Robert Hickson • Sep 19, 2019 •
There is much to be despondent about looking ahead to the consequences of a changing climate. But adopting Jonathan Franzen’s defeatism isn’t the best response. Reducing adverse impacts of climate change isn’t as simple as regulating automotive emissions, banning a pesticide of refrigerant, or changing to LED lights. But nor is it as … Read More
Guest Author • Sep 11, 2019 •
Nik Green As a small country that’s far away from most of the world, it’s not surprising that many have worried about New Zealand’s exposure to shocks from things like technology. New Zealand has been hit by many such shocks over its history, although they’ve not always been negative for work or incomes. For many New Zealanders of my … Read More
Robert Hickson • Sep 09, 2019 •
A quarter of a century ago, when I thought my future was in science, automation and the idea of “big data” had just arrived for genetics. Automated sequencing, mathematical models, algorithms. Similar innovations spread to others areas of biology through things like better sensors, imaging systems, smarter radio tags for wildlife, data-loggers, and the like. Wet labs … Read More
Guest Author • Sep 09, 2019 •
Judy Kavanagh Many, many things affect whether a firm will adopt a technology, and whether this adoption will be successful. I got a sense of this at a recent family gathering, where I met up with Michael. Michael’s a Hutt boy who, with a friend, set up an online nuts and bolts distribution company in Brisbane. The thing with … Read More
Marcus Wilson • Aug 20, 2019 •
This morning we woke up to discover a power cut. This meant: No electric kettle. We do have a gas stove, however, which we could light with the help of matches (the automatic ignition relies on mains power.) So we did eventually get some hot drinks. No toaster. No microwave. No hot toast, no porridge. Back to the Weetbix. No … Read More
Guest Author • Aug 12, 2019 •
John MacCormick Online matchmaking has radically changed the way people search for love. Digital marketplaces for romance offer more choice, fewer constraints, and potentially less risk than “traditional” ways of finding prospective mates. How much has this changed the nature and quality of people’s romantic relationships? Jack MacCormick In a similar way, digital labour market platforms change matchmaking for … Read More
Guest Author • Aug 08, 2019 •
Tim Maddock Accelerating or decelerating? Just about all the media commentary about the future of work says that tech change is accelerating, like this example, originally published in the Listener. But what does the data tell us? It’s now six years since Frey & Osborne’s claim that 47% of total … Read More
Guest Author • Aug 01, 2019 •
Judy Kavanagh Robots are going to take our jobs, right? Well, maybe. The available evidence provides conflicting results: In the US, one new robot reduces employment by 5.6 workers and local wages by about 0.5% according to estimates in Daron Acemoglu & Pascual Restrepo’s much cited 2017 paper. In Germany, more robots decrease employment in the manufacturing sector but increase … Read More
Guest Author • Jul 31, 2019 •
Judy Kavanagh Denmark is a lot like us. A small country and with an open economy and lots of fiords and sounds. (Dave tells me fiords and sounds are different – a sound is formed by the sea flooding a river valley whereas a fiord is where a valley has been carved out by a … Read More
Dave Heatley • Jul 01, 2019 •
“Machines take jobs” cry the headlines. A journalist friend once said the media only publish two stories: “it’s that terrible” and “isn’t that wonderful”. “Machines take jobs” is clearly “terrible”. But its logical opposite, “machines create jobs”, is unlikely to make the grade as “wonderful”. Such selection effects mean that bad news crowds out the good. Today I’m going to … Read More