Tagged: General

The “anti-commons” in intellectual policy - The Dismal Science

Paul Walker • Aug 04, 2015 •

• general,
• property rights

A common argument made with respect to intellectual property is that many countries innovation system provide excessively strong or numerous intellectual property rights that drown innovation in a “thicket” or “anti-commons” of overlapping legal rights. The majority view holds that anti-commons effects are a common occurrence that raises significant policy concerns about excessive intellectual property rights. A counter view to … Read More

But what affect are the Chinese actually having on house prices? - The Dismal Science

Paul Walker • Jul 14, 2015 •

• bad policy,
• general,
• housing

With all the xenophobic rubbish we are getting from Labour and bizarre calls for bans on foreign ownership of housing by the likes of the BNZ's Tony Alexander I find myself asking, But what is the actual effect of foreign buyers on the prices of homes?... Read More

Interesting papers forthcoming in NZEP - The Dismal Science

Paul Walker • Jul 14, 2015 •

• contracts,
• general,
• privatisation

New Zealand Economic Papers has some interesting papers due to appear in future issues.From complete to incomplete (contracts): A survey of the mainstream approach to the theory of privatisation.AbstractPrivatisation is a common, yet controversial, pol... Read More

The eternal economist - The Dismal Science

Paul Walker • Jul 13, 2015 •

• general

Harford on inequality - The Dismal Science

Paul Walker • May 06, 2015 •

• general,
• inequality

At his blog Tim Harford has been writing on The truth about inequality. He says,How serious a problem is inequality? And if it is serious, what can be done about it?Myths abound. Many people seem to believe that Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century showed that wealth inequality is at an all-time high; instead, his data show … Read More

Real wage inequality - The Dismal Science

Paul Walker • May 01, 2015 •

• general

Inequality is the trendy topic of the moment. Wage inequality being part of the story. We hear about differences in wage between males and females, skilled and unskilled workers, different racial groups, age groups etc. One point to keep in mind when l... Read More

To eat the rich, first they must stay still - The Dismal Science

Paul Walker • Apr 30, 2015 •

• general,
• Incentives matter,
• inequality

Taxation is always a problematic issue but the taxation of very high income earners is becoming an even more controversial subject in a number of countries. One problem with high tax rates is that it could lead high earners to move abroad. A new column at VoxEU.org suggests that top-tier inventors are significantly affected by top tax … Read More

Pope Francis says it’s ‘scandalous’ that women earn less than men for the same job - The Dismal Science

Paul Walker • Apr 30, 2015 •

• employment,
• general

From Fox News Latino,Pope Francis has added his voice to the feminist anthem of equal pay for equal work, saying it's "scandalous" that women earn less than men for doing the same job.Francis also lambasted the attitude of some who blame the crisis in ... Read More

Peer review in one picture - The Dismal Science

Paul Walker • Apr 30, 2015 •

• general

We all know how this feels(HT: Organizations and Markets) … Read More

Natural disasters: insurance costs vs. deaths - The Dismal Science

Paul Walker • Apr 29, 2015 •

• general,
• Timothy Taylor

In a posting with the above title at the Conversable Economist blog Timothy Taylor writes,The natural disasters that cause the highest levels of insurance losses are only rarely the same as the natural disasters that cause the greatest loss of life. Wh... Read More