Greece 2023a
22 May 2023 Leave a comment
Greece today held what will almost certainly be its first of two general elections of 2023 (hence the ‘a’ in the title above). The incumbent New Democracy (ND) won a substantial plurality of the vote, around 41%, over Syriza’s 20%. By seats, ND has 146, which is 48.7% (BBC, Wiki). That’s five seats short of a majority. The advantage ratio (%seats/%votes) is relatively high (1.19), but the electoral system did not quite manufacture a majority. And therein lies the reason why there will be another election, most likely.
In most recent elections, Greece has used a bonus-adjustment system, whereby the plurality party automatically wins 50 seats before the remaining 250 are allocated proportionally among those clearing the legal threshold (3%). However, back in 2016, the Syriza government passed an electoral system reform that removed the bonus provision. Under the Greek constitution, an electoral reform can take place…
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Even 3°C Warming Can’t Stop World Prosperity
21 May 2023 Leave a comment
The 3°C Scenario: What’s the economic impact of severe global warming? James Pethokoukis writes at his substack. Excerpts in italics with my bolds and added images.
Even with an extreme scenario, the world should be richer and more capable in 2050
You may have noticed some concerning climate headlines popping up today in your smartphone notifications:
- “‘Sounding the alarm’: World on track to breach a critical warming threshold in the next five years” – CNN
- “Global warming likely to exceed 1.5C within five years, says weather agency” – Financial Times
- “Global warming set to break key 1.5C limit for first time” – BBC
As the above FT chart neatly shows, the newsy forecast is about breaching the 1.5°C level in a single year, not a permanent increase. That said, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says humanity better get used to 1.5° and higher without a drastic shift away…
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Episode 6: Mormons, Adventists & Jehovah’s Witnesses | Christian Denominations Family Tree Series
21 May 2023 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of media and culture, economics of religion
Beat 1.d4 as Black with the King’s Indian Defense | Mysterious Sideline
21 May 2023 Leave a comment
in chess
Neil Armstong on faking the moon landing
21 May 2023 Leave a comment
in economics of education, economics of media and culture
Clintel Report Blows Lid Off Biased IPCC Report, Permeated With Errors, Bias
20 May 2023 Leave a comment
But not the end he was thinking of ? [credit: wizbangblog.com]
Each successive report is spun up for political purposes to look more alarming than the last one, with minimal change to any relevant data.
– – –
The IPCC ignored crucial peer-reviewed literature showing that normalized disaster losses have decreased since 1990 and that human mortality due to extreme weather has decreased by more than 95% since 1920, say Marcel Crok and Andy May @ Climate Change Dispatch.
The IPCC, by cherry-picking from the literature, drew the opposite conclusions, claiming increases in damage and mortality due to anthropogenic climate change.
These are two important conclusions of the report The Frozen Climate Views of the IPCC, published by the Clintel Foundation.
The 180-page report is – as far as we know – the first serious international ‘assessment’ of the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report.
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The Kirov-Class Sea Eagle: A Modern-Day Battleship
20 May 2023 Leave a comment
in defence economics, war and peace
GRAHAM ADAMS: Te Pāti Māori – Kingmaker or Labour’s albatross?
20 May 2023 Leave a comment
- Graham Adams writes –
Chris Hipkins must be fast realising that with friends like Te Pāti Māori he really doesn’t need enemies. In fact, the strong possibility Labour will require its support to form a government is looking like a real threat to its chances of re-election in October.
When Chris Luxon last week ruled out coming to an arrangement with Te Pāti Māori in post-election negotiations it lost its crown as “kingmaker” — although some journalists persist in calling it that. Mostly it will now be seen as tied to the Labour-Greens bloc on the left.
After Luxon had drawn a line in the sand — and dubbed a union of Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori a “coalition of chaos” — Hipkins felt moved to assert his own authority by warning Te Pāti Māori not to get too far ahead of itself in issuing “bottom lines”…
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Bob Lucas on Growth, Poverty and Business Cycles 2/5/2007
19 May 2023 Leave a comment
in business cycles, comparative institutional analysis, development economics, economic history, economics of education, growth disasters, growth miracles, history of economic thought, human capital, labour economics, law and economics, macroeconomics, Milton Friedman, monetarism, monetary economics, Robert E. Lucas, unemployment Tags: monetary policy
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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