https://twitter.com/pmarca/status/679842098632249344
https://twitter.com/JustHistoryPics/status/699047605070884866
Nokia phone ~2004 vs. iPhone ~2015.
29 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of media and culture, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation Tags: cell phones, iPhones, mobile phones, technology diffusion, The Great Enrichment
Landcorp dividends and capital injections, 2007 – 2015 @dbseymour @JordNZ
27 Feb 2016 1 Comment
in environmental economics, financial economics, industrial organisation, politics - New Zealand, public economics, survivor principle Tags: agricultural economics, privatisation, state owned enterprises
As cash cows go, Landcorp has had $2.25 million more in capital injections from taxpayers than it returned to them in dividends since 2007.
Source: data released by the New Zealand Treasury under the Official Information Act.
Those $1.5 billion in assets in Landcorp do not appear to be worth a cent in net cash to the long-suffering taxpayer.
Source: data released by the New Zealand Treasury under the Official Information Act.
Landcorp is a state-owned enterprise of the New Zealand government. Its core business is pastoral farming including dairy, sheep, beef and deer. In January 2012, Landcorp managed 137 properties carrying 1.5 million stock units on 376,156 hectares of land.
How did German, Italian, French, British and American billionaires make their money?
26 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, survivor principle Tags: billionaires, British economy, entrepreneurial alertness, France, Germany, Italy, superstar wages, superstars
@BernieSanders how did Danish, Swedish, Finnish & Norwegian billionaires make their money?
25 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in economic history, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, politics - USA, survivor principle Tags: 2016 presidential election, billionaires, Denmark, entrepreneurial alertness, Finland, inherited wealth, Norway, superstar wages, superstars, Sweden
OK, Nordic billionaire population sizes might be small, but plenty more billionaires make their own money in neoliberal USA than in Bernie Sanders’ Utopia
Chinese, Hong Kong, Taiwanese and Japanese billionaires by source of wealth
24 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic history, entrepreneurship, financial economics, growth miracles, industrial organisation, rentseeking, survivor principle Tags: billionaires, China, entrepreneurial alertness, Hong Kong, Japan, superstar wages, superstars, Taiwan
Surprisingly few billionaires in any of the 4 countries obtained their wealth through political connections. Founding a company seems to be still the path of great wealth even in Japan these days. Hong Kong is a financial centre so the large number of billionaires in its financial sector is no surprise.
@GarethMP proves the case for privatisation when arguing against privatisation
24 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economics of bureaucracy, industrial organisation, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, public economics Tags: anti-market bias, New Zealand Greens, privatisation, rational irrationality, state owned enterprises
Green MP Gareth Hughes today nailed the case as to why governments should never run businesses. Too many MPs simply do not understand what dividends represent and what the profits from asset sales represent.
Hughes was reported today saying that taxpayers lost nearly $1 billion in dividends since the recent privatisations of power companies. He is the Green party spokesman on state owned enterprises.
Source: Asset sales cost hits $1 billion | Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand.
Does the Green Party understand that an asset sells for a price equal to its risk-adjusted discounted net present value of the stream of dividends. When you sell a financial asset, you cash out the net present value of the stream of dividends that might have come from those assets.
The Greens, who are prissy about government transparency and dishonesty of their opponents, did not mention the $4.7 billion in revenue from the asset sale. Taxpayers now receiving more in dividends as a part owner of the privatised power companies than they did as a full owner.
Hughes had the cheek to complain about the politicisation of those privatisations such as favourable terms for small share buyers. That inability of governments to even sell an asset competently is a strong reason why governments should never run businesses in the first place.
If an asset cannot be sold in the full light of day – a major issue in an election campaign and a referendum – without the sale price that is politicised, what is the chance of good management of any state-owned enterprise when it is not the central focus of opposition scrutiny?
It is been many years since dividends from the state-owned enterprise portfolio has been a net positive cash flow for the taxpayer, as the chart below shows.
Source: New Zealand Treasury – data released under the Official Information Act.
KiwiRail and Solid Energy gobbled up whatever dividends came out of the power companies. Aside from power companies, state-owned enterprises not really offer much in the way of dividends to the taxpayer as the chart again shows.
When the robots came to the farms
24 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, population economics, technological progress Tags: creative destruction, robots
Commercial evaluation of KiwiRail, Solid Energy and total SOE portfolio in New Zealand since 2007
20 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in fiscal policy, industrial organisation, politics - New Zealand, public economics Tags: government ownership, privatisation, state owned enterprises
Two dogs of an investment propped up a $20 billion portfolio that a few years later was worth less than 1/5 of that. Both of these stalwarts are now worth not even one dollar.
Source:New Zealand Treasury – information released under the Official Information Act, January 2016.
NZ state-owned enterprise dividends & cash injections since 2007 – updated
18 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in economic history, industrial organisation, politics - New Zealand, public economics Tags: government ownership, KiwiRail, New Zealand Greens, New Zealand Labor Party, privatisation, rational irrationality, state owned enterprises
With a straight face, the Labour Party and the Greens claim that state-owned enterprises should not be sold because taxpayers give up the future dividend stream.
Source: New Zealand Treasury – data released under the Official Information Act.
Leaving to one side what the sale price is the net present value of, for as far back as I could obtain data from the Treasury, it is a rare year in which the taxpayers does not pour more money into state-owned enterprises than they get back in dividends.
Transpower is carrying the entire state-owned enterprise portfolio. Earlier on, Solid Energy – a now bankrupt coal mining company– was carrying the portfolio in terms of cash flow to the taxpayer.
KiwiRail commercial valuation since 2007 @JordNZ @dpfdpf
18 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in industrial organisation, politics - USA, public economics Tags: KiwiRail, privatisation, state owned enterprises
Source: New Zealand Treasury – data released under the Official Information Act.
How did Pinoy billionaires make their money?
18 Feb 2016 1 Comment
in applied welfare economics, economic history, entrepreneurship, financial economics, industrial organisation Tags: billionaires, entrepreneurial alertness, Philippines, superstars, top 1%
A surprisingly large number of Filipino billionaires are in the financial sector.
How did India’s billionaires make their fortunes
17 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, development economics, economic history, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, growth disasters, growth miracles, industrial organisation Tags: billionaires, entrepreneurial alertness, India, superstars, top 1%
A decent number of India’s billionaires founded a company.
How did British billionaires make their money
16 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, economic history, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, financial economics, human capital, industrial organisation, labour economics, poverty and inequality, survivor principle Tags: billionaires, British economy, entrepreneurial alertness, superstars, top 1%
Inheriting wealth is not what it used to be in Britain. There are all these upstarts running businesses or working in the City.
How did the Chinese billionaires make their money?
15 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, economic history, entrepreneurship, growth miracles, human capital, industrial organisation, labour economics Tags: billionaires, China, entrepreneurial alertness, superstars, top 1%
Recent Comments