22 Jan 2015
by Jim Rose
in applied price theory, politics - New Zealand, urban economics
Tags: Andrew Little, Dominion Post, economic literacy, housing affordability, media bias, rational irrationality, Resource Management Act, zoning
The editorial in today’s Dominion Post about the proposed reforms in New Zealand to the Resource Management Act to increase of urban land supply and make housing more affordable actually supported some absolute nonsense economic analysis by the Leader of the Opposition, Andrew Little:
Labour leader Andrew Little says part of the problem is in fact low and in many areas stagnating wages.
That is correct, but this merely points to a huge problem that successive governments have failed to solve. Nor is this Government likely to do much by way of living wage reforms or other non-market solutions.
The alleged professional journalist who wrote this editorial is ignorant of the most basic workings of the economy which he could pick up as an ordinary consumer and home owner.
If consumers become wealthier because of higher wages, they will use this increased income to demand more housing and land.
If the supply of land is fixed or otherwise constrained from expanding much, the only thing that will happen is that the price will go up with more money chasing the same amount of land and housing.
This will benefit the existing home owners in New Zealand. Workers who don’t own homes will simply have to pay more of their now higher wages to buy houses. Once again, the Labour Party betrays the interests of the working class to win middle-class home owner votes.
22 Jan 2015
by Jim Rose
in economics of media and culture, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, movies, politics - New Zealand, technological progress
Tags: 3-D movies, creative destruction, innovation
We saw Peter Jackson’s latest Hobbit movie the other day. The other films previewed before the Battle of the Five Armies were also 3-D films.
The first of these was a cartoon where the 3-D technology seemed to be based on using crayons to try and trick you as to what was going on.
The next trailer was the next Star Wars movie in 3-D. Again, it was vastly inferior to the 3-D technology of Sir Peter Jackson and his team.
I noticed the same with all the 3-D films of Sir Peter Jackson: they are much better than the competition.
More than a few times in the 3-D films of his competition, you doubt as to whether the film is in 3-D or not and can’t really tell the difference sometimes as to the 3-D effect over normal films in terms of cinematic experience. Example of this was the last Star Trek movie we saw. The 3-D effect failed in a number of occasions.
Clearly there are trade secrets in 3-D films. The 3-D effect works pretty well in Peter Jackson’s films, except for the occasional close-up transition, and sometimes is quite dazzling.
20 Jan 2015
by Jim Rose
in applied welfare economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand
Tags: Leftover Left, poverty and inequlaity, top 1%
|
New Zealand |
Australia |
| Has the dispersion of earnings been increasing in recent decades? |
Yes, the top decile has risen from 143 per cent of median in 1986 to 186 per cent in 2012. |
Yes, top decile of earnings has increased from 175 per cent of median in 1975 to 215 per cent in 2012. |
| Has overall inequality increased in recent years? |
No, the Gini coefficient has been relatively stable around 32 percent since 1996. However, it rose by 7 percentage points between 1988 and 1996. |
Yes, Gini coefficient has increased by 5 percentage points since 1981. |
| Have there been periods when overall inequality fell for a sustained period? |
Yes, from mid-1950s to mid-1970s. |
Yes, overall inequality and top shares fell from early 1950s to end of the 1970s. |
| Has poverty been falling or rising in recent decades? |
Poverty has substantially increased from 1996 to 2004 before decreasing mildly till 2009. |
Risen since 1981. |
| Has there been a U-pattern for top income shares over time? |
Yes, top gross income shares fell from mid-1950s to mid-1980s, then rose from mid-1980s to mid-1990s. |
Yes, top gross income shares fell from 1921 to around 1980 and then began to rise, reaching pre-war levels before the 2007 crisis. |
| Has the distribution of wealth followed the same pattern as income? |
Insufficient evidence. |
Yes, the share in total wealth of the wealthiest 1% of the population dropped more than threefold from 1915 to the end of 1970s before rising again till the onset of 2007 crisis. However, the rise was not sufficient to return to pre-war levels of concentration. |
| Additional noteworthy features |
U-shape over post-war period. Top income shares estimates for the years 1998, 1999 and 2000 are affected by changes in the income tax laws. Top shares series have a break in 1951 (change in tax units). |
Rising inequality on all (observable) dimensions for past thirty years. |
Australia has become more unequal over the past 30 years as compared to New Zealand, but it is also become 30% richer than New Zealand.
Looks like John Rawls was right for the average Australian as compared to the average New Zealander. Australia is a more unequal society but a far richer society because of it, which is a fair deal if Rawls is to be believing.
Figure 1: New Zealand inequality chart book
Figure 2: Australian inequality chart book
You are welcome to share but please refer to A. B. Atkinson and S. Morelli (2014) – ‘The Chartbook of Economic Inequality’ at http://www.ChartbookOfEconomicInequality.com
This visualisation is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license, Data visualisation by: Max Roser
20 Jan 2015
by Jim Rose
in applied welfare economics, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, Public Choice
Tags: advocacy bias, anti-capitalist mentality, Anti-Economics Left, Anti-Science left, expressive voting
There is often a curious distinction between what the scientific community and the general population believe to be true of dire scientific issues, and this skepticism tends to vary markedly across groups.
…What causes such radical group differences? We suggest, as have previous accounts, that this phenomenon is often motivated.
However, the source of this motivation is not necessarily an aversion to the problem, per se, but an aversion to the solutions associated with the problem.
This difference in underlying process holds important implications for understanding, predicting, and influencing motivated skepticism.
In 4 studies, we tested this solution aversion explanation for why people are often so divided over evidence and why this divide often occurs so saliently across political party lines.
Studies 1, 2, and 3—using correlational and experimental methodologies—demonstrated that Republicans’ increased skepticism toward environmental sciences may be partly attributable to a conflict between specific ideological values and the most popularly discussed environmental solutions.
Study 4 found that, in a different domain (crime), those holding a more liberal ideology (support for gun control) also show skepticism motivated by solution aversion.
HT: http://today.duke.edu/2014/11/solutionaversion and http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/11/10/conservatives-dont-hate-climate-science-they-hate-the-lefts-climate-solutions/
20 Jan 2015
by Jim Rose
in applied welfare economics, politics - New Zealand
Tags: 2014 New Zealand election, child poverty, Gini coefficient, inequality and poverty, media bias, top 1%
Figure 1: Gini coefficient New Zealand 1980-2015
Source: Bryan Perry, Household incomes in New Zealand: Trends in indicators of inequality and hardship 1982 to 2013. Ministry of Social Development (July 2014).
Figure 2: Real household incomes (BHC), changes for top of income deciles, 1994 to 2013
![clip_image002[7]](https://utopiayouarestandinginit.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/clip_image0027_thumb.png?w=696&h=443)
Source: (Perry 2014).
Figure 3: Real equivalised median household income (before housing costs) by ethnicity, 1988 to 2013 ($2013).
![clip_image002[9]](https://utopiayouarestandinginit.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/clip_image0029_thumb2.png?w=686&h=452)
Source: (Perry 2014).
HT: http://www.listener.co.nz/current-affairs/new-deal-for-kids/
HT: http://i.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/10244667/Rich-poor-gap-not-growing-report
20 Jan 2015
by Jim Rose
in applied welfare economics, politics - New Zealand, poverty and inequality
Tags: Gini coefficient, poverty and inequality, top 1%
| Has the dispersion of earnings been increasing in recent decades? |
Yes, the top decile has risen from 143 per cent of median in 1986 to 186 per cent in 2012. |
| Has overall inequality increased in recent years? |
No, the Gini coefficient has been relatively stable around 32 percent since 1996. However, it rose by 7 percentage points between 1988 and 1996. |
| Have there been periods when overall inequality fell for a sustained period? |
Yes, from mid-1950s to mid-1970s. |
| Has poverty been falling or rising in recent decades? |
Poverty has substantially increased from 1996 to 2004 before decreasing mildly till 2009. |
| Has there been a U-pattern for top income shares over time? |
Yes, top gross income shares fell from mid-1950s to mid-1980s, then rose from mid-1980s to mid-1990s. |
| Has the distribution of wealth followed the same pattern as income? |
Insufficient evidence. |
| Additional noteworthy features |
U-shape over post-war period. Top income shares estimates for the years 1998, 1999 and 2000 are affected by changes in the income tax laws. Top shares series have a break in 1951 (change in tax units). |
You are welcome to share but please refer to A. B. Atkinson and S. Morelli (2014) – ‘The Chartbook of Economic Inequality’ at http://www.ChartbookOfEconomicInequality.com
This visualisation is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license Data visualisation by: Max Roser
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