Monthly Archives: October 2009

One for the road

Posted on October 29, 2009 by andrewleigh

It’s fashionable to disparage the US for having a legal drinking age of 21. But there’s pretty solid evidence to suggest that Australia could save lives by following suit. From a new research paper: Long Term Effects of Minimum Legal … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Ed Links

Posted on October 28, 2009 by andrewleigh

Some new education-related links: David Brooks on the willingness of the Obama-Duncan team to push radical school reform Elena Silva on re-organising teachers’ work to make schools more effective (use of teams, integrating on-the-job training, removing needless admin tasks). Andrew … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics of Education | Comments Off on Ed Links

More op-ed tips

Posted on October 27, 2009 by andrewleigh

A few years ago, I put together a list of tips for budding opinion piece writers. My friend Dalton Conley (an NYU sociologist who thinks like an economist) has just emailed me his own set of suggestions, which are much … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments

Sprawling Waistlines

Posted on October 27, 2009 by andrewleigh

When your city spreads out, so does your paunch – at least according to new work from the NBER stable. Their IV strategy seems credible, suggesting that the relationship is probably causal. Effects of Urban Sprawl on Obesity (unstable ungated, … Continue reading →

Posted in Health economics, Urban Economics | 2 Comments

Policy Exchange

Posted on October 24, 2009 by andrewleigh

Steve Thomas was one of the four who won a free ticket to attend Per Capita’s annual Policy Exchange conference. Here’s his views on the event: I enjoyed Policy Exchange because of how it provided an opportunity to present and … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Policy Exchange

Let’s get fiscal

Posted on October 22, 2009 by andrewleigh

My Wryside Economics segment on ABC Radio National this morning is about fiscal policy. I’ll be on about 9.15am, and will post the mp3 link when it’s up. Update: The audio can be downloaded here. My statement about the political … Continue reading →

Posted in Coming Events, Macroeconomics | 1 Comment

The unkindest cut

Posted on October 20, 2009 by andrewleigh

My AFR op-ed today is on education and the economic “downturn” (formerly known as the Australian recession). Full text over the fold, along with all the usual hyperlinks. Much thanks (but no responsibility) to Andrew Norton, who helped me understand … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics of Education, Macroeconomics, Universities | 3 Comments

Results of the Mini Policy-Competition

Posted on October 14, 2009 by andrewleigh

Last week, I offered up two free tickets to the PolicyExchange conference for the people who could come up with the most interesting new policy ideas. Joshua Gans kindly added his two free tickets, so we had four to give … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Of E-tags and I-health

Posted on October 14, 2009 by andrewleigh

While work by Amy Finkelstein shows that electronic tolling leads to higher prices (because drivers are less price-responsive), a more recent paper shows that there’s an upside for those who live near the highway. Traffic Congestion and Infant Health: Evidence … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics of the Family, Health economics | Comments Off on Of E-tags and I-health

The economics of diversity

Posted on October 13, 2009 by andrewleigh

Is there a more ecumenical Nobel than the economics prize? First, it goes to a psychologist – now to a political scientist. Shiller may be going to far to call this  “part of the merging of the social sciences”. But … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics Generally | 1 Comment

Conference on Intergenerational Mobility

Posted on October 9, 2009 by andrewleigh

On Monday 30 November, I’m running a conference at ANU on ‘The Economics of Intergenerational Mobility’. This is an area I’ve been interested in since 2007, when I wrote what I’m pretty sure was the first paper estimating the intergenerational … Continue reading →

Posted in Development Economics, Econometrics, Economics of Education, Economics of the Family, Health economics, Inequality, Labour Economics, Tax | Comments Off on Conference on Intergenerational Mobility

Free Conference Tickets

Posted on October 7, 2009 by andrewleigh

I’m speaking at this year’s ‘Policy Exchange’ conference, organised by the thinktank Per Capita. They’ve offered me two free invitations to the conference (valued at $1089 apiece), so I thought it might be nice to allocate them to blog readers. … Continue reading →

Posted in Coming Events, Thinktanks | 6 Comments

Journalism by the Numbers

Posted on October 7, 2009 by andrewleigh

It’s terrific to see journalists doing investigative work to dig out interesting numbers. Two recent examples. On the weekend, Michael Duffy (not, not that one) estimated for the SMH that Australian drug prohibition costs A$4.7 billion annually. Although it’s in … Continue reading →

Posted in Health economics, Labour Economics, Law | 5 Comments

Dealing With Age Inflation

Posted on October 6, 2009 by andrewleigh

My op-ed today proposes a systematic fix to the lobbyist-laden bunfight that seems to accompany every proposal to change a statutory age limit. I argue that we should index legislated ages to longevity improvements. Full text below.

Posted in Health economics, Tax | 6 Comments