Low incomes don’t matter much to cell phone and smart phone access for teens
11 Apr 2015 Leave a comment
When do people announce they are running for president?
10 Apr 2015 Leave a comment
in politics - USA Tags: 2016 presidential election
Australia has the most targeted welfare state
10 Apr 2015 2 Comments
in politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, welfare reform Tags: welfare state
In Mexico, most cash-based public social benefits go to households in the highest income quintile, per OECD. http://t.co/xykkPkDVZs—
Catherine Rampell (@crampell) November 24, 2014
The Civil War ends on this day 150 years ago
10 Apr 2015 Leave a comment
in politics - USA Tags: American Civil War
When will the New Zealand living wage exceed the median wage?
09 Apr 2015 Leave a comment
in labour economics, minimum wage, politics - New Zealand Tags: Leftover Left, living wage
The Left over Left have increased the living wage in New Zealand to $19.25 per hour for 2015. This increase was after a living wage of $18.80 for 2014 and $18.40 for 2013.
This latest increase increases the living wage by 2.39%, which is faster than the 1.7% increase in the median wage last year. This means sooner or later the living wage will grow to exceed the median wage in New Zealand.
Sources: New Zealand Income Survey 2014 and Living Wage Movement.
If both the median and living wage is continuing to increase at the most recent year’s rates, as shown in the above graph, the overtaking point will be 2037.
According to the calculations of the Living Wage movement, earning the living wage in a full-time job in New Zealand with a second earner in the household working only 20 hours affords their two children, including a teenager, Sky TV, pets, international travel, video games and 10 hours childcare.
Fracking is expanding rapidly in the USA, much to the disappointment of the peak oil crowd
09 Apr 2015 Leave a comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, politics - USA Tags: fracking, peak oil
"Hydraulic fracturing has unleashed vast new quantities of crude oil and natural gas." on.wsj.com/19Gj92Y http://t.co/a2hzPq0i7e—
I Love Fossil Fuels (@ILoveFossilFuel) April 08, 2015
Finishing year 10 of high school was a very much a mid-20th century phenomenon
09 Apr 2015 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of education, human capital, labour economics, occupational choice, politics - USA Tags: educational attainment
How can New Zealand blamed distance for its woes when international technology diffusion is speeding up
09 Apr 2015 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic growth, growth disasters, growth miracles, macroeconomics, politics - New Zealand Tags: borderless world, catch up, geography, international technology diffusion, lost decades, tyranny of distance
It took 100yrs for steamship technology to spread from rich to poor nations. Today tech diffuses almost instantly http://t.co/Jz3gVk8bqQ—
Laurence Chandy (@laurencechandy) February 03, 2015
Where are the Chinese and Indian diasporas?
08 Apr 2015 1 Comment
in politics - USA, population economics Tags: China, economics of immigration, India
The distribution (in millions) of the Indian (and Chinese) diaspora across the world (via @TheEconomist) http://t.co/IXtLnZIYqL—
India in Pictures (@indiainpix) July 29, 2014
More evidence of mass kidnapping of environmental activists
08 Apr 2015 Leave a comment
in environmental economics, environmentalism, international economic law, international economics, International law, law and economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA Tags: green hypocrisy, ozone layer
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Why aren’t they in the streets celebrating the recovery of the ozone layer, pursuant to an international treaty negotiated by the Reagan administration that banned CFCs as soon as they were not required any longer in developed countries:
International efforts to control the gases, particularly among developed countries, began to occur in the mid-1980s as new information appeared that strengthened the link between CFCs and the deterioration of stratospheric ozone. This increased the expected benefits of international action.
At the same time, domestic political opposition began to diminish when Du Pont announced they would no longer make CFCs. A reason for Du Pont’s attitude change was that European firms had increased their share of the CFC market, and in response Du Pont had developed CFC substitutes.
Accordingly, since international controls on CFCs provided them a competitive advantage, Du Pont announced that they would no longer make CFCs and the company lobbied the U.S. Congress for international regulation.
Under the 1987 Montreal Protocol, world leaders agreed to phase out CFCs, and eventually the hole in the ozone layer stopped expanding. In 2014, a UN assessment found that the ozone layer is just now starting to heal — and should be back to its 1980 levels by 2050 or so.
New Zealand and Australia in The Economist House-Price Index
07 Apr 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, urban economics
Everything seemed to go wrong regarding housing prices in New Zealand in about the year 2000, which was the year after the election of a Labour government. Labour parties are supposed to stand for a better deal for the ordinary worker. Clearly, they did not when housing prices run away because of restrictions on land supply.
Crowdsourcing air hijacking prevention in 1968
07 Apr 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA, transport economics Tags: air piracy, Cuba, hijacking
Airline hijackings were so common in the late 60s that every passenger aircraft included in its standard kit the landing instructions for the Havana airport. Many of hijackings were simply to get to Havana with not much more of a political agenda. Many hijackers were common criminals fleeing justice.
Anti-hijacking ideas from the American public, 1968. Number 4 is my favorite, but I guess we went with Number 6. http://t.co/yNqm2qdGA8—
Brendan I. Koerner (@brendankoerner) June 17, 2014
America entered World War I, this day in 1917
07 Apr 2015 Leave a comment
in politics - USA, war and peace Tags: World War I
Americans enter World War I on this day in 1917. timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1… http://t.co/CDoFZMzJUw—
NYT Archives (@NYTArchives) April 06, 2015
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