Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
20 Mar 2015 Leave a comment
in economic history, inflation targeting, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - New Zealand
After the high inflation rates in the 70s and 80s, inflation disappeared by the end of the century. There is the occasional spike in the 2000s but now inflation is effectively zero. Measurement error in the consumer price index for increases in product quality and new goods means an inflation rate of about 2% rounds down the inflation rate to zero.
Source: Reserve Bank of New Zealand.
20 Mar 2015 1 Comment
in politics - Australia Tags: Malcolm Fraser, Margaret Thatcher
Malcolm Fraser passed today. Like Margaret Thatcher, he was a great prime minister because he kept the Labor Party out of office until they were sane again.
Thatcher said that her greatest achievement was keeping the British Labour Party out of office when it had insane policies. Sadly, Fraser never came to realise that that was his greatest contribution as Prime Minister of Australia from 1975 to 1983.
20 Mar 2015 1 Comment
in applied welfare economics, economic history, politics - USA
20 Mar 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of love and marriage, gender, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: abortion, political polarisation
On or about 1990, as a latter-day Virginia Woolf might say, American politics changed. I wouldn’t take the blip of the dotted line at 1990 very seriously–sampling variability and all that–but the general pattern in the graph above is real, and appear in all sorts of other data. In 1988 and before: zero correlations of partisanship with attitudes; since 1992, the correlations have been big and getting larger…
Not only is the abortion/party relationship primarily driven by whites, it is substantially stronger among white elites–that is, people with high income, education, or levels of political information.
via How better educated whites are driving political polarization – The Washington Post.
20 Mar 2015 Leave a comment
in politics - USA, war and peace Tags: military
19 Mar 2015 Leave a comment
in business cycles, economic growth, Euro crisis, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA Tags: global economic integration
19 Mar 2015 Leave a comment
in politics, politics - USA Tags: Israel
the results reflect a consolidation within the right wing of Israeli politics rather than a decisive swing to the right. The increase in the right’s vote share can be readily explained by a shift of voters from the hawkish religious parties (ultra-Orthodox and religious Zionists). There is little reason to believe that there is significant overlap between the constituencies of these religious-right parties and those of either the left or Arab parties.
It is reasonable to assume however that voters from these religious parties migrated to the Likud rather than other parties. This shift would account for 87 percent of the rise in the vote share by the right bloc. The relatively small remainder likely came from the center parties, which also lost support.
Notably, when centrist voters shifted to vote for another bloc, they largely turned to the left parties rather than to the Likud. The increased vote share of the left is especially significant given the rise in the vote share of the Arab parties which, while likely largely a result of increased turnout relative to 2013, also cost the left votes.
via Why Netanyahu’s win isn’t that dramatic – The Washington Post.
19 Mar 2015 Leave a comment
in discrimination, gender, politics - New Zealand
19 Mar 2015 Leave a comment
in liberalism, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA Tags: Anti-Science left, Leftover Left, quackery
18 Mar 2015 Leave a comment
in labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA Tags: ageing society, economics of retirement, labour demographics
18 Mar 2015 Leave a comment
in liberalism, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: expressive voting, voter demographics
The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender population is one of the most Democratic demographic groups in the country. According to the 2012 national exit polls conducted by the National Election Pool, gay, lesbian, and bisexual adults voted for Barack Obama over Mitt Romney by more than three-to-one (76% vs. 22%).
This Democratic advantage can be seen in the partisan identification of LGBT adults, a majority of whom are Democrats. It also expresses itself in policy preferences across a range of issues, including size of government, attitudes about gun policy and immigration…
Half of LGBT adults (50%) self-identify as liberal, 37% are moderate, and just 12% say they are conservative.
That’s hardly surprising that people vote for the parties that welcome them given the deep hostility of the Republican Party on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues. Until the middle of the 20th century, few black Americans voted for the Democratic party because it was the party of racism. People rarely vote for parties that really dislike them.
The transferability of these American results on partisanship to New Zealand is rather limited because there is no cultural war as there is in the USA currently over same-sex marriages. A same-sex marriage bill passed the New Zealand Parliament in 2013 fairly easily. The Christian based socially conservative parties in New Zealand are pretty tame in their rhetoric and still struggling to get into Parliament.
As such, the centre right parties in New Zealand aren’t seen as particularly hostile to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender population. On the same-sex marriage bill, for example, the National Party split evenly on voting for and against, reflecting its moderation in just about every issue.
People of all sexualities can vote for New Zealand parties on grounds other than the fact of how welcoming they are to who they are. That makes the American results on partisanship and sexuality less relevant to New Zealand
18 Mar 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, economics of media and culture, health economics, liberalism, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: marijuana decriminalisation, medical marijuana decriminalisation
For a lame duck president doing a lot to cultivate his legacy, Obama is really dragging his feet here if he is in any way a social liberal
via On marijuana, Obama is content to evolve rather than to lead the way – The Washington Post.
18 Mar 2015 Leave a comment
in politics - USA Tags: opinion polls
Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
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