Several friends and journalists have been asking me lately about the fact that the headline betting odds have Labor a 70% chance to win, while the seat-by-seat markets have Labor as favourite in 77 out of 150 seats (see Simon Jackman’s site for current and past odds). As I see it, there are [...]
A couple of weeks ago, Labor announced that it would offer the poorest 2/3rds of parents an education rebate worth $375 per primary school child, and $750 per secondary school child. Now, the Coalition has hit back with an offer of $400 per primary school child, and $800 per [...]
The Australian Fabians are running a young writers’ competition, for those aged 18-28. First prize is a trip to London, to work in the thinktank Demos for a month. Second prize is the chance to intern at Demos Australia (aka Per Capita). Entries close 10 December. Details over [...]
Economics is very concerned with causal inference. Here’s three recent examples of papers whose identification strategies are more interesting than their (unsurprising) results.
This is not to say that we shouldn’t keep honing the methodological toolkit - good evidence for your presuppositions is better than bad evidence. Plus, every now and [...]
The Howard Government today announced the beginning of its ‘KnotChoices’ campaign, aimed at getting all Australians to wear a tie to work. Launching the television advertisements, Workplace Relations Minister Joe Hockey said “the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ latest data figures suggest people on average are earning, while wearing a [...]
The NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research - definitely the best state or territory crime body in the country - is planning to provide people with precise details on where crimes occur (report here, data here). It looks like the system may be based on the successful New [...]
Regular blog readers might recall that in June last year, Joshua Gans and I released a paper (copy here) on the impact that the sudden introduction of the $3000 Baby Bonus had on births. Because a baby born on 1 July 2004 got $3000, plenty of mothers delayed having [...]
Every now and then, some crazy economist will come along and argue that if we really want to limit water use, we should scrap quantity controls, put up the price, and compensate low-income households.
Of course, this only works if household demand responds to the water price. If what the [...]
According to the NYT, the US army is carrying out randomised experiments on trauma treatments. Their rationale is that with a lot of soldiers dying in Iraq, it’s worth running experiments now to save lives in the future.
A similar ethical argument is often made to justify randomised policy trials: getting [...]
In the Australian today, Bernard Lane profiles my coauthor, Joshua Gans — recent winner of the Economic Society of Australia’s inaugural young economist award. My favourite bit:
Any time for hobbies?
“I pride myself on spending more than the typical amount of time with my children,” Gans says.
“I think sometimes people don’t [...]
In the latest Democratic Presidential candidates debate, the candidates were asked whether they supported a longer school day. Ed Sector parses their answers.
Williams asked: Do you believe we in this country need to extend the school day and/or extend the school year? And will you commit to it?Some excerpts [...]
…is the Liberty and Democracy Party’s response to a questionnaire from the Australian Christian Lobby.
[...]The ANU’s economics policy journal, Agenda, has recently gone open-access. The latest issue includes Boyd Hunter on Indigenous policy, and a three-way discussion on global warming (complete with three-way rebuttal) between Warwick McKibbin, John Quiggin, and Alex Robson.
[...]Thinking about placing a bet on the Melbourne Cup tomorrow? If so, you can expect to lose money. But if you want to lose less (in a probabalistic sense), then you should bet on short-odds horses rather than longshots. According to my friend Justin Wolfers, the expected rate of [...]
When I was a kid, every bicycle store and department store used to sell AM/FM radios that could be mounted on bicycle handlebars. Since I have a half-hour cycle to and fro work each day, I’d rather like to be able to listen to the news. But for some reason [...]
I somehow neglected to write a post on Jennifer Buckingham’s new CIS childcare report when it came out last week.* The report surveys the evidence on child care, and concludes that we have very little high-quality evidence on whether formal childcare is good or bad for kids. Much more [...]
My oped in today’s AFR is on targeted welfare. This is a topic on which I’ve learned a lot from the blogosophere over the last couple of years, so thanks to those who’ve helped shape my thinking on it. (And for those regular commenters who disagree with parts of it, [...]
Following on from my post on the latest ABS births data, I just noticed an amusing fact. The reason for the apparent ‘growth’ in fertility isn’t because the 2006 figure is high, it’s because they revised down their 2005 figure.
From the ABS’s October 2006 media release:
Australia’s total fertility [...]
A PhD student of mine was presenting a seminar at the same time as the Costello-Swan debate, so I missed watching it on TV. If anyone comes across a transcript, would you mind passing on the link?
Update I: A reader points me to video of the opening statements here [...]
Damien Eldridge (formerly known as Economics Geek) has decided to stop blogging. He tells me that at the end, he wasn’t really enjoying it (but adds “On the other hand, I have been enjoying my academic research recently!”). Sounds a very sensible tradeoff for any non-professorial academic to make.
I [...]
ABS births data out yesterday show another increase in fertility - from 1.79 babies per woman in 2005 to 1.81 in 2006. In the midst of an election campaign, the question naturally arises: how much credit can the baby bonus take for this increase?
I’m not aware of anyone who’s [...]
The Canberra Times today reports on a poll of 400 voters in the bellweather seat of Eden Monaro. When asked whether they prefer $34b to be devoted to tax cuts or health/education, 10% say tax cuts, while 88% say spending. As Peter Martin points out in an accompanying commentary, [...]
Last week, Gummo Trotsky wrote a feisty post, criticising the intervention of economists into the question of the impact of mobile phone usage on accident rates. More recently, commenter whyisitso on Andrew Norton’s blog asked economist Harry Clarke how he presumed to write about climate change.
“I’ve taught students about [...]
A particular pet peeve of mine is academics who write sole-authored papers as “we”. So I was amused when A Word a Day dropped this into my inbox this afternoon.
nosism (NO-siz-em) noun
The use of ‘we’ in referring to oneself.
[From Latin nos (we).]As it’s often used by editors, [...]
Speaking of talented up and coming Australian political scientists, Melbourne University’s Sally Young (with assistance from researchers Stephanie Younane and Mary Helen McIlroy) has just launched “Soapbox“, an archive of election material running back to federation. Browsing through the launch speeches, I’m struck by the fact that in [...]
What happens to kids’ school performance if their parent becomes unemployed? According to a new study from Norway, the answer depends on whether it’s mum or dad. They use plant closings rather than all job losses, since economists generally think that having your firm shut down is more exogenous (ie. more [...]
Peter Van Onselen, definitely one of the rising stars of Australian political science, has a piece in the Bulletin this week on betting markets, which includes this tidbit.
The Bulletin understands that political insiders, armed with internal party research, are dabbling in the betting markets, particularly in seat-by-seat contests. Due to [...]
Sportingbet is now offering odds on the Democrats’ performance in the 2007 Australian election. They think that there’s an 80% chance that no Democrat will make it.
WILL A DEMOCRAT CANDIDATE IN EITHER HOUSE BE ELECTED AT THIS ELECTION?
Yes, a candidate will be $4.50
No, a single candidate won’t be [...]
For election tragics, Simon Jackman’s Betting Market Summary (updated daily; graphs and stats galore) should be compulsory reading.
[...]The ANU RSSS Economics seminar schedule for the remainder of the year is over the fold.
RESEARCH SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
ECONOMICS PROGRAM SEMINARS
October – November – December 2007_________________________________________________________________________________
Seminar Room A at 3.30pm
Friday Nadezhda (Nadya) Baryshnikova Population Abatement and Environmental Equity:
26 October University of Adelaide A Dynamic Study
_________________________________________________________________________________
Seminar Room [...]
Somewhat to my surprise, the feistiest part of Sunday night’s debate (”pathetic!”, “dishonest!”) was a discussion about whether an OECD report on public education spending had properly taken account of Australia’s HECS system. I had always assumed that this was because taking account of the implicit interest rate subsidy was [...]
Peter Costello is today focusing on 2012… or is it 2013?
However, Mr Howard and Mr Costello focused on the “aspirational” tax pledges both sides have made for beyond the 2010 election. Labor said that in six years, if affordable, it would reduce the tax rates to 15, 30 and [...]
On 28-29 November 2007, ANU will be holding a conference to showcase economics research from across campus. Attendance is free - details here.
If you’re a research-inclined undergraduate or Masters student, we might even pay your way.
[...]According to Simon Jackman’s aggregation of three bookmakers, the betting markets were suggesting a 56% chance of an ALP win on Sunday, and a 60% chance on Monday. Since the only real news in that period was the election debate, this not only implies that the markets think Rudd [...]
Since no-one else seems to be doing it, I’ve been tinkering with the Coalition and ALP tax proposals, trying to look at how they’re distributed across the income spectrum. Here’s my best estimate as to their distribution across the 10 family income deciles.
| Family income decile |
Coalition proposal |
ALP proposal (excl [...]
Posted: October 21, 2007, 12:20am EDT by Andrew LeighRobin Rudd
Number of comments: 40
Well, Labor’s tax advisers have certainly had a busy week. I don’t have any inside knowledge, but from the quality of the graphics accompanying their tax policy, my guess is that they’ve just jettisoned a carefully-crafted tax policy in order to adopt John Howard’s. I almost want to say [...] Posted: October 19, 2007, 4:08am EDT by Andrew LeighSwings and Roundabouts
Number of comments: 2
Ian McAllister (whose office is almost directly above mine) has put together a very readable compilation of trends in the Australian Election Study. Coauthored with Juliet Clark, it looks at topics ranging from trust to partisanship, party leaders to political issues. In some cases, he has comparable data going all the way [...] Posted: October 18, 2007, 5:43pm EDT by Andrew LeighWhy don’t most artists coauthor?
Number of comments: 6
In a sole-authored paper, David Galenson thinks he has some ideas…
Posted: October 17, 2007, 5:00pm EDT by Andrew LeighDeath Penalty Downunder
Number of comments: 4
With the politics of capital punishment in the news lately, I thought I’d blog on three interesting pieces of work that have crossed my desk. Realists: In new ARC-funded (but not endorsed!) research, Sinclair Davidson and Tim Fry analyse the Australian Election Study, and show a strong correlation between rating [...] Posted: October 16, 2007, 5:58am EDT by Andrew LeighDid you know they’ve taken the word ‘gullible’ out of the dictionary?
Number of comments: 3
I’m embarassed to say that this morning, I nearly fell for a scam-email purporting to be from the Australian Taxation Office, and offering a tax return of “270$”. I console myself with the thought that this is basically what I’ve been proposing the ATO ought to do. [...]Posted: October 16, 2007, 2:52am EDT by Andrew LeighThe interest rates Pushmepullu
Number of comments: 7
According to Peter Hartcher, markets currently put a 50% probability on the RBA raising rates at its 6 Nov meeting. And not surprisingly, many commentators are predicting that the Coalition’s tax cut package will increase that probability; though the effect of tax cuts starting on 1 July 2008 and [...] Posted: October 15, 2007, 6:09pm EDT by Andrew LeighGold-plated tax cuts
Number of comments: 21
The first announcement of the federal election is out, and it’s a juicy big package of tax cuts from the Coalition. My guess is that much of the commentary will focus on the inflationary impact of the cuts when the RBA board meets 6 Nov, but to me that’s [...] Posted: October 15, 2007, 2:16am EDT by Andrew LeighBetting Markets Talk @ USyd
Number of comments: 3
I’m presenting a seminar at the University of Sydney tomorrow afternoon. It’s looking at a specific aspect of election betting markets - whether they seem to suffer from the same favourite-longshot bias seen in horserace betting markets (the expected payout from a day at the races is always negative, but [...] Posted: October 14, 2007, 8:27pm EDT by Andrew LeighNattering Nabobs of November
Number of comments: 1
As anyone who’s been watching Sportingbet’s election date betting market has known for the last few days, we’re on for Nov 24. Peter Hartcher gives a taste of what’s in store from the Coalition.
Posted: October 14, 2007, 1:58am EDT by Andrew LeighOdds 150 Updated
Number of comments: 3
With today rumoured to be the day the federal election is called, here are the implied probabilities for each of the 150 federal electorates, derived from odds posted on the Portlandbet site (thanks to NL for collating them, and denoting incumbency).
[...] Posted: October 13, 2007, 6:45pm EDTPolitical Perquisites
Number of comments: 5
Surfing past LSE economist Tim Besley’s website, I came across a rather neat paper on the cost of UK MPs, which some enterprising political scientist could easily replicate for Australia.
Posted: October 12, 2007, 4:45am EDT by Andrew LeighIndigenous Policy JobsMy former econ masters student Kirsten Storry is standing down from her position as indigenous policy researcher at the Centre for Independent Studies to take up a job in a Sydney law firm. It’s good for the law, but a pity for the issue, since Kirsten is an evidence-driven researcher [...] Posted: October 11, 2007, 11:54pm EDT by Andrew LeighGlaeser on Krugman
Number of comments: 1
Ed Glaeser, who is always worth reading, writes a feisty fact-filled review of Krugman’s recent pro-Democrat book. He begins:
Posted: October 11, 2007, 6:37pm EDT by Andrew LeighIf you’re not with us, you must be a crackpot intellectual
Number of comments: 4
It’s always good to see reasoned debate in our nation’s broadsheets. And then there’s articles like this one, by political scientist John Keane.
Posted: October 11, 2007, 12:03am EDT by Andrew LeighAre U Happy?Middle-aged and feeling glum? Don’t worry, you’re just like most people in developed countries. And when you get older, you’ll be as happy as when you were a young ‘un.
Posted: October 10, 2007, 5:11pm EDT by Andrew LeighDeath in the Family
Number of comments: 4
My friend Macgregor points me to this extraordinarily moving article by Christopher Hitchens. If you’re as lachrymose as me, I don’t recommend reading it at work. [...]Posted: October 10, 2007, 5:59am EDT by Andrew LeighWhen 50.1% isn’t enough
Number of comments: 11
I somehow managed to miss this very interesting piece by Simon Jackman in the Bulletin, showing that there’s a systematic bias in the Australian electoral system against Labor, such that they typically need 51-52% of the two-party vote to win government. Simon only slightly alludes to this, but naturally, one [...] Posted: October 09, 2007, 3:10pm EDT by Andrew LeighWanted: Economist to Do Own Research
Number of comments: 1
My group - the Economics Program in the Research School of Social Sciences at ANU - is advertising for a junior economist (academic levels B/C/D) to do “close to full-time research”. The position description is over the fold. As academic jobs go, I think it’s a pretty attractive one. If [...] Posted: October 08, 2007, 7:25am EDT by Andrew LeighTapping the Wisdom of Blog Crowds
Number of comments: 12
A friend of mine who lives in Sydney is looking to do postgraduate studies in economics. Does anyone have advice for him? Here’s his dilemma.
Posted: October 07, 2007, 7:25pm EDT by Andrew LeighDo we need country quotas for refugees?
Number of comments: 29
I’ve been meaning to write a post about Kevin Andrews’ recent decision to reduce the share of refugees coming to Australia from Africa (and, conversely, to increase the share of non-African refugees, since the total intake is staying constant). In general, it seems reasonable to me that our decision on [...] Posted: October 06, 2007, 6:35pm EDT by Andrew LeighTwo Americas
Number of comments: 4
My co-author Tim Smeeding draws my attention to some fascinating new research. In 1988, three-quarters of Americans thought that their society was not one of ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’. Now, half of them think it does fit that description.
More details here. [...]Posted: October 06, 2007, 3:31pm EDT by Andrew LeighIs Saturday the Safe Day?I’m presenting a seminar at the University of Melbourne next Tuesday (October 9), on the topic “Are Weekend Births More Dangerous?”. As with the last ANU seminar on this topic, it’ll be on a “please do not quote or cite” basis (apologies). The seminar will run from 12-1pm, and will [...] Posted: October 06, 2007, 3:13pm EDT by Andrew LeighPooled Poll Puzzles Psephologist
Number of comments: 3
The SMH today presents the results of “the latest six-month average of the Herald/Nielsen Poll”. With a sample size of 8115 voters, it’s certainly likely to be more precise than each of the individual polls that comprise it (though the commentary assumes that the poll is afflicted only by [...] Posted: October 06, 2007, 12:23am EDT by Andrew LeighWhy the Line is Shorter in Queensland
Number of comments: 4
I just returned from two weeks in Europe, working with co-authors in London and attending a conference on inequality in Seville. At the end of the journey, we flew into Brisbane to spend some time with family. After those fusty Europeans with their formal grammar, it was nice to come [...] Posted: October 04, 2007, 10:36pm EDT by Andrew LeighFor Better Policymaking, Toss a Coin
Number of comments: 8
I have an oped in the Australian Financial Review today, discussing the upsurge of randomised trials in development economics, and linking it to Indigenous policy in Australia. It was written under somewhat unusual circumstances. I’ve spent the past few days on a family holiday in Lamington National Park, near the NSW/Qld [...] Posted: October 03, 2007, 9:14pm EDT by Andrew LeighGong for Gans
Number of comments: 2
My frequent coauthor Joshua Gans has received an award for the best young economist in Australia. Last December, Joshua noted that he had just published his 100th paper. Given that the Economic Society award only goes to those aged under 40, this means that Joshua has published an [...] Posted: September 28, 2007, 7:09am EDT by Andrew LeighEconomic Exposition
Number of comments: 1
For the last decade or two, ANU and the University of Western Australia have been running a conference for PhD students. As well as being a chance for final-year PhD students to present their work, it’s the closest thing that we have to a job market for Australian PhD students. [...] Posted: September 28, 2007, 5:14am EDT by Andrew LeighShameless self-promotion
Number of comments: 3
Posted: September 27, 2007, 4:17pm EDT by Andrew LeighWhen no news is good news
Number of comments: 2
I’d been worried that spending the past two weeks out of Australia would mean missing a thrilling few opening weeks of the election campaign. But as far as I can tell from reading the news online, it’s been about the slowest period for domestic news in ages. In fact, have [...] Posted: September 27, 2007, 3:40pm EDT by Andrew LeighHow’s your school?
Number of comments: 17
Kirsten Storry has a terrific oped in the Newcastle Herald (republished in Online Opinion). It concludes with her three-point wishlist regarding test scores:
Posted: September 25, 2007, 10:00am EDT by Andrew LeighEconomics & Psychology
Number of comments: 3
For anyone researching or teaching in the field of behavioural economics, Stefano DellaVigna has written the nicest summary paper of the literature that I’ve yet seen. [...]Posted: September 25, 2007, 5:39am EDT by Andrew LeighKiller Economics Ideas
Number of comments: 2
In the theme of economic imperialism, David Uren alerts me to this new paper from boundary-pushing Swiss economist Bruno Frey. The current draft is a bit terse (it probably needs to be 2-3 times as long to make its points fully), but tis still a fun idea. Posted: September 22, 2007, 4:58pm EDT by Andrew LeighA Taste of ANU Economics ScholarshipsThe Economics Program in the Research School of Social Sciences is offering a handful of scholarships for research-inclined Honours and Masters students to attend forthcoming economics conferences at the Australian National University (we’ve called them “A Taste of ANU Economics”). The application process is very simple - we just need grades [...] Posted: September 21, 2007, 5:48pm EDT by Andrew LeighDo economists make good ambassadors?
Number of comments: 4
The Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development program is looking for economists. Details over the fold. In terms of world social welfare, there’s probably no better place for young economists to be devoting their energies than international development, so if you’re open to the possibility of living in a developing country for [...] Posted: September 21, 2007, 7:34am EDT by Andrew LeighKlanonomics
Number of comments: 1
Another terrific paper from Steven Levitt - this one coauthored with Roland Fryer, one of America’s top young economists. They’ve turned their attention to the economics of the KKK.
Posted: September 20, 2007, 6:34pm EDT by Andrew LeighConversations about Capitalism
Number of comments: 8
In the latest issue of Reason Magazine, economist Deirdre McCloskey has a beautifully-penned article about Galbraith, Schumpeter, economics and rhetoric. Definitely worth a read, particularly the parts about Galbraith’s zingers and Schumpeter’s three great ambitions. [...]Posted: September 19, 2007, 8:58am EDT by Andrew LeighFamily Ties
Number of comments: 5
A casual comment in an email from my coauthor Christine Neill made me realise that I’d forgotten to blog on this - very cool - paper. My favourite summary statistic is that 9% of US Congressional representatives have close relatives who also served in Congress.
Posted: September 19, 2007, 4:35am EDT by Andrew LeighGood Times
Number of comments: 11
The New York Times, a newspaper that some of us rather like, has just announced that it’s bringing down its paywall. As the article states:
Posted: September 18, 2007, 7:11am EDT by Andrew LeighDelaying Has Costs Too
Number of comments: 13
Andrew Norton today posts on the impact of delaying the start of university by a year. As he points out, we don’t have very good evidence on the causal impact, but it looks like taking a gap year may lead to better grades at university. So if we believe the [...] Posted: September 18, 2007, 5:17am EDT by Andrew LeighThe Impact of Finding God Early
Number of comments: 18
Chris Hitchens and Richard Dawkins may not like it, but the findings from a new paper on the impact of a religious childhood sound pretty reasonable to me.
Posted: September 17, 2007, 1:24am EDT by Andrew LeighOpen Thread
Number of comments: 13
I’m flying to the UK today, and may not be posting for a few days. So consider this an open thread, to discuss any issues of economics, politics or pop culture that take your fancy. [...]Posted: September 13, 2007, 5:18pm EDT by Andrew LeighOf Media Tarts and Maternity Leave
Number of comments: 5
Gweneth today took Sebastian along to the Democrats and Greens’ launch of their paid maternity leave policy.* Turned out there were only a handful of babies in the room. While the other babies were featured on various news outlets, Sebastian took star billing on Ten News, as he reached out [...] Posted: September 13, 2007, 5:14am EDT by Andrew LeighOccupational hazards
Number of comments: 2
Must get out of the habit of watching Today Tonight with a laptop.
Posted: September 13, 2007, 4:55am EDT by Andrew LeighThree Ways to Report an Election
Number of comments: 12
In my AFR piece today, I make a new case for following betting markets instead of polls - they’re more boring, so they leave more room for talking about ideas.
Posted: September 12, 2007, 6:25pm EDT by Andrew LeighNetiquette
Number of comments: 7
I’ve been thinking recently about the different ways that bloggers respond to ideas they disagree with. What’s prompted the cogitation is two experiences with fellow bloggers over the past month.
Posted: September 12, 2007, 5:49am EDT by Andrew LeighExtolling RSSS
Number of comments: 5
My college at ANU has started a thing called “Controversy Corner”. The first contribution made some rather unflattering comments about the Research School of Social Sciences, in which I’m located. I’m rather proud of RSSS, so it seemed a good chance to write a few paragraphs on what makes it [...] Posted: September 11, 2007, 7:56pm EDT by Andrew LeighWell, there’s spam egg sausage and spam, that’s not got much spam in itEach day for the last three years, I’ve been spending a minute ‘clearing out the trash’ by deleting spam comments that get past my Akismet spam filter. The filter catches about a thousand a day, but a handful typically get past it. In an effort to cut down on this, I’ve now [...] Posted: September 11, 2007, 7:12am EDT by Andrew LeighMinisters blow up, odds blow out
Number of comments: 4
Regular commenter Sinclair Davidson just emailed to tell me that the reports of Cabinet infighting seems to have been had a big effect on the betting markets. For example, Portlandbet last week had John Howard a 39% chance to lose Bennelong. The latest odds have him a 47% [...] Posted: September 11, 2007, 1:43am EDT by Andrew LeighFlight of the B’s
Number of comments: 1
First, it was Bracks in Victoria handing over to Brumby. Now in Queensland, Beattie has given the reins to Bligh. I’ve only met Beattie once, but he struck me as somehow a characteristic Queenslander - straight-talking, enthusiastic, and decent. We were chatting just before he gave an after dinner [...] Posted: September 10, 2007, 1:45am EDT by Andrew LeighEnvironomicsMy colleague Jack Pezzey, at the Fenner School of Economics and Society, is advertising generous PhD scholarships in environmental economics, and also looking for a post-doc to work on the economics of greenhouse gas control. [...]Posted: September 09, 2007, 8:14pm EDT by Andrew LeighWho’s Trading Illegal Arms?
Number of comments: 4
Knowing which companies are doing dodgy deals has always been the stuff of thriller movies. Now, Stefano DellaVigna and Eliana La Ferrara think they’ve come up with an economists’ trick - if you want to know who’s selling weapons to the bad guys, why not see which companies’ stock prices drop [...] Posted: September 09, 2007, 6:49am EDT by Andrew LeighHot date?
Number of comments: 2
According to a press release, Sportingbet has temporarily suspended betting on the election date, following rumours that the election might be called today. Before closing off the market, its latest odds were:
Posted: September 09, 2007, 1:33am EDT by Andrew LeighBibliopolitics
Number of comments: 3
For any political tragics who are mildly curious as to precisely what books Kevin Rudd bought George Bush yesterday, an insider tells me that they were:
Posted: September 07, 2007, 1:01am EDT by Andrew LeighIn praise of the ABC
Number of comments: 29
There are many things I love about the US media. When it comes to newspapers, theirs are unquestionably the best in the world - led by the New York Times, and followed at some distance by the WSJ, WaPo, LA Times, and others. Moving back to Australia after living in [...] Posted: September 06, 2007, 6:29pm EDT by Andrew LeighUndergraduate Advice
Number of comments: 9
I just received a copy of the report from the Australian Davos Connection’s 2007 Future Summit. As well as serious-looking photos of prominent Australian bloggers, it contained a neat quote from an Australian expatriate - Harvard Business School Professor Jonathan West.
Posted: September 05, 2007, 9:09pm EDT by Andrew LeighHold the front page?
Number of comments: 1
More neat articles on the economics of the media keep appearing. This one is from the May 2007 issue of the Quarterly Journal of Economics:
Posted: September 04, 2007, 5:50pm EDT by Andrew LeighMore Inequality, Less Social Mobility
Number of comments: 10
Dan Andrews and I have a short paper out on the relationship between inequality and intergenerational mobility (aka social mobility). By contrast with the view that inequality is offset by more income mobility across generations, it turns out that in more unequal countries it is actually harder to move from [...] Posted: September 03, 2007, 6:55am EDT by Andrew LeighDo Economists Protest?
Number of comments: 14
With all the anti-APEC protests taking place in Sydney this week, it’s a pity that there isn’t something to give a bit of balance. After all, one of APEC’s greatest achievements is to get all developed members to commit to free trade by 2010, and developing members to commit to [...] Posted: September 02, 2007, 4:12pm EDT by Andrew LeighDoes money make you happy?
Number of comments: 7
For over a generation, social scientists have discussed the ‘Easterlin Paradox’. One version of this is the commonly-held notion that above a certain threshold, GDP is uncorrelated with happiness. This turns out to be wrong.
Posted: August 30, 2007, 7:37pm EDT by Andrew LeighRich Voters, Poor Voters
Number of comments: 6
Over the past few months, Bryan Palmer and I have been debating the merits of using aggregate-level data to learn about individual-level behaviour. He’s been gracious enough to post a comment of mine on his recent tabulations. Bryan also has his regular betting markets roundup, which I ought to [...] Posted: August 30, 2007, 5:23am EDT by Andrew LeighTorchwood and the Cross
Number of comments: 2
We’ve just finished watching the first season of Torchwood on DVD, which is kinda cheating, since TV viewers are only up to Episode 10. As Dr Who fans, we were suckers for the series from the outset, but I was also struck by the strong guiding philosophy that went through [...] Posted: August 29, 2007, 5:34pm EDT by Andrew LeighBlogConfOn 28 September, QUT lecturer Peter Black will be holding an Australian Blogging Conference in Brisbane. Registration is free. Details here. As Peter describes it:
Posted: August 28, 2007, 9:30pm EDT by Andrew LeighPoor kids first, please
Number of comments: 3
I’ve written before about the way in which research on the benefits of targeted high-impact early childhood intervention has been used to justify low-impact universal programs. Fortunately, it seems I’m not the only one who’s worried about this. From the Wall Street Journal blog, via New Economist: Posted: August 28, 2007, 8:08pm EDT by Andrew LeighBCA Goes to School
Number of comments: 28
The BCA has a report out today on education, which seems to have received blanket coverage in the AFR. I think it’s splendid to have more people throwing ideas into the policy mix, and the report is appropriately cautious/modest about what it’s contributing to the policy mix. My favourite parts [...] Posted: August 26, 2007, 8:32pm EDT by Andrew LeighQuestions asked, questions unasked
Number of comments: 4
For anyone curious about the kind of research that Australasian labour economists are doing, some of the papers and discussions from the recent Australasian Labour Econometrics Workshop in Wellington can be found here. There’s only a dozen papers, but I’d be curious as to people’s views about the questions we’ve chosen [...] Posted: August 26, 2007, 6:16pm EDT by Andrew Leigh |
(I had previously thought that it might have been John Edwards’s