Source: Economic Policy Reforms: Going for Growth – OECD (2016).
Will there be poverty on the Starship Enterprise?
26 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, economic history, poverty and inequality
A Facebook photo by Mary Ruwart reminded me of the question I posed in previous blog posts about whether there will be poverty on the Star Trek enterprise. Those security officers in the red tunics get a really bad deal, especially if they beam down to the planet with Captain Kirk.
The role of inheritance in top incomes
25 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, economic history, entrepreneurship, human capital, labour economics, poverty and inequality Tags: entrepreneurial alertness, superstars, top 1%
@ChrisHipkins @jacindaardern New Zealand graduate premium @dbseymour
17 Feb 2016 3 Comments
in applied price theory, economics of education, human capital, income redistribution, politics - New Zealand, poverty and inequality, rentseeking
How conceited students are to complain about a $20,000 student loan when they got $1/2 million coming down the pipe. 
Source: A Degree is a smart investment | Universities New Zealand – Te Pōkai Tara.
Self-appointed social justice warriors in the New Zealand Labour Party and New Zealand Greens pander to this middle class greed. They should be ashamed of themselves.
26% of eligible students do not take out a student loan so they would really get a leg up from the abolition of tuition fees.
The median repayment time for those who left study in 2011 and remained in New Zealand was 5.8 years.
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.
@jacindaardern @ChrisHipkins why abolishing tuition fees entrenches inequality
14 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, human capital, politics - New Zealand, poverty and inequality Tags: distributive justice, expressive politics, free tuition, rational irrationality, social justice, top 1%
Percentage of billionaires who inherited their wealth
14 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, entrepreneurship, labour economics, poverty and inequality Tags: entrepreneurial alertness, inherited wealth, superstar wages, superstars, top 1%
China has been capitalist for long enough for a billionaire to actually inherit his wealth.
% billionaires who made their money through political connections or resource industries
13 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, energy economics, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, poverty and inequality, privatisation, rentseeking, resource economics
The 1826 Billionaires in the Forbes 2015 list are classified as rich through political connections if they made their money through past political positions, close relatives or friends in government, or questionable licenses, privatisations or resource extraction industries.
All privatizations were included in the politically-connected/resource-related category despite my data source acknowledging the possibility that the new owners may have transformed the company. Resource billionaires were all deemed to be lucky or cronies by my data source rather than diligent as some most certainly were. This is something of a slur by my data source given the industriousness of some resource billionaires some of whom were even geologists.
Political cronyism is a path to billionaire wealth mainly in the developing countries. Less than 10% of Chinese billionaires made their money through political connections, which is surprising.
Harvard business School survey discovers that workers want more
12 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, personnel economics, poverty and inequality, unions Tags: compensating differentials, union wage premium, unions
@berniesanders How America’s middle class is disappearing
08 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, economic history, labour economics, politics - USA, poverty and inequality Tags: living standards, rational ignorance, rational irrationality, withering away of proletariat
Both the proletariat and the middle class are withering away these days thanks to capitalism and freedom.
A bizarre Finnish amateur racing car practice for redistributing winning
06 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in economics of media and culture, fiscal policy, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, poverty and inequality, property rights, public economics, rentseeking Tags: basic income, car racing, Finland, guaranteed minimum income, negative income tax
#Employment rate for workers aged 60-64
05 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in labour economics, labour supply, politics - New Zealand, poverty and inequality, public economics
Ethnicity of people receiving Sole Parent Support in NZ
01 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in labour economics, labour supply, politics - New Zealand, poverty and inequality, welfare reform Tags: Maori economic development, single mothers, single parents, welfare state
Greater maternity leave will increase the gender wage gap
31 Jan 2016 Leave a comment
in discrimination, gender, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, poverty and inequality Tags: asymmetric marriage premium, gender wage gap, high-powered jobs, offsetting behaviour, Parental leave, paternity leave, unintended consequences
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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