The Dismal Science

Google keeps making our lives better

Eric Crampton • Jun 19, 2019

• disaster,
• Google Maps,
• road closures,
• route mapping

Navigating post-earthquake Christchurch was tough. Every day brought a new set of road closures to route around. And they weren’t always easy to predict in advance. If enough roads were closed on the south side of town, I’d want to take the longer northern loop to get from New Brighton to the University – but I wouldn’t know that until … Read More

Data termination

Eric Crampton • May 23, 2019

• Abortion,
• IDI,
• Integrated Data Infrastructure

Awww, nutbunnies. In April, Paula Penfold and Eugene Bingham reported that 2500 women had had their requests for abortion turned down over the last decade. Me, and a few others, immediately started imagining some rather interesting research that could be done if those records could be linked up in the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI). So I started making enquiries. Read More

Polling marijuana

Michael Reddell • Apr 26, 2019

• Cannabis,
• marijuana,
• medicinal cannabis,
• recreational,
• referrendum

There was an interesting new poll out the other day on public attitudes to marijuana and the possibility of law reform (on which there is to be a referendum at the time of next year’s election).  The results certainly took me by surprise. For the record, I don’t have very strong views on the law around marijuana. A couple … Read More

Breaking the pharmacy cartel

Eric Crampton • Feb 15, 2019

• competition,
• health costs,
• medicine costs,
• pharmacies

I wish that government spent even half as much time looking at how its existing regulatory structures create cartels as it did in the rest of its antitrust enforcement. The Herald reports that a new entrant has finally started shaking things up in pharmacy, reducing costs to consumers. They get the framing entirely backwards, focusing on reduced earnings among … Read More

Good character?

Eric Crampton • Jan 14, 2019

• Drugs,
• Legalisation,
• marijuana

National wishes to impose a ‘fit and proper persons’ test for those supplying legal medicinal cannabis. National’s associate health spokesman Shane Reti said medicinal cannabis manufacturers and employees should be “fit and proper persons”. National has proposed clean slate legislation requiring no terms of imprisonment and no convictions for seven years for employees, and even tougher standards for licence … Read More

Material progress: how very recent

Michael Reddell • Jan 14, 2019

• genealogy,
• living standards,
• progress

There was a news story a few years ago in which some academics were reported as suggesting that pretty much everyone of West European descent alive today was descended from Charlemagne, first Holy Roman Emperor.   That he had 18 children, legitimate and otherwise, only increased those probabilities. 35 generations back we each have about 34 billion notional ancestors … Read More

Bias toward action?

Eric Crampton • Nov 15, 2018

• Fireworks,
• petition

Kiwis so-inclined can petition their Parliament for legislative change. But they cannot petition Parliament to maintain the status quo. Victoria University’s Chris Eichbaum wants the government to ban private fireworks displays. This is just phenomenal. With this level of support we now have an opportunity to get them issues in front of law makers and to push for … Read More

Have you considered using prices?

Eric Crampton • Nov 08, 2018

• artificial insemination,
• assisted reproduction,
• fertility,
• sperm donation

Talk about an elephant in the room. Radio New Zealand’s story on unregulated informal sperm donor networks is a great chronicle of what happens when you ban payments for sperm donors, without once mentioning that the whole thing is a consequence of a ban on payments for sperm donors. It’s like a murder mystery where all the facts are … Read More

Doing less good than we could – carbon edition

Eric Crampton • Oct 09, 2018

• climate change,
• electric vehicles,
• emissions trading scheme,
• transport

New Zealand has an emissions trading scheme. It isn’t perfect. But for the sectors covered by the ETS, including transport, best policy for reducing carbon dioxide emissions is fairly simple: buy and retire credits.  The government simply cannot know whether the cheapest way of reducing CO2 emissions is by getting the least efficient cars off the road; having people switch … Read More

The IDI and government data linking

Michael Reddell • Oct 09, 2018

• Data,
• Integrated Data Infrastructures,
• statistics

Browsing on The Treasury’s website the other day, it was the title that caught my eye: “Talkin’ about a revolution”.   I’m rather wary of revolutions.  Even when –  not always, or perhaps even often –  good and noble ideas help inspire them, the outcomes all too often leave a great deal to be desired.   There are various, … Read More