Matt Nolan
Green’s Investment Bank - The Dismal Science
May 13, 2014 •
The Green party has announced a “Green Investment Bank” to help facilitate investment in green industries (release, discussion, paper). I am not against it per se, and given they are saying that in the first year they will have a working group to determine the details there isn’t too much I can dig my teeth […]
The housing bubble: Why implicit insurance may well be the real driver of Piketty’s concerns - The Dismal Science
May 13, 2014 •
Alex Tabarrok at Marginal Revolution points out that, without the run up in house prices, we do not get Piketty’s trend of rising capital to output ratios in the data. This is very true, and was one of the key reasons why I wasn’t convinced that Piketty’s explanation of his data was the best available. Now […]
Housing shortage: When is a shortage not a shortage - The Dismal Science
May 05, 2014 •
It is received wisdom that Auckland has had a housing “shortage” for a prolonged period of time due to insufficient supply. However, on the face of it this is a bit strange as: Residential investment: Yes building rates have been low during the past 7 years, but the value of residential investment in the prior […]
Immigration and monetary policy: Let’s be a bit careful - The Dismal Science
May 05, 2014 •
Note: I realise I have been writing about Labour’s policies and not other parties – I have been very busy, and only write about things when I get a chance. If you want me to write about any specific party policy, email me, and I will try to have a go Labour is talking about […]
New Zealand’s bubble - The Dismal Science
May 02, 2014 •
I know, I know, I’m very late to the party – while I was busily writing about factor shares and income inequality the big news in New Zealand was this discussion of how our housing market is a “bubble”! A bunch of points have already been made about why the US to NZ comparison isn’t […]
Labour and monetary policy - The Dismal Science
May 02, 2014 •
Labour has put a bunch of thought into its discussion on monetary policy - and there is certainly nothing wrong with discussing the issues and putting out a policy document, in fact there is a lot right with that. Furthermore, over their entire document they recognise this is a multi-faceted issue we need to be careful […]
Quote of the Day: Kolm on inequality - The Dismal Science
Apr 29, 2014 •
One of the forefathers of modern income inequality analysis, Serge-Christophe Kolm, started one of his most famous papers (REPEC) in the following way: Many people consider the reduction of economic inequalites as a basic aim of society. Such ideas are, however, largely nonoperational, sterile, and even meaningless, as long as what is called inequality is not […]
Some misconceptions about Capital in the 21st Century - The Dismal Science
Apr 23, 2014 •
After reading Piketty’s book, I have run into a good number of comments from people about it. Some of them appear to be based on some confusion about what the book is saying. Below I’m going to note down some of the more popular ones, and point out why they are not backed by the […]
Factor shares - The Dismal Science
Apr 04, 2014 •
By the time this post is up, I should have finished Capital in the 21st Century. However, I write my posts well in advance – so this isn’t really about it. For the next three weeks (starting Monday) I am going to have different posts up about historic “schools” of looking at factor shares, all […]
Some beautiful links - The Dismal Science
Mar 30, 2014 •
I am not around. Over the next three weeks, there are a series of really rubbish auto-posts are coming up about “factor shares” – I normally write posts in advance, but it is unlikely I am going to add anything or move posts around to include new ones. During that time I’ll be reading and […]