tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36445252011-04-22T00:10:59.321+01:00indiawest10° 40' N, 61° 30' W
Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comBlogger1601100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-1098048420083473672004-10-17T21:47:00.000+01:002004-10-17T22:27:00.083+01:00Reykjavík Diary: Day 3My penultimate day in Iceland begins with pouring rain--worse than the previous two days. They say that if you don't like the weather in Iceland, wait a minute. Well, I waited an hour, and still no change. I was not looking forward to doing the Golden Circle tour in the rain.
I ordered a packed lunch from the hostel (I swapped one of my expensive breakfasts for it) and waited for my pickup. A Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-1097461940350071472004-10-11T03:18:00.000+01:002004-10-15T23:36:07.606+01:00Reykjavík Diary: Day 2Day two in Reykjavík began with my expensive (£6.50) breakfast at the hostel, followed by a bus ride into the centre. My plan was to get as much sightseeing done as possible in Reykjavík, as I was doing a Golden Circle tour on my last full day in Iceland. I took the bus in steady rain to somewhere central, and then walked from there to Kjarvalsstaðir, the second (and main) part of the Reykjavík Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-1097269078160475612004-10-08T22:04:00.000+01:002004-10-08T22:32:07.070+01:00Reykjavík Diary: Day 1The introductory video on Icelandair flights begins with telling you that their service begins when you buy your ticket. Well, Iceland sort-of began for me on the aircraft, when I noticed how mature the flight attendants were. As a sort-of analogy, British Esquire writer Tim Moore says that in other countries getting on TV involves years of slaving before you get an entry-level break, whereas in Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-1078865212115392882004-03-09T20:46:00.000Z2004-03-09T20:49:54.950ZRedirect . . .
Since January I've been posting over at Bonoboland with the result that I've been neglecting this blog. I've tried to do it as a clean break, with more emphansis on good writing. I am sorry that I've been deliquent in informing you all.Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-1072471679468934022003-12-26T20:47:00.000Z2003-12-26T20:49:24.466ZGod Jul
Gött Nyar År
Happy Christmas to all, and all the best for 2004.Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-1069271094572052392003-11-19T19:44:00.000Z2003-11-19T19:46:14.763ZThe Autumn of Our Discontent
We interrupt the silence for this unscheduled announcement by, of all people, George Monbiot:
In Paris, some of us tried to tackle this question in a session called "life after capitalism". By the end of it, I was as unconvinced by my own answers as I was by everyone else's. While I was speaking, the words died in my mouth, as it struck me with horrible clarity thatDamienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-1067635984915203072003-10-31T21:33:00.000Z2003-11-02T00:51:28.450ZQuiesence
Burning the candle at both ends, I'm afraid. Among other things I've had the flu for the past week, which is not helped by working all of my scheduled shifts compounded by the four hour nights of sleep that I have to do to fit all of my reading in. (I am a slow reader.) Anyway, no one wants to hear this; they'd rather have something substantive. Here goes.
In June of this year Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-1065653902631736732003-10-08T23:58:00.000+01:002003-10-10T16:23:24.133+01:00Competitiveness
I've already mentioned that I was doing a course in Development and Growth at the London School of Economics. It is a different environment for me, to be honest. Birkbeck has a wide variance in ages, with 22-year olds and people in thir 50s on my programme. (I'm 28, in case you were wondering.) You also feel that everyone is more or less in the same boat; you are neither lesser Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-1065565344510051402003-10-08T23:28:00.000+01:002003-10-08T23:28:46.120+01:00Libraries and Health Spas
A fractured tooth (2 dental visits, with a third next week) and multiple papers on the the robustness of cross-country growth regressions (with more to come) for my development course have so far kept me occupied, plus I've decided to take on more work by auditing an excellent option in game theory. There's also work, as in my day job. No worries. As I try to get back Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-1065306873682965452003-10-04T23:28:00.000+01:002003-10-04T23:34:33.386+01:00Normal Distributions
Stats exam over, back at work, sorting out losses, option chosen. Life goes on, just as George Lowenstein said it would.
Utterly exhausted. More tomorrow, promise.Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-1064692816799777232003-09-27T21:00:00.000+01:002003-09-27T21:00:16.966+01:00More Bad News
The day after I got my visa (indeed, a few hours after my last post) my bag with passports in it was stolen. I am more than a bit distracted, espeially with an uncertain stats exam next week, though again I apologise for the lack of posts. From next Friday, I hope, I should return to the blogging schedule I had four months ago. Cheers to you all for your patience.Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-1064334487496277052003-09-23T17:28:00.000+01:002003-09-23T17:29:05.123+01:00Overstays
For those few of you wondering here I've been, well, up to yesteday I was in Limbo thanks to some bureaucratic snafus. My work permit for the United Kingdom expired two weeks ago, so I had to stop working and rush around trying to get my college to give me the letter I needed for a student visa. (The Home Office even rejected one such letter.) I requested this weeks ago, and did a lot Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-1062770680911519272003-09-05T15:04:00.000+01:002003-09-05T15:04:40.886+01:00Stress
I'm kind of busy offline at the moment (which coincides with some writer's block). Term here at Birkbeck has started, while at the same time there is some confusion with my paperwork regarding my student loans, which is delaying registration. I may be quiet for a while longer while I sort out statistics (my preliminary course this year) and the bureaucratic stuff.Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-1062107040763867912003-08-28T22:44:00.000+01:002003-08-28T22:44:00.660+01:00Network Failures
Much of the British press made fun of the recent blackout in the Northeastern US and Canada. Today, in south-east England, a rush-hour power cut has stranded hundreds of thousands.Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-1061414380868828402003-08-20T22:19:00.000+01:002003-09-01T16:55:22.226+01:00Pooling Solutions
Both Charlotte Denny in the Guardian and Richard Morrison in the Times have commented on the Fabian Society pamphlet A Better Choice of Choice. Denny agrees with the authors in asserting that choice can be a chimera:
Private consumption is no guarantee of greater freedom, they argue, singling out the car as the most obvious example. It brought the freedom to travel that only Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-1060808824521583872003-08-13T22:07:00.000+01:002003-08-13T22:11:49.030+01:00Terminator AI
I have to admit that I was dissapointed with Terminator 3, which I saw last Thursday. It was entertaining enough, I guess, and all films, especially action ones, require some suspension of disbelief. I had a huge problem, though, with T3's premise from the get-go. My problem lies not so much with what happens on the actual screen (though there is a bit to quibble with there), but Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-1060638475446573172003-08-11T22:47:00.000+01:002003-08-12T15:28:32.723+01:00Heat Wave
I am suffering in the London heat, and the London press has not hesitated to remind us all of global warming and the Kyoto Protocol. Bjorn Lomborg, in today's Telegraph, says that the greenhouse effect may not be to blame:
it is simply not correct to claim that global warming is the primary explanation of the kind of heatwave we are now experiencing. The statistics show that global Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-1060379535812114972003-08-08T22:52:00.000+01:002003-08-08T22:52:15.646+01:00The Future I Don't Look Forward To
If it is true that people are only happy relative to others, then this (subscription) article from the Economist should make Invisible Adjunct feel a little better:
"ECONOMICS", observed J.K. Galbraith, "is extremely useful as a form of employment for economists." In the United States, plenty hope so. Applications to the PhD programmes of many leading AmericanDamienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-1060377030693437782003-08-08T22:10:00.000+01:002003-08-08T22:21:47.580+01:00Ideologue under Constraints
Both the Conceptual Guerilla and MaxSpeak have me down on their blogrolls as a progressive. I know my posts are of uneven quality, but have I really appeared equivocal?
One of these days I may have to follow BusinessPundit in making a statement of beliefs. For now note that I am mostly (though not entirely) a liberal, in the classical sense of the word; In any given Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-1060135023679240452003-08-06T02:57:00.000+01:002003-08-06T11:52:16.750+01:00Profiles in Economics
Both William Sjostrom and Stephen Karlson have good comments on a generally good profile of the University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt in the New York Times Magazine. I have a different quibble, with the following statement:
The greatest change, however, is within the scholarly ranks. Microeconomists are gaining on the macro crowd, empiricists gaining on the Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-1060042784241305442003-08-05T01:19:00.000+01:002003-08-06T19:49:37.530+01:00Austria in London
THe Guardian's Heather Stewart sounds almost Austrian when she writes about the Bank of England's recent performance:
Consumers can hardly be blamed for their live now pay later approach - they've been coaxed into it by an activist Bank of England keen to keep the economy afloat. When the dotcom bubble burst, central bankers understandably hoped to inflate consumer demand by Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-1060040932516108732003-08-05T00:48:00.000+01:002003-08-05T00:48:52.350+01:00Political Heuristics
Jane Galt illustrates how the False Concensus Effect (how we tend to think others are just like us) is playing out in US politics, in particular reference to Howard Dean's primary campaign. Now all we need is for someone to explain how Dean's "insurgent" strategy could possibly be subgame perfect.Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-1059740803687733602003-08-01T13:26:00.000+01:002003-08-01T13:26:43.666+01:00Warming Risks
John Kay, who I often disagree with (his book The Truth About Markets, while good in some areas, is either weak or poorly argued in others) has a good column on global warming in Thursday's Financial Times:
Carbon dioxide emissions cause global warming. But we have no firm evidence of the size of the effect. Nor do we know what is happening to the background temperature, which Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-1059605401113454592003-07-30T23:50:00.000+01:002003-07-31T01:43:19.890+01:00Squeezing the Saudis
Steven Den Beste had a post last weekend about putting pressure on Saudi Arabia after the recent war in Iraq. In it he says this:
I think part of the plan, and yet another reason why Iraq was a good choice as target of invasion and occupation, was to gain control of Iraq's oil fields. Not, as many will instantly claim, so as to let Bush's oil buddies in Houston get rich, Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-1059250735315541342003-07-26T21:18:00.000+01:002003-07-26T21:38:45.700+01:00Legal Markets
In a 1994 leader on "A Future for Socialism", the Economist wrote:
In framing market-friendly policies . . . left-of-centre parties actually have two decisive advantages over their conservative counterparts. First, they can more readily attack certain sorts of privilege. In many countries in Europe and elsewhere, the fiercest opponents of change are those who have traditionally Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-1058988923758557212003-07-23T20:35:00.000+01:002003-07-25T20:56:55.390+01:00Working Time
In microeconomics it is commonly assumed that labour is a normal good--more of it is consumed as incomes rise. This is sometimes used to explain the difference in per capita incomes between the US and Europe. While European productivity rates, (especially in France and Germany) have been high since the second world war, annual hours worked per capita since the mid-1970s are Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-1058742309551806202003-07-21T00:05:00.000+01:002003-07-23T02:50:19.646+01:00Intergenerational Transfers
The Independent's economics columnist, Hamish McRae, is de digeur reading, especially his Sunday column. This week's installment is about fiscal policy, and our children paying for our present consumption:
With a growing economy and, equally important, a growing population, some net borrowing seems quite acceptable. But with the prospect of slower growth and a stableDamienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-1057875101959411062003-07-10T23:11:00.000+01:002003-07-20T01:27:03.570+01:00Winters of Discontent
In last week's Spectator Simon Nixon says that Britain may face an energy crisis as soon as this winter:
As things stand, we will be dependent on gas transported thousands of miles from some of the most politically unstable countries on the planet, such as Algeria, Iran and Russia. What’s more, these pipelines must first pass through many other gas-needy countries. And Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-1057789421520412672003-07-09T23:23:00.000+01:002003-07-13T00:31:49.783+01:00Drug Legalisation
Responding to Mark Kleiman Calpundit posts about the costs and benefits of legalising cocaine. Kleiman thinks its a bad idea because drug abuse will rise, wheras Calpundit thinks that any legalisation is better than the very costly status quo. There is a lively debate in Calpundit's comments section. Any accounting for costs and benefits of drug legalisation has to take accountDamienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-1057617482329447302003-07-07T23:38:00.000+01:002003-07-07T23:38:02.240+01:00Reversal of Fortune
In a tie-in with the post below, some ironic news; India is now a net creditor to the IMF.Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-1057616363580309392003-07-07T23:19:00.000+01:002003-07-20T01:25:44.606+01:00Moving Up
In her book of essays How to be Human, Though an Economist Deidre McCloskey says that the Economics Department of the Univerisity of Chicago has become a copy of MIT's--the creative Chicago School is now not much more than a an excellent, conventional neoclassical economics department. She perhaps overstated her case, i think. A lot of the real action in contemporary Chicago economics Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-1057507649624292202003-07-06T17:07:00.000+01:002003-07-06T17:07:29.606+01:00Passive Investing
This is my first day off work and without overseas visitors in weeks, and I have decided to dedicate a small part of this day to my long-neglected blog. A whle ago I noticed an article by James Glassman on John Allen Paulos's new book A Mathematician Plays the Market. The following passage stood out:
[I]f all investors were convinced that markets were efficient, they would Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-960129232003-06-25T13:11:00.000+01:002003-06-27T00:19:40.633+01:00Soirée in Paris
I have to confess that I was not wowed by Paris. Don't get me wrong., though. I enjoyed my visit, and the city really is quite beautiful. It was also fortunate that I was there for the Féte de la Musique, with lots of cool spontaneous jam sessions all over the city. Real French pastry is much better than the stuff they sell here. The Musée d'Orsay was a sight to behold--one of Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-958898532003-06-21T11:55:00.000+01:002003-06-21T11:55:27.726+01:00On Vacation
I'm in Paris at the moment--my first time in the City of Lights. Nice. Regular blogging will resume on my return next week.Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-956959412003-06-15T23:52:00.000+01:002003-06-16T13:40:21.000+01:00All I Learnt about the World I Learnt from a Phase Diagram
Professor David Begg (formerly of Birkbeck, now principal of Imperial College Business School) once told us that in the 1970s phase diagrams were the rage in economics. While studying for my macroeconomics final two weeks ago it was hard to see why. You spend a while deriving a differential equation that tells you how to achieve the Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-956077332003-06-12T23:55:00.000+01:002003-06-12T23:55:02.060+01:00Shifting the Goalposts
I don't agree with a lot of what Anatole Kaletsky says in today's Times, but he makes an important point about Britain's "five economic tests" on joinng the European single currency:
In 1997, when the “five tests” were invented, the Government’s position was that joining the euro would be a politically unpopular and painful decision that might be necessary for Britain Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-955256962003-06-11T00:09:00.000+01:002003-06-11T00:09:04.216+01:00Euro-Quiz
The Guardian posts a flippant quiz on Gordon Brown's Five Economic Tests here. I personally don't find it all that funny, but, then again, that could just be me.Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-955250092003-06-10T23:46:00.000+01:002003-06-10T23:59:37.000+01:00Euro-Fudge
Yesterday Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown offered his verdict on the "five economic tests" to decide whether the United Kingdom should join the Euro. Result: failure in 4 out of 5. I don't have much to add to what Brad DeLong and Edward Hugh have said about it, and the idea that the fundamentals that prevent Euro entry will change enough to allow for a reassement inDamienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-954652072003-06-09T15:32:00.000+01:002003-06-10T19:07:54.000+01:00Policy Ineffectivness
Jane Galt posts about capital controls. This has been a topic discussed on a couple of blogs lately, and I have a few observations.
Regarding countries that use or have used capital controls, Chile comes to mind as a prime example with its previous implicit tax on on short-term capital inflows; the new free trade agreement with the US, unfortunately, prohibits their Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-953886552003-06-06T23:49:00.000+01:002003-06-06T23:49:40.130+01:00Satiation
Exams are over. Joy. Microeconomics was horrible (I'll just say that there was a strong serial correlation in the topics covered in the previous five years of exam papers, with this one being very different stochastically) but macro was better. Now I have the summer off (well, I'll be working) and hopefully I can pursure the full-time MSc this coming September. In the meantime I'm Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-950392122003-05-29T17:17:00.000+01:002003-05-29T17:17:32.313+01:00Hiatus
Sorry to be so quiet, but I have exams, and I should be posting again by the end of next week. I am still reading blogs, though, and I have even been giving comments when I have the time. Thanks for your patience.Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-945734542003-05-19T11:16:00.000+01:002003-05-19T11:16:28.410+01:00Behavioural Marketing
Management consultant Jo Owen writes in the Independent on Sunday saying that the customer is not always right, and the implications this has for market research. Take the first of her reasons, that customers often do not know what they want:
We did not know we wanted the internet, frappuccinos, mobile phones or MP3 players until they were offered to us. [Market] Research Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-944552032003-05-16T16:53:00.000+01:002003-05-16T16:53:09.066+01:00Olympic Dreams
The British government announced yesterday that it will "pull out all the stops" to support London's bid to host the 2012 Olympics. Lance Knobel is right to say that there is not much that economics can say about this, despote the considerable research into the economics of major sports franchises and large sporting events. Questions to be asked are whether sports events like the Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-944136932003-05-15T23:00:00.000+01:002003-05-15T23:01:44.000+01:00Banana State
Felix Salmon (via Lance Knobel) reports on the fiscal situation in New York State:
[New York Governor George] Pataki is a man facing record budget deficits but who simply refuses even to consider raising any taxes at all to help pay for government services. His friend Michael Bloomberg wants a commuter tax? Don't even think about it. The legislature wants to raise income taxes on Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-942926532003-05-13T23:49:00.000+01:002003-05-14T00:00:29.000+01:00Euro-vision
In last Sunday's Observer, William Keegan starts off by saying:
The world economy may well be in serious trouble, and could turn the current debate about the euro in the United Kingdom into a sideshow.
Mr Keegan is a little late; the British euro debate is a sideshow, especially since everyone knows that Britain is not going to join the euro now anyway. The eurozone may be in Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-941192992003-05-10T22:09:00.000+01:002003-05-10T22:35:12.000+01:00Story Ideas
The Economist this week published this story on a new economics course at Harvard, and the possibilities it holds for economics and its pedagody. Matthew Yglesias, in the comments of this post of Brad Delong's, points out that the proposed course has been rejected by both the course committee and the department. Oy.
What's happened to the fact-checking at the Economist?Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-940800862003-05-10T00:48:00.000+01:002003-05-10T23:13:13.000+01:00Bush Trading
President Bush has just called for a US-Middle East Free Trade Agreement to be created within the next decade. Good grief. Other countries are still waiting on their agreement, and then there's the subject of the Doha round of trade negotiations. I have not been that worried about Bush's economic policy in general, but his trade policy is abominable. Dan Gelfand, talking about the Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-940432262003-05-09T10:56:00.000+01:002003-05-10T23:10:43.000+01:00While I was out . . .
[this post has been edited--DCS]
While writing my macroeconomics assignment over the long weekend I missed out on the Jane Galt-started brouhaha on economics as a science. It was really about positivism, as Stephen Karlson correctly notes. Not wanting to restart that (not that I can; I don't get that much traffic) focus on this comment of Galt's:
Economics is the least Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-939488282003-05-07T21:59:00.000+01:002003-05-09T10:34:57.000+01:00Editor's Note
As I wrote last week, posting for the next 3-4 weeks will be occasional, while I study for exams. Apologies to all of my readers.Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-938877262003-05-06T22:57:00.000+01:002003-05-06T22:57:32.526+01:00Bestsellers
On Sunday on my way to Birkbeck I walked past the London Review Bookshop, though it was shut at the time. It's small, and I don't see what the fuss is all about. The literary types who've it basically called up their journalist friends and got some free advertising. I wonder at this bookshop for snobs--people who prouldy say "we have no 3 for 2 offers". What's wrong with discounting?Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-936724862003-05-02T22:04:00.000+01:002003-05-02T22:04:21.506+01:00Reversal of Fortune
First Kenneth Rogoff, and now The Economist (subscribers only), as it explains why capital controls may be justified in developing countries:
Why is trade in capital different from trade in goods? For two main reasons. First, international markets in capital are prone to error, whereas international markets in goods are not. Second, the punishment for big financial mistakes Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-936201262003-05-01T23:25:00.000+01:002003-05-01T23:25:03.360+01:00The Marraige Market
This just goes to show that I should read the Volokh Conspiracy more often. Eugene quotes an email from Jon Klick, a fellow at the George Mason University School of Law:
Regarding your discussion of polygamy, there are some interesting economic issues involved here. A good place to start is Gary Anderson and Robert Tollison (1998). "Celestial marriage and earthly rents: Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-936160382003-05-01T21:59:00.000+01:002003-05-01T22:00:31.000+01:00That time of Year
I have an assignment due next Tuesday, and exams in just over four weeks. Posting will be light this weekend, and occasional thereafter.Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-936024322003-05-01T17:33:00.000+01:002003-05-01T22:00:06.000+01:00Steel Barriers
In response to a question from Stephen Karlson, while the biennial World Steelband Music Festival is open to all countries, the annual Panorama competition is closed to steelbands outside of Trinidad and Tobago. (All carnival competitions save for the International Soca Monarch are closed to non-Trinbagonians, and most Trinis, unfortunately, think it should stay that way, at leastDamienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-935447072003-04-30T19:11:00.000+01:002003-04-30T22:52:33.000+01:00Steel
Stephen Karlson has to be the one to remind me of home as he posts about a concert of the Northern Illinois University Steel Band. Aside from family and friends, there are three things about Trinidad I miss--the weather (I'm in London, remember?) carnival (well, most of it) and steelband music. Missing Panorama, especially, is painful.Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-935321012003-04-30T15:25:00.000+01:002003-04-30T15:28:41.000+01:00B is for Bubble
Via Angry Bear I discovered the very partisan Democratic econoblogger Matt Stoller, who worries about a bond-market bubble in the US:
Markets that are too frothy exhibit certain characteristics, one of which is the entrant of amateur investors who think they can't lose because that's what they've been told. Remember a few years ago when stocks were a can't miss investment, and Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-934902082003-04-29T22:42:00.000+01:002003-04-29T22:45:49.000+01:00Respecification
Colby Cosh tries out David Janes' mehod of dealing with Blogger permalink problems:
You have to roll your mouse over the permalink symbol and eyeball the destination URL, which will be something like:
http://www.sarahevekelly.blogspot.com/2003_04_01_sarahevekelly_archive.html#92496021
As you can see, that link doesn't work, and it immediately redirects to a "Not Found" page--Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-934891962003-04-29T22:22:00.000+01:002003-04-30T14:09:15.000+01:00The Euro non-debate
Dan Gelfand (see here and here) and British Spin have the rundown the British government's latest shenanigans over the Euro. This is mostly political, though Spin is thinking about the prime minister's motives:
Well, the PM clearly believes that entering the Euro will, in the long run, be the right move for the British economy. It will remove some currency instability, open Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-934861232003-04-29T21:27:00.000+01:002003-04-29T21:29:49.000+01:00Property Bubble
[NOTE: I accidentally deleted this post while editing something else, and with some help from Bonobo Land, recovered it--DCS]
My eyes normally glaze over at property columns, but the FT's new Property Editor, Henry Tricks, made me laugh:
Roger Bootle of Capital Economics, author of The Death of Inflation, believes low inflation will eventually depress all asset prices, Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-932909052003-04-26T12:14:00.000+01:002003-04-26T22:58:10.000+01:00Dismal Advice
In the Financial Times new magazine, unveiled today, a new "agony aunt" column made its debut:
Dear Economist,
Both my children did well in school and got high marks in top universities, but my son devotes his energies to pop music and various "good causes", and his living conditions are terrible. I want to give him money now, but how much? And how should I tell my daughter, who Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-932607792003-04-25T21:39:00.000+01:002003-04-26T12:19:51.000+01:00Small States, Small Problems?
The above is the title of a 2000 World Bank working paper by William Easterly and Aart Kraay. Their conclusion:
Our analysis suggests that small states have perhaps received excessive attention from the literature – notwithstanding our own addition to the literature!--as special cases calling for special policy measures. We find that small states have, if anything,Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-931688572003-04-24T11:06:00.000+01:002003-04-24T17:25:57.000+01:00Bearing the Cost
Via Maria Farrell, a report that the Austrian Constitutional Court has declared that requiring "telecommunication service providers" (TSPs) to install surveillance equipment at thir own expense is unconstitutional:
The Constitutional Court has ruled several times that the obligation for private companies to fulfill assignments of public interest is not unconstitutional. HoweverDamienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-930760882003-04-23T00:19:00.000+01:002003-04-26T23:13:17.000+01:00Stiglitz and Rogoff, again
No, nothing has happened. I just read Zimran Ahmed's post on a speech by Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz in Chicago, on the problems with economic globalisation. Ahmed describes the speech as "shallow and filled with cheap shots." Not wanting to jump on the anti-Stiglitz bandwagon (well, I am kind of on it already, but never mind) I have been thinking of an intresting Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-930699832003-04-22T22:23:00.000+01:002003-04-22T23:17:16.000+01:00Will you be paying in Dollars or Euros?
I am going to set aside the reasons for this article by George Monbiot and simply publish the following excerpt, with a couple added links:
In November 2000, Saddam Hussein insisted that Iraq's oil be bought in euros. When the value of the euro rose, the country's revenues increased accordingly. As the analyst William Clark has suggested, the economic Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-929843862003-04-21T15:51:00.000+01:002003-04-22T21:06:21.000+01:00On Being an Expatriate
[This post has been edited--DCS]
On the excellent Free Trinidad blog eparillion comments about why he won't be returning home anytime soon:
I left for college, as did many of my peers, because I believed that I could get a better education [in New York]. Fair enough, but why stay after graduation? Well, for one thing, I found the culture of anti-intellectualism backed byDamienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-929556482003-04-21T02:23:00.000+01:002003-04-26T23:34:10.000+01:00Too Much Stuff?
The BBC World Service's Global Business program recently examined an odd theory about global deflation:
Consumers used to wait cap in hand for the products that manufacturers and retailers would permit them to buy. But now scarcity has disappeared, and competition is bringing proliferating choice and cut throat prices to the global market place.
Manufacturing companies in manyDamienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-929547562003-04-21T02:03:00.000+01:002003-04-21T02:03:57.606+01:00The Economics of Relegation
Ranked divisions in sports are all but unheard of in American sports--while minor leagues do exist, there is no "promotion" or "demotion" based on regular-season performance as is common in Europe. Much analysis has been written on the impact of this on the economics of sports leagues and sports teams. How does it affect local communities and economies, though?
Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-929539312003-04-21T01:45:00.000+01:002003-04-21T01:45:13.860+01:00Moral Incentives
While I agree with Ram Ahluwalia on the subject of this old post of his, isn't there also a fundamental moral reason to object to the USA Patriot Act?Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-929457882003-04-20T22:09:00.000+01:002003-04-20T22:15:28.000+01:00Long Weekend
I spontaneously decided to go to Cambridge on Friday, partly because I had never been there and wanted to see somplace new (London can do that to you) and partly because I wanted to see a place that had played a crucial role in the history of economic thought. Not that I gained much insight into the latter. The city iself is quaint and lovely, and a joy to stroll trough, with each Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-927402652003-04-16T23:03:00.000+01:002003-04-16T23:07:49.000+01:00Pleas and Defences
Loosely related to the post immediately below, there is this argument from the Caribbean Banana Exporters Association:
Caribbean bananas are grown mainly on small family farms, with intensive and justly paid labour and low usage of agro-chemical inputs. That inevitably results in lower yields and higher average cost. But many consumers are willing to pay a fair, if slightly Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-927369482003-04-16T21:58:00.000+01:002003-04-16T21:58:58.530+01:00What Goes Around . . .
Apparently the unofficial American boycott of French goods is having an effect. (via Jane Galt.) This reminds me of a little story about bananas and roquefort cheese.
The European Union has long maintained a preferential quota and tarriff system for bananas produced in the ACP (African Caribbean and Pacific) group of countries, and American fruit giants, supported by Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-926786432003-04-15T23:54:00.000+01:002003-04-15T23:59:32.000+01:00The Ties that Bind
There are many conspiracy theories regarding the contracts for the "reconstruction" of Iraq, and the way in which some deals have been concluded so far have not dispelled the notions that the Bush Administration wished to exploit Iraq. The contracts that have been awarded so far, like the $4.8 million contract to Stevedoring Services to run the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr, are Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-926101402003-04-14T23:23:00.000+01:002003-04-15T21:54:38.000+01:00On the Move
I've been moving house over the weekend, and I've been offline for the past few days.
In other news, one Trinidadian newspaper interviewed me last week about blogging. Given that the newspaper does not have an online archive, I'll probably post it in the next couple of days. A little notoriety is nice.
UPDATE: as my good friend Nicholas points out in the comments, the Trinidad Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-924499562003-04-11T21:50:00.000+01:002003-04-15T21:53:53.000+01:00War and Expectations
Jane Galt points to Steven Landsberg's Slate column on overconfidence and war:
[W]e choose to fight precisely when we're most confident of winning—and confidence itself is often a symptom of overconfidence. We could have picked on Iran or North Korea, but we chose Iraq instead. Why? It must be at least partly because we liked our odds in Iraq. But the times in life when youDamienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-923240732003-04-10T01:04:00.000+01:002003-04-10T01:37:40.000+01:00Budget Day
Overshadowed by the momentous events in Baghdad, British Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown yesterday delivered his budget for the 2003 fiscal year. I don't wish to comment on the budget; every British newspaper--and some foreign ones as well--has people far more qualified and interested than me to address the particulars, and a perusal of them tomorrow will be more than Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-923197002003-04-09T23:40:00.000+01:002003-04-09T23:40:04.890+01:00Isn't it Ironic?
Check out Hong Hong's new tourism campaign. (via OxBlog.)Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-922542562003-04-09T01:09:00.000+01:002003-04-09T23:24:05.000+01:00When You Wish Upon a Star . . .
More Stop the War protests are planned for Saturday April 12. It now looks as if that goal might, just might, be coming true. Here's to getting what we wish for.Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-921916852003-04-08T03:24:00.000+01:002003-04-08T04:10:46.000+01:00Empire
I've finally got around to reading Niall Ferguson's article in the Chronicle of Higher Education on American "empire". His penultimate paragraph struck me:
[T]he empire that rules the world today is both more and less than its British begetter. It has a much bigger economy, many more people, a much larger arsenal. But it is an empire that lacks the drive to export its capital, its peopleDamienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-921109562003-04-06T23:58:00.000+01:002003-04-07T02:11:40.000+01:00Writing Contest
There are a number of writing competions aimed at students, and the Guardian, along with Christian Aid, have gotten together to offer one for prospective journalists. In the print editon of Rise, the Guardian's supplement for university graduates, is the following solicitation:
To enter you must submit, in Guardian style, 500 words about the negative impact of international Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-920600852003-04-05T23:58:00.000+01:002003-04-06T00:31:28.000+01:00Emissaries and Dignitaries
On September 13, 2001, two days after the World Trade Center attacks, the BBC staged a special edition of its program "Question Time":
In the highly-charged atmosphere of the BBC studio, Phil Lader, the former US ambassador to Britain who was on the panel, appeared to fight back tears as he was shouted down while trying to tell the audience of his sadness.
Presenter Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-919435622003-04-04T00:12:00.000+01:002003-04-05T23:33:13.000+01:00Orals
British Spin says the following about private dentistry in the UK:
Soon the wealthy will look at the poor and notice how terrible their teeth are. They will mention it in newspaper articles and shudder inwardly when the poor talk. It will be used as yet another social divide, like Glaswegian accents, or cheap clothes, being seen as a sign of stupidity and a lack of sophistication- a Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-919303882003-04-03T20:11:00.000+01:002003-04-03T20:11:25.513+01:00Odious Debts revisited
William Sjostrom points to an Alan Krueger column in the New York Times which discusses the Iraqi debt situation:
To gain some perspective on the crushing financial burden facing the Iraqi people, note that with a population of 24 million, pending obligations work out to $16,000 for every man, woman and child. The Central Intelligence Agency estimates, probably Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-918650272003-04-02T21:36:00.000+01:002003-04-02T22:10:22.000+01:00In the Guardian Polly Toynbee coins a very odd syllogism:
It remains a perplexing problem that UK productivity is still below that of most of its competitors, a problem for both government and business. Patricia Hewitt was bringing them yet more help, rolling out the government's manufacturing advisory service so companies can get an intensive 10 day consultancy that has been phenomenally Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-917975882003-04-01T23:06:00.000+01:002003-04-01T23:06:38.343+01:00Growing Pains
Henry Farrell posts two good reviews of Hernando De Soto's Mystery of Capital (here)and William Easterly's Elusive Quest for Growth (here). He recognisies the importance of the two books, and the contribution they can make to the development debate. I have two observations, though with respect to Farrell's thoughts on De Soto's book.
Firstly, Farrell says that formalising informalDamienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-917731582003-04-01T15:13:00.000+01:002003-04-01T21:32:33.000+01:00Double Negative
In today's Times (subscription required outside of the UK):
Adam Slater, 51, was seen drinking in the street in Weymouth a day after magistrates had imposed a a two-year antisocial banning order on him, and faced a maximum of five years.
But magistrates were forced to throw out the case when they spotted the grammatical error in the text of the order handed to Slater. The Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-917296302003-03-31T21:48:00.000+01:002003-03-31T22:15:09.000+01:00Military Average Fuel Economy
Now we know where a lot of the $75 billion cost of the war goes:
The fuel cost numbers are startling. A gallon of modified jet fuel, which is used in tanks as well as aircraft, costs only 84 cents when bought wholesale from multinational oil companies such as Shell and ExxonMobil.
By the time the cost of transporting the fuel to the battlefield is added, that sum Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-917281522003-03-31T21:20:00.000+01:002003-03-31T21:26:25.000+01:00Good luck, Mr. Mankiw
In an article titled "Advice to a fledgling economic adviser", Jeffrey Frankel cautions the incoming chair of the Bush Council of Economic Advisers, N, Gregory Mankiw, about what to do when the president inevitably does something that he disagrees with:
the press seldom asks persistent or sophisticated questions. So one can usually formulate a careful sentence that appearsDamienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-917265882003-03-31T20:52:00.000+01:002003-03-31T20:52:36.466+01:00Hello?
Another item for Brad DeLong to bang his head on a wall about:
Those concerned that the US administration pays insufficient attention to the rest of the world will not be reassured by moves afoot at the US Treasury.
For years the Treasury has had a 24-hour operator service which can put callers in touch with its top officials at times of crisis. Given that financial upsets can erupt at Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-917071892003-03-31T14:54:00.000+01:002003-03-31T14:54:29.593+01:00Tabula Rasa
James Suroweicki writes about Iraq's odious debts.Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-917067802003-03-31T14:44:00.000+01:002003-04-07T00:17:20.000+01:00The Well-Rounded Class
In the New Yorker, Louis Menand looks at the current debate about U.S. college admissions:
[A]dmissions offices have always given preference to various types of candidates whose grades and standardized-test scores may be below average. They have done so because they have other institutional needs besides putting scholars in the classrooms. They have football teams to Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-916685342003-03-30T23:25:00.000+01:002003-03-31T00:18:13.000+01:00From a Different Perspective . . .
David Warsh points out how the current war could be about oil after all:
Perhaps the Gulf Wars are best understood as being antitrust policy for oil — industrial reorganization by force in the aftermath of successful monetary stabilization.
While discussing political instability in the Middle East, and how the Bush administration sees oil as adding to that Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-915772762003-03-29T00:58:00.000Z2003-04-02T18:01:45.000+01:00Who's Being Patronising?
The New Statesman has a leader this week titled "How we patronise the Iraqi people". The last paragraph starts with this sentence:
Politicians and modish commentators in western countries are poor judges of what third world people want, which is mostly peace, security, food and water.
Isn't the New Statesman a "modish commentator"? The magazine is correct insomuch thatDamienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-915196182003-03-28T02:50:00.000Z2003-03-28T02:50:59.060ZNotions
Though he does not use the phrase, Jim Henley makes a revealed preference argument regarding the war in Iraq:
All of which leads to the one thing I think I've figured out about the war so far. You can't trust what anyone tells you, but watching how they fight will tell you what they're thinking.
Indeed.Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-915164682003-03-28T01:49:00.000Z2003-03-28T01:49:54.716ZSize and Credibility
A new economics blog, Law, Politics and the Economy, opines on the legitimacy of the United Nations:
It would seem to me that the need for reform is clear. Make the voting more like the IMF and the Security Council will gain credibility overnight.
People talk a lot about reforming the Security Council, but any such reform has to go through the UN General Assembly, and Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-914442312003-03-27T00:13:00.000Z2003-04-02T17:56:46.000+01:00Talk Isn't Cheap
A couple of weeks ago, Stephen Kirchner pointed to the an FT article about the volatility caused by comments made by US Treasury Secretary John Snow:
The strong dollar has long been more of a rhetorical gesture than a policy goal. The phrase was adopted by Robert Rubin, Treasury secretary between 1995 and 1999, to allay concerns that the US would seek to devalue the dollar as aDamienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-914385952003-03-26T22:28:00.000Z2003-03-26T23:09:38.000ZMeanwhile, on the Other Side of the Planet . . .
QSI pays a visit to Chile and Argentina, and describes his impression of the two places. What's interesting is not the economic situation, which is well documented, but his perspective on the outlook of the different populations. Describing Argentinians, he says:
A sense of despairing, fatalistic hopelessness lurks in the background here, but Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-910234562003-03-20T00:12:00.000Z2003-03-20T00:13:04.000ZRails of Fancy
In a leader last July about airport expanson in the UK, the Guardian wrote:
Getting people to re-examine how they travel is vital for sustainable development. The case for replacing internal flights with high-speed rail links should be embraced by ministers.
Now another leader in the same paper on Wednesday says:
[T]he size of the bill is simply prohibitive. The north-south Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-910227132003-03-19T23:58:00.000Z2003-03-19T23:58:51.996ZPolicy of Industry
In today's Guardian, Larry Elliott worries about the fate of British industry:
[T]oday, the hollowing out of British industry continues almost without comment. We are, it seems, living in a post-industrial world where manufacturing has shrivelled in size and importance. The new Britain is based on knowledge-based services and the hi-tech end of manufacturing.
Elliott quotes Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-910199712003-03-19T23:07:00.000Z2003-03-19T23:11:39.000ZThe Second Gulf War
So, we go to war this week. About time. Not that I am pro war or anti--I'm actually quite ambivalent about the whole thing. I just wish it would get over and done with as soon as possible. That may a callous attitude when lives are at stake, but the war talk has been going on for more than a year, and it was clear months ago where this was going. To have it all over would be Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3644525.post-907449482003-03-15T03:25:00.000Z2003-03-16T02:22:05.000ZEconomic Sociology
After this Atlanticblog post on journal editing (editors apparently suffer much abuse, even though they are often the kesy to a successful academic career) read this Vaguely Right post, and the paper it links to, on the attituides of those who have done PhDs in economics in the top US grad schools.
I'm not doing a PhD, nor do I actually want to be an academic economist. (Damienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04290172750839532618noreply@blogger.com