Matt Nolan
Economics, theory, and data - The Dismal Science
Mar 24, 2014 •
This post was titled “Why data alone is not enough for economic inference”. I was all prepared to write a post on the fact we need data and theory in order to do economic inference and create knowledge. I had links (*,*,*,*,*). Then Noah Smith wrote this like really good post on the issue, so […]
Economists and inequality: Is it true we’ve been ignoring it? - The Dismal Science
Mar 20, 2014 •
In a recent interview with Piketty about his book Capital, the interviewer had some questions I found … strange: Your book fits oddly into the canon of contemporary economics. It focuses not on growth and its determinants, but on how the spoils of growth are divided. … For much of the last century, economists told […]
Some broad lessons from the GFC - The Dismal Science
Mar 14, 2014 •
I had to do a brief chat about the Global Financial Crisis, “mistakes” that were made, and the role of the international financial architecture, for a organisation I’m not naming with people I’m not naming. It was Chatham House rules, but nothing particularly rough was said – so I’m more not naming anything as I […]
On economics: Germs of choice - The Dismal Science
Mar 14, 2014 •
Recently Alex Coleman stated on twitter that he found economics ridiculous (in his defense, I specifically believe he is talking about macroeconomics – not the other 95% of economics that is not macroeconomics. Also, he probably heard an economist on the radio – we always sound a bit ridiculous floating in the media). That’s cool. […]
Taxing: Choice and policy consistency - The Dismal Science
Mar 12, 2014 •
Offsetting recently posted about a tweet by Gareth Morgan on eating and control, including a reply I popped up. Essentially, Gareth’s tweet implied that the way individuals make choices indicates we have no choice over how much they eat. I disagreed talking about precommitment – he stated I assumed perfect information, which is both a […]
IMF on redistribution and growth - The Dismal Science
Mar 05, 2014 •
Last month I noticed a piece from the IMF “redistribution, inequality, and growth”. It came out after my post on “Okun’s leaky bucket” and I was pretty happy to see the piece – as it was actual empirical research stating that the policy trade-offs are more complicated than some grand “equality vs efficiency” policy choice. […]
The living wage again: Considering policy choices and trade-offs - The Dismal Science
Feb 25, 2014 •
I see a new living wage has been released (Via Kiwiblog). We have posted about this recently, briefly noting some areas that need to be considered when thinking about this concept. To help think about policy choices more broadly, Richard Meadows asked a few economists about making the minimum wage equivalent to the living wage […]
Countdown and wholesalers: Are consumers the ones benefiting? - The Dismal Science
Feb 24, 2014 •
There has been a bit of discussion about Countdown hurting wholesalers to get prices down, flexing their muscle shall we say (here and here). The Commerce Commission is concerned about this and is investigating. Via Twitter I noticed that the concerns about supermarkets being bullies has led to an increasing desire to do something about […]
A ‘Top 10′ economics links for romance and matching - The Dismal Science
Feb 19, 2014 •
On Valentine’s Day I had the opportunity to write a Top 10 at 10 for the always good Rates Blog. As it was Valentine’s Day I thought linking to some romantic economics might be a good idea. As the sexiest economist competition started that day – I didn’t have the opportunity to point this out. […]
Salvation army “state of the nation” report - The Dismal Science
Feb 18, 2014 •
Via the Herald I spotted this State of the Nation report by the Salvation Army. It is nicely put together, taking a whole series of publicly available data and making it fit for public consumption! Also I appreciate their focus on shining attention on issues that get underplayed in public – let us be honest, […]