HT: Don’t worry, I’m an economist!: The stimulus debate revisited.
Quality control in Japanese and American car manufacturing compared
31 Jan 2015 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, economic history, entrepreneurship, growth miracles Tags: creative destruction, Japanese manufacturing, quality control
Would Keynes Have Been Fired as a Money Manager Today?
30 Jan 2015 Leave a comment
in entrepreneurship, financial economics Tags: active investing, efficient markets hypothesis, index linked investing, John Maynard Keynes
An excellent link by a great blog I have just come across.
Interesting post by Ben Carlson.
Keynes managed an average return of 13.2% in the period 1928-45. The markets gave a return of -0.5% in the same period. This was an exceptional performance albeit came with much higher volatility. So would he have been fired for this performance?
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Portable Confessional
29 Jan 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of religion, entrepreneurship Tags: entrepreneurial alertness
A cheat sheet of 19 different business models
28 Jan 2015 Leave a comment
in entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, managerial economics, organisational economics, survivor principle, theory of the firm Tags: entrepreneurial alertness, The meaning of competition
Creative Routines — Information is Beautiful Awards
27 Jan 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of education, entrepreneurship, human capital, labour economics Tags: creativity, economics of personality traits, entrepreneurial alertness
The spirit of Alfred P. Sloan: 10 Ways to Get People to Disagree
27 Jan 2015 Leave a comment
in entrepreneurship, managerial economics, market efficiency, organisational economics, personnel economics Tags: Alfred P. Sloan, group think
1. Assign someone on your team to the role of “Devil’s Advocate” to ensure a critical eye.
2. Ask part of your group to think like the firm’s competitors (or customers or employees) in order to surface and expose flaws in a set of core assumptions.
3. Establish “ground rules” that will stimulate task-oriented disagreement — but minimize interpersonal conflict.
4. Keep the proceedings “transparent” by making decisions based on what goes on in the meeting and not behind-the-scenes maneuvering.
5. Make sure your team members represent a diversity of thinking styles, skill levels, and backgrounds. And if they don’t, invite people with various points of view to offer their perspectives.
6. Start out with a question and don’t voice an opinion. Once you’ve said, “Here’s what I’m thinking . . .” you have already influenced your team.
7. If you want honest feedback, then be the first person to admit mistakes.
8. Listen (really listen) to everyone’s ideas. Let people know that you value their input and are taking into consideration what they have to say.
9. Pay attention. It’s not enough to listen — you can do that while viewing text messages or pouring a cup of coffee. You also have to be perceived to be paying attention. That means you need to make sure your body language (eye contact, head nods, torso orientation, etc.) sends signals of inclusion.
10. Clearly state the behaviors you want during the discussion (constructive conflict) and as a result of the discussion (shared commitment to the outcome).
via http://www.forbes.com/sites/carolkinseygoman/2012/08/23/10-ways-to-get-people-to-disagree/
We mark George Orwell’s passing today in 1950 by recalling Knopf’s priceless rejection of Animal Farm
23 Jan 2015 2 Comments
Movie 3-D technology review: Peter Jackson’s Battle of the Five Armies versus the rest
22 Jan 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of media and culture, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, movies, politics - New Zealand, technological progress Tags: 3-D movies, creative destruction, innovation
We saw Peter Jackson’s latest Hobbit movie the other day. The other films previewed before the Battle of the Five Armies were also 3-D films.
The first of these was a cartoon where the 3-D technology seemed to be based on using crayons to try and trick you as to what was going on.
The next trailer was the next Star Wars movie in 3-D. Again, it was vastly inferior to the 3-D technology of Sir Peter Jackson and his team.
I noticed the same with all the 3-D films of Sir Peter Jackson: they are much better than the competition.
More than a few times in the 3-D films of his competition, you doubt as to whether the film is in 3-D or not and can’t really tell the difference sometimes as to the 3-D effect over normal films in terms of cinematic experience. Example of this was the last Star Trek movie we saw. The 3-D effect failed in a number of occasions.
Clearly there are trade secrets in 3-D films. The 3-D effect works pretty well in Peter Jackson’s films, except for the occasional close-up transition, and sometimes is quite dazzling.
R&D tax incentives: New evidence on trends and effectiveness | VOX, CEPR’s Policy Portal
21 Jan 2015 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, entrepreneurship, survivor principle Tags: corporate welfare, Euroland, Eurosclerosis, R&D, R&D tax credits
Figure 1: No relation between a country’s innovativeness and R&D tax credits
Figure 2. Proliferation of R&D tax credits in Europe
via R&D tax incentives: New evidence on trends and effectiveness | VOX, CEPR’s Policy Portal.
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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