James Zuccollo • Jul 24, 2015 •
The ONS finds that older people are far more trusting of others than the young, they just don’t trust the Government. Does this account for Churchill’s apocryphal line? If a man is not a socialist by the time he is 20, he has no heart. If he is not a conservative by the time he […] … Read More
William Taylor • Oct 04, 2014 •
Duncan Garner is a bit of a stirrer, but he pulled out some interesting numbers in his article yesterday arguing the Greens should move to the centre: The Greens talk poverty and social justice, but the poor aren’t listening – and they’re certainly not voting for them. Look at these telling statistics from the poorest electorates in […] … Read More
Matt Nolan • Oct 02, 2014 •
I keep seeing tweets like this – like multiple times a day for several weeks now: "scientists can and should exercise their democratic rights to advocate for what they believe", says @petergluckman http://t.co/UZfo9HXzQE — Nicola Gaston (@nicgaston) September 29, 2014 So I thought I should provide my thoughts. I agree. Scientists are people and should […] … Read More
Matt Nolan • Sep 30, 2014 •
Our Prime minister, John Key, has decided to say the following: Prime Minister John Key has indicated he thought the New Zealand dollar’s fair falue was around 65 USc and that it would be logical for the Reserve Bank to intervene to push the New Zealand dollar lower, given it was currently well above where […] … Read More
Matt Nolan • Jul 23, 2014 •
First let me cover off the two reasons you have probably clicked on this post: The question mark is on purpose – even though it sounds like a statement. In the end, these are issues of balance rather than black and white rights and wrongs. Then again, maybe I’m biased as I see myself as […] … Read More
Matt Nolan • Jul 07, 2014 •
While the blog was out of action I noticed a lot of people linking the following article by Andrew Dickson and Bill Kaye-Blake (from Groping to Bethlehem). All the links focused on how the article made the case for a tax on sugar. That is fine and all, it was an externality case that we […] … Read More
Matt Nolan • Jun 13, 2014 •
Note: Renamed this from “Discussion Thursday” as I ended up inadvertently writing a post rather than a comment … Sorry, a bit busy to do real posts. Also wanted to get a discussion going on this excellent quote from Eric Crampton about using sugar taxes to pay for the “health care externality” from obesity/sugar consumption: […] … Read More
Matt Nolan • Jun 10, 2014 •
I see that leading Stuff today is an article on New Zealand’s “obesity epidemic”, and how we must changes some things because we are “killing ourselves”. The policy suggestions are: In a report published today, the association calls for drastic cures for the bulge, including taxing or minimum prices for sugary drinks, restricting food advertising […] … Read More
Matt Nolan • 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 […] … Read More
Matt Nolan • 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 […] … Read More