leading

Posted on August 25, 2009 by andrewleigh

My AFR oped today asks: does it matter for economic policy which individual leads a particular political party? The conclusion: not in most cases. Of course, a 750-word piece can only do justice to one strand of a vast literature. … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics of Elections | Comments Off on On bleeding and leading

Malvina Place is Hiring

Posted on August 21, 2009 by andrewleigh

The Grattan Institute is looking for Melbourne-based policy wonks with either analytical or communication skills. Job ad here. Closing date is Friday 28 August 2009, salary is $50-140k. The Institute’s head is former E*Trade CEO John Daley. Its 5 current … Continue reading →

Posted in Jobs | Comments Off on Malvina Place is Hiring

Perry Goes to Dublin

Posted on August 21, 2009 by andrewleigh

On the topic of randomised social policy trials, UCD Dublin’s Professor Colm Harmon draws my attention to a symposium on evidence-based policy in Ireland (proceedings here), and a new randomised trial of early childhood intervention that’s now afoot. Details over … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics of Education, Randomisation | Comments Off on Perry Goes to Dublin

A bettor way of forecasting the future

Posted on August 20, 2009 by andrewleigh

My Wryside Economics talk today was on prediction markets. If you’re interested, you can download it from the ABC website.

Posted in Prediction Markets | Comments Off on A bettor way of forecasting the future

More Random Musings

Posted on August 18, 2009 by andrewleigh

I’m attending a Productivity Commission roundtable in Canberra today on the topic ‘Strengthening Evidence-Based Policy in the Australian Federation’. In an attempt to provoke, my paper is titled Evidence-Based Policy: Summon the Randomistas?. Full text here. I’ll have a month … Continue reading →

Posted in Randomisation | 6 Comments

Pollie Pay

Posted on August 6, 2009 by andrewleigh

My Wryside Economics talk on politicians pay can be downloaded here. I’d also recommend Tanveer Ahmed’s discussion of why electro-convulsive therapy should be more common.

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Of Peanuts and Monkeys

Posted on August 5, 2009 by andrewleigh

My Life Matters Wryside Economics chat tomorrow will be on ABC Radio National, probably starting around 9.20/9.30am. I’ll be speaking about politicians’ pay.

Posted in Coming Events | Comments Off on Of Peanuts and Monkeys

Babies at the Ballot Box

Posted on August 5, 2009 by andrewleigh

Voters may say that baby-faced pollies look less competent, but they still seem to vote for them. From a new Finnish study: Faces of Politicians: Babyfacedness Predicts Inferred Competence but Not Electoral Success Panu Poutvaara, Henrik Jordahl and Niclas Berggren … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics of Elections | 1 Comment