Economics

Paul Summerville • March 8, 2013

Commentary on getting a good night’s sleep, the sharing economy, get out the sun screen, George’s hard choices, more to globalization than lattes all round, and strangled by language.

Tossing and turning.

New Yorker -- Up All Night
The science of sleeplessness.

 

Goofy – How to Sleep

Regulating sharing.

Paul Summerville • February 16, 2013

Commentary on lots of money and slow growth, the new truth, Elizabeth Warren schools the bank regulators, the baby panic, the problem with self-regulation, and catching a terrorist.

The great 21st century quandary.

Washington Post -- Awash in liquidity, the global economy remains sluggish
There’s plenty of money in the world. That’s the good news.

Paul Summerville • February 6, 2013

Commentary on failing fertility policies, the needle free syringe, urbanisation quickens, Greece slides away from democracy, rising per capital GDP increases happiness, and a change of mind.

Why Germany’s attempt to raise its total fertility rate is failing.

Paul Summerville • January 18, 2013

Commentary on irrational economics, austerity is class warfare, no future, adjusting is hard, what questions does Unchained ask, why DC may still win out over AC, and Paul Martin on Idle No More.

(ed's note -- travelling for a week, Smart Links on holiday until January 27)

 

Silly economists think consumers are rational.

Paul Summerville • January 15, 2013

Commentary on the slow death of the two state solution, the perils of the sunk cost, how do you say smog in Mandarian, weak France, the importance of the sacred, and speaking of sacred hockey's new players in Canada.

Where is this going to lead? Thanks to Ken of Tokyo/Hong Kong.

Paul Summerville • January 12, 2013

Commentary on an important squiggle, fatter world, the coin, the Japanese monetary and fiscal Rubicon, a bi-polar world, the tax man cometh, not ideal, and the great Victoria real estate double squeeze.

The end of the signature.

Telegraph -- Handwriting? It’s a currency that’s devalued
The new US treasury chief isn’t alone. I’ll give you a dollar if you can write your name clearly.

Paul Summerville • January 6, 2013

Commentary on bad IMF math, rail travel in the UK, Jared Diamond’s love of nature, rape in India, down on your luck learn how to pickpocket, and living in the Arctic.

Actually austerity makes things worse, sorry.

Washington Post -- IMF: Austerity is much worse for the economy than we thought
Earlier this week, the International Monetary Fund made a striking admission in its new World Economic Outlook.

Paul Summerville • January 4, 2013

Commentary on electronic gadgets and the brain, a hard look at aid, is growth really over, and an early treaty.

Brain changer.

Financial Times -- Cerebral circuitry
Researchers are focusing on whether gadgets are changing how our brains work as regards empathy and human interaction.

Related.

Paul Summerville • December 28, 2012

Commentary on how cats can make you crazy, a great economics thinker passes on, better Switzerland than Norway for the UK, country supper, it stinks in the UK, and Bob Rae’s voice quietens.

Meow.

Atlantic -- How Your Cat Is Making You Crazy
Jaroslav Flegr is no kook. And yet, for years, he suspected his mind had been taken over by parasites that had invaded his brain.

Exit or voice, or both?

Paul Summerville • December 25, 2012

The Globalist's Top Books of 2012 and interesting reviews. 

Guardian -- Ghosts of Empire: Britain's Legacies in the Modern World
A Tory MP challenges the neocon view of empire in this important history.

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Twin Virtues: Inequality of Outcomes & Equality of Opportunity©

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Ultimately, the most successful societies find the balance between the twin virtues of inequality of outcomes and equality of opportunity.
 
The new politics must marry the twin virtues of unequal outcomes and equality of opportunity.
 
When too few get too much everybody ends up with less.
 
Can it be that striving for equality of opportunity however imperfect the process not only benefits the individual but also creates benefits for the society as a whole that are unintended but wonderful?
 
Economics must be a 'moral enterprise' as much as politics claims to be. Economic outcomes need to be framed in terms of right and wrong not just efficiency if only because these often align in surprising ways.
 
My vision of Canada is that any Canadian child from a family of limited circumstance can expect to have a chance at lifetime of unlimited opportunities.
 
Tax policy should be founded on the principle of generating steady tax revenues sufficient to maximise environmentally sustainable economic growth in order to fund fair government.
 
Public policy should be designed to decrease inequality before the law and increase equality of opportunity.
 
Capitalism is not the problem; the problem is what we do with capitalism.
 
Content is always more difficult to argue than conspiracy.
 
Let the state regulate and the market operate (most things).
 
Welfare strategies are best designed as a hand up not as a hand out.
 
Political debate should not be fact free fighting.
 
Explanation lasts longer than eloquence.
 
Always favour empowerment over dependency.
 
The most enduring public figures are embraced for the causes they fought for and not the concept of themselves they hoped others would remember them by.
 
Find your voice and don't be the echo of somebody else.