Murray Rothbard on the falling popularity of Pope Francis
25 Jul 2015 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of education, economics of regulation, economics of religion, energy economics, environmental economics, income redistribution, industrial organisation, international economics, Murray Rothbard, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking, survivor principle Tags: antiforeign bias, antimarket bias, Catholic social thought, climate alarmism, expressive voting, global warming, makework bias, Pope Francis, rational ignorance, rational irrationality, voter demographics
Average effective retirement ages by gender, Australia and New Zealand, 1970 – 2012
24 Jul 2015 1 Comment
in economic history, labour economics, labour supply, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand Tags: ageing society, Australia, demographic crisis, economics of retirement, effective retirement ages, female labour force participation, female labour supply, male labour force participation, male labour supply, old age pensions, older workers, retirement ages, social insurance, Social Security, welfare state
Figures 1 and 2 shows a sharp increase in the average effective retirement age for men and women in both Australia and New Zealand between 1970 and 1990. After that, retirement ages for men in both countries stabilised for about a decade. effective retirement age than Australia.
Figure 1: average effective retirement age for men, Australia and New Zealand, 1970 – 2012, (five-year average)
Source: OECD Pensions at a Glance.
Interestingly, in the 1970s and 1980s, New Zealand had an old-age pension scheme, known as New Zealand Superannuation, whose eligibility age was lowered from 65 to 60 in one shot in 1975. This old-age pension in New Zealand had no income test or assets test, but there was for a time a small surcharge on any income of pensioners. Nonetheless, New Zealand had a higher effective retirement age than in Australia where the old-age pension eligibility age is 65 with strict income and assets tests.
Figure 2: average effective retirement age for women, Australia and New Zealand, 1970 – 2012, (five-year average)
Source: OECD Pensions at a Glance.
Figure 1 and figure 2 also shows that the sharp increase in effective retirement ages in New Zealand for both men and women after the eligibility age for New Zealand’s old-age pension was increased from 60 to 65 over 10 years.
Figures 1 and 2 also show the gradual increase in effective retirement ages for Australian men and women from the end of the 1990s.
The price of 100% wind power in Denmark
24 Jul 2015 Leave a comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand Tags: at nuclear power, Big Wind, Denmark, renewable energy
The Rahn curve explained
23 Jul 2015 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, income redistribution, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, Public Choice, public economics Tags: Director's Law, growth of government, laffer curve, optimal tax theory, Rahn curve, size of government
Low pay across the OECD
18 Jul 2015 Leave a comment
in minimum wage, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, unions, welfare reform Tags: living wage, low pay, minimum wage
The average worker doesn’t pay much in income taxes in New Zealand. Then who does?
17 Jul 2015 Leave a comment
in politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, public economics, taxation Tags: growth of government, size of government, tax burdens, taxation and the labour supply
Poverty rates among immigrants and natives across the OECD
16 Jul 2015 Leave a comment
in income redistribution, labour economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, welfare reform Tags: Australia, child poverty, economics of immigration, family poverty
NIMBY: Where, When, And to Which Developers It Happens in the USA
15 Jul 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, environmental economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, urban economics Tags: green rent seeking, Inner-city Left, land supply, land use planning, NIMBYs, zoning
How many working poor in USA, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand?
14 Jul 2015 Leave a comment
in international economics, labour supply, minimum wage, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, welfare reform Tags: Australia, British economy, Canada, low pay, New Zealand, social insurance, welfare state, working poor
Figure 1: working poor – proportion of employed persons with income below the poverty line (50% of median disposable income) living in households with a working age head and at least one worker in USA, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, 2013
Source: In It Together – Why Less Inequality Benefits All – © OECD 2015, OECD Income Distribution Database (IDD), www.oecd.org/social/income-distribution-database.htm, Table 1.A1.1. Key indicators on the distribution of household disposable income and poverty, 2007, 2011 and 2013 or most recent year.
Does education pay in New Zealand?
14 Jul 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of education, human capital, labour economics, occupational choice, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA Tags: College premium, graduate premium
Immigrants and their children across the OECD
14 Jul 2015 Leave a comment
in labour economics, labour supply, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, population economics Tags: Australia, economics of identity, economics of immigration
Poverty rates by age of youngest child – USA, UK, Canada and Australia
11 Jul 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of love and marriage, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, politics - Australia, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, welfare reform Tags: Australia, British economy, Canada, child poverty, family poverty, marriage and divorce, single mothers, single parents
Figure 1: poverty rates by age of youngest child, 2004
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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