Judge calls for tourists to sit driving test – National – NZ Herald News

Speaking through an interpreter, Judge Phillips told Sun his driving was “nothing short of atrocious”.

“You were all over the road for no reason, you were drifting around corners, cutting corners and crossing the centre line.

“It’s a classic case of why people need to have examinations done before taking control of powerful rental cars on New Zealand roads.”

I don’t think a driver’s test would fix this obviously irresponsible driver of his lack of regard for the safety of others. He does not have a skill gap as a driver. He is just plain irresponsible.

via Judge calls for tourists to sit driving test – National – NZ Herald News.

The impact of the burglar resistant locks and windows on burglary rates

The Dutch government mandated the use of burglar-resistant locks and window and door frames in all new residential construction as of January 1, 1999. The regulation has now affected close to a million homes. The security was built-in and did not require any change in behaviour.

Figure 1:. Victimisation of burglary by year of construction of the home, the Netherlands

When comparing homes built just before and just after the change in the regulation, Vollaard and Van Ours (2011) found that homes with the built-in security to have a 26% lower rate of burglary.

HT: voxeu.org/reducing-invitation-crime

Human Capital, Development, and Growth | Lars Peter Hansen, Edward Glaeser, Claudia Goldin and Robert Lucas

What if We’re Looking at Inequality the Wrong Way? – NYTimes.com

Fig. 5

 

via What if We’re Looking at Inequality the Wrong Way? – NYTimes.com.

Impact of the Work of Gary S. Becker | James Heckman

The labour economics of Woody Allen

Image

Milton Friedman on bargaining power in the labour market

Image

Why schools can’t teach character – Toby Young

…character traits are inherited, not taught.

I’m not talking about moral qualities, such as honesty, compassion and altruism. It may be that these can be cultivated.

I mean performance-enhancing virtues, like stick-to-it-ness and the ability to bounce back from defeat, what exponents of character education call ‘grit’.

There’s a growing body of evidence that these traits are largely hereditable, that is, encoded in our DNA. If you exhibit any of these qualities, it’s overwhelmingly likely that your parents did, too.

And insofar as a child’s upbringing has any impact on the emergence of these qualities, it’s the peers they associate with during adolescence that matter, not their teachers.

via spectator.co.uk/toby-young-status-anxiety

Have @NZGreens accidentally published a chart showing substantial and pretty continuous real wages growth in recent decades?

https://twitter.com/scythicus/status/532301512169365504

Here’s what’s not sustainable: organic farming » AEI

Organic farming might work well for certain local environments on a small scale, but its farms produce far less food per unit of land and water than conventional ones.

The low yields of organic agriculture—typically 20%-50% less than conventional agriculture—impose various stresses on farmland and especially on water consumption.

A British meta-analysis published in the Journal of Environmental Management (2012) found that “ammonia emissions, nitrogen leaching and nitrous oxide emissions per product unit were higher from organic systems” than conventional farming systems, as were “land use, eutrophication potential and acidification potential per product unit.”

via Here’s what’s not sustainable: organic farming » AEI.

How Not to Be Poor | NCPA

ba428 Figure1ba428 Figure2

via How Not to Be Poor | NCPA.

The long-term solution to child poverty in New Zealand

Image

The link between paid parental leave generosity and a larger gender pay gap-updated

FT_gender1223

But it also turns out that some countries that offer more liberal parental leave policies have higher pay gaps among men and women ages 30 to 34, according to analyses of 16 countries conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

OECD theorizes that this link may be  driven by the fact that women are more likely than men to actually use their parental leave, and that time out of the workforce is associated with lower wages.

It is rather obvious if you pay women not to work, they will accumulate less job experience and miss out on promotional and other career advancement opportunities in their prime of their career.

FT_13.12.17_WageGap

As this OECD paper in 2012 found with regard to paid parental leave and gender gaps in employment and earnings:

…the provision and gradual lengthening of paid leave have contributed to a widening in the gender pay gap of full-time employees.

This may reflect the fact that women experience slower career and earnings progression on returning from leave to full-time employment than men, much fewer of whom take leave.

In sum, the development of parental leave policies in most countries appears to have had a positive, albeit marginal, role in the rise of female employment, although women pay a price in the form of reduced earnings progression.

Claudia Golden found that in some high-powered professions, any career interruption at all, can greatly reduce lifetime earnings.

via The link between parental leave and the gender pay gap | Pew Research Center.

Henry Hazlitt on whether unions can raise wages

Image

The UK’s welfare benefits cap of £26,000 per year – the income of the average working family

In case you'd forgotten - the families milking the system

Since the cap was introduced a year ago, more than 38,600 households have had the amount they are paid in benefits limited to £26,000 a year – the income of the average working family.

Despite predictions by critics that the new rule would cause misery, the poll – conducted by Ipsos Mori – found that 45 per cent of those affected say they have been spurred to return to work.

Benefits for couples and lone parents have been capped at £500 per week, or £350 for a single. childless person.

The £26,000-a-year cap is equivalent to an income of £34,000 before tax, which is similar to the salaries of many nurses and teachers.

heryl Prudham her husband Robert and their nine children

Cheryl Prudham, her husband Robert and their nine children are going on a trip to Menorca, just weeks after the mum said she should be given a bigger house at the expense of the taxpayer.

HT: Daily Mail – their photos above are a little bit too focused on ethnic minorities. The Daily Mail’s audience is the working class Tory and the lower middle class.

Previous Older Entries Next Newer Entries

The War on Prices

Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law

The Bleeding Heart Libertarian

Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law

More Stories from the Stories I Publish!

Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law

In My Tribe

Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law

Coordination Problem

Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law

Libertarian Land

Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law

Arin’s Substack

Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law

David Andolfatto

Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law

Monetary Non-Neutrality

Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law

Reason Magazine

Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law

Coyote Blog

Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law

Thoughts from the North

Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law

Fardels Bear

A History of the Alt-Right

Vincent Geloso

Econ Prof at George Mason University, Economic Historian, Québécois

Bassett, Brash & Hide

Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law

Truth on the Market

Scholarly commentary on law, economics, and more

The Undercover Historian

Beatrice Cherrier's blog

Matua Kahurangi

Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law

Temple of Sociology

Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law

Velvet Glove, Iron Fist

Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law

Why Evolution Is True

Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.

NoTricksZone

Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law

Homepaddock

A rural perspective with a blue tint by Ele Ludemann

Kiwiblog

DPF's Kiwiblog - Fomenting Happy Mischief since 2003

The Dangerous Economist

Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law

Watts Up With That?

The world's most viewed site on global warming and climate change

The Logical Place

Tim Harding's writings on rationality, informal logic and skepticism

Doc's Books

A window into Doc Freiberger's library

The Risk-Monger

Let's examine hard decisions!

Uneasy Money

Commentary on monetary policy in the spirit of R. G. Hawtrey

Barrie Saunders

Thoughts on public policy and the media

Liberty Scott

Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law

Point of Order

Politics and the economy

James Bowden's Blog

A blog (primarily) on Canadian and Commonwealth political history and institutions

Science Matters

Reading between the lines, and underneath the hype.

Peter Winsley

Economics, and such stuff as dreams are made on

A Venerable Puzzle

"The British constitution has always been puzzling, and always will be." --Queen Elizabeth II

The Antiplanner

Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law

Bet On It

Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law

History of Sorts

WORLD WAR II, MUSIC, HISTORY, HOLOCAUST

Roger Pielke Jr.

Undisciplined scholar, recovering academic

Offsetting Behaviour

Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law

JONATHAN TURLEY

Res ipsa loquitur - The thing itself speaks

Conversable Economist

In Hume’s spirit, I will attempt to serve as an ambassador from my world of economics, and help in “finding topics of conversation fit for the entertainment of rational creatures.”

The Victorian Commons

Researching the House of Commons, 1832-1868

Books & Boots

Reflections on books and art