Entries by jamesz

Stats to ponder

April 8, 2009 /1 Comment/in /by

I’m lucky enough to be flicking through the latest Review of Economics and Statistics so I thought I might sum up a couple of interesting tidbits while I’m reading:

Show us ya pimples!

April 8, 2009 /11 Comments/in , /by

Brad Taylor doesn’t think that the government should be installing acne-revealing lighting to ward off teenage hoodlums. In the UK they’re installing special lights that highlight acne in areas where teenagers congregate to get drunk, intimidate people and write graffiti all over the walls. Apparently it’s been very successful at dispersing the crowds! So crowds […]

Auckland council merger

April 7, 2009 /6 Comments/in /by

Paul Walker and Eric Crampton are both concerned about the proposal to merge Auckland’s city councils to create a ‘supercity’. They fear that the loss of competition for residents among councils will decrease the quality of service and increase the rates. My initial thoughts were: How much of a problem is this? In any given […]

The cost of sickness

April 7, 2009 /3 Comments/in /by

The Dom Post reports that, while the cost of sick days to employers is $700 per year per employee, the loss from employees turning up and being semi-productive when sick is $900! They then recommend that employers press workers to stay at home until they’re better. There are two problems I have with that: their […]

Does money buy power?

April 6, 2009 /14 Comments/in , /by

Dani Rodrik has interesting stuff to say about the way policy is formed. He discusses whether government policy is driven more by the prevailing ideology or by the interests of powerful lobby groups. There are two key ponts he makes: There are a lot of ways to make the lobbyists happy and many of them […]