Forget avoidance outrage: public’s real attitude to tax is revealed by their actions @JordNZ
21 Apr 2016 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, constitutional political economy, economic history, economics of media and culture, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, Public Choice, public economics Tags: British economy, British politics, expressive voting, growth of government, rational irrationality, revealed preference, size of government, voter demographics
George Plunkitt of Tammany Hall on the difference between honest and dishonest political graft
21 Apr 2016 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of crime, economics of media and culture, law and economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: bribery and corruption
In the book Plunkitt of Tammany Hall William Riordan published many of George Washington Plunkitt’s thoughts about government and about big city machines. In the link below, you can find the passage that explains the difference between honest and dishonest graft.
Honest graft is using your connections and knowledge as a government official to enrich yourself. It is essentially what we would now call “insider trading.”
Honest graft is when a goverment official goes out (for example) and buys up land because he knows a city project will need that land and he will be able to make a lot of money by buying the land now while no one else knows that it is about to be bought by the city. He can buy it cheap and then sell it at a higher price to the city.
Dishonest graft consists of doing things like blackmailing people who are doing illegal or semi-illegal things. It can also consist of actually taking money directly from the city treasury.
It is more of what you would expect mobsters to do–things like forcing prostitutes to pay money to police in order to be allowed to work in a given area rather than being arrested.
Source: How does George Plunkitt define “honest/dishonest graft”? | eNotes.
Wanted poster for Lincoln’s assassins, this day 1865
20 Apr 2016 Leave a comment
in politics - USA Tags: American Civil War, Lincoln, political assassinations
Wanted poster for murderer of President Lincoln, still at large, 150 years ago this month: #LOC http://t.co/IRCjup0RU0—
Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) April 15, 2015
P.T. Bauer on @BernieSanders extending #fightfor15 to entire Third World!
19 Apr 2016 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, behavioural economics, constitutional political economy, development economics, economic history, growth disasters, growth miracles, P.T. Bauer, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: 2016 presidential election, antiforeign buyers, George Orwell, living wage, rational irrationality, The fatal conceit, The pretense to knowledge
India tried that in the 1950s as part of its five-year plans. It did not work that well. Bauer said that in development economics there is a “need to restate the obvious.”
Source: Ending the Race to the Bottom – Bernie Sanders.
Source: Indian Economic Policy and Development – P. T. Bauer (1959) – Google Books
<p><img src="http://quotes.lifehack.org/media/quotes/quote-George-Orwell-we-have-now-sunk-to-a-depth-39424.png" /></p> <p>
The cost of starting a business in Europe and North America
18 Apr 2016 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, industrial organisation, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: barriers to entry, Belgium, British economy, Canada, Denmark, doing business, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain
These measures including the full cost of starting a business. Not only are official fees included, the opportunity cost of the waiting times for various permits are issued are added as well.
Source: Markus Poschke, Entry regulation: Still costly | VOX, CEPR’s Policy Portal (2011).
Note: The value of time is set to a business day’s output per day of waiting time at 22 business days per month.
@BernieSanders @HillaryClinton Who is below the poverty line in America? #fightfor15
18 Apr 2016 Leave a comment
in labour economics, politics - USA, poverty and inequality Tags: child poverty, family poverty, single mothers, single parents, social insurance, unemployment benefit, welfare state
@StatModeling @ryanmcmaken Europe sub-Reddit just can’t handle the truth about how poor they are!?
17 Apr 2016 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, economic history, economics of media and culture, politics - USA Tags: European Union, living standards, rational ignorance, rational irrationality, Reddit
Americans used to be much more trusting of government
15 Apr 2016 Leave a comment
in constitutional political economy, economics of bureaucracy, income redistribution, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: rational ignorance, rational irrationality, special interests, voter demographics
One in 3 @realdonaldtrump supporters actually believe he will build the wall
14 Apr 2016 Leave a comment
in politics - USA Tags: 2016 presidential election, economics of immigration, illegal immigration, Mexico, the economics of borders
How the “Daisy” Ad Changed Everything About Political Advertising
14 Apr 2016 Leave a comment
in politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: Attack Ads, economics of advertising, political advertising
I love attack ads. They actually tell you something and bring the contrasts between the candidates into sharp focus.
Put another way, the firm believed that viewers should not be given too much information to put their minds and emotions to work. And Daisy Girl’s DNA has continued to provide instructions for today’s political advertising: Ronald Reagan’s famous 1984 “Bear” spot used the animal to symbolize the Soviet Union without explicitly making the association. In 2004, Bush’s campaign skillfully employed the same technique with a spot that used wolves to symbolize al Qaeda.
Voting is not a purely rational act. As the late journalist Joe McGinnis observed, it’s a “psychological purchase” of a candidate. It’s often no less rational than buying a car or a house. DDB understood that arguing with voters would be a losing proposition. To persuade someone, especially in the political realm, a campaign must target emotions. Voters don’t oppose a candidate because they dislike his or her policies; they often oppose the policies because they dislike the candidate.
Reagan’s optimistic 1984 “Morning in America” spot was a good example of this kind of appeal. So was George H.W. Bush’s dark, fear-inducing “Revolving Door” spot in 1988 that exploited the controversy over a prison furlough program of his Democratic opponent, Michael Dukakis. Bernie Sanders’ “America” spot is a current example. They are all very different ads, but are aimed at generating a non-rational, emotional response.
DDB also believed that giving data and facts was less persuasive than telling a story. The best spots provide an experience. In addition to evoking emotions and not repeating what the viewer already knew, many of the DDB spots from 1964 had a narrative arc to them. A good example in 1964 was a Johnson spot reminding viewers of the many harsh attacks on Goldwater by his former GOP opponents. The gold standard for subsequent spots in this genre may be Bill Clinton’s 60-second “Journey” spot from 1992, in which he touted his small-town American values by recounting his childhood in Hope, Arkansas.
Source: How the “Daisy” Ad Changed Everything About Political Advertising | History | Smithsonian
Equal Pay Day explained
14 Apr 2016 Leave a comment
#EqualPayDay This coupon graphically represents the statistical fairly tale that is being spread today http://t.co/xwQXCrWE4d—
Mark J. Perry (@Mark_J_Perry) April 14, 2015
@FairnessNZ NZ leads world in closing the gender pay gap #equalpayday @greencatherine
13 Apr 2016 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economic history, gender, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, poverty and inequality Tags: Australia, British economy, gender wage gap
How to tell if you are a modern progressive – a two-part test by Scott Sumner
13 Apr 2016 Leave a comment
in international economics, labour economics, minimum wage, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA Tags: antiforeign bias, antimarket bias, expressive voting, Leftover Left, living wage, makework bias, rational irrationality
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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