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Jacques Barzun is arguably the leading commentator on education and cultural studies in the 20th century but he has a low profile since his kind of deep but ideologically disinterested scholarship went out of fashion. Born in 1907, he turns 101 in November. His reputation achi...

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Comedian laureate of our bullshit drenched age, John Clarke is on LNL tonight. I love John Clarke and, on consulting others in charge of this website - including Dr Troppo - it has been decreed that tuning in is compulsory. Those who are unable to pass a comprehension test (to...

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From today's Fin. Several causes of the financial troubles in the United States - including the non-recourse nature of housing loans - were known to be problems before the crisis erupted. Other factors - such as falls in American house prices - were foreseeable. These weakness...

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The original policy, as announced on 13 October, stated unambiguously that to ensure that taxpayers are not disadvantaged by this guarantee, the Australian Government will charge financial institutions for providing the guarantee. The charge will be similar to an insurance pre...

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Have you noticed that 'masterclasses' have become one of the latest victims of linquistic inflation. I recently got this invitation out of the blue and into my email inbox. I know the esteem in which I am held by some in the blogging community - so I guess it was only a matter...

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A few weeks ago, on the 30th of Sept to be precise, I gave a speech to 'science leaders' in CSIRO. Science leaders are early mid career scientists from around the world whom CSIRO have recruited. As the speech explains, Jim Peacock, the Chief Scientist whom I met when on the I...

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A recent report by Paul Krugman warned that we are about to witness the mother of all currency crises in emerging markets. http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2008/10/is-a-currency-c.html He says emerging markets are "being swept under by a currency crisis that is...

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In one of my interesting adventures in the markets, over ten years ago, I discovered a little fund being run out of Crows Nest in Sydney. It was called Grinham Managed Futures. I was looking to invest a bit of money in alternative investments that didn't correlate with other m...

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Meet Nikita McBride. She's the daughter of friends of mine - Ken McBryde and Stephanie Smith who are the co-founders of the wonderful architecture firm Innovarchi . Nikita has recently been diagnosed with juvenile diabetes type 1. In January 2009 she's participating in the Juv...

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Every night while we sleep, the Wealth Fairy flits from home to home stuffing riches into the magical savings accounts Australians call 'housing equity'. In the morning, newly renovated kitchens buzz with activity as mums and dads get the kids off to school. Coffee mugs clink...

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And if you tell them that Troppo sent you you can have as many books you want for free. (Note: you may be required to perform the Troppodillian secret handshake.)

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The new OECD report on income inequality and rising poverty in most OECD countries is just out. This is the conclusion. Social mobility is lower in countries with high inequality, such as Italy, the UK and USA, and higher in the Nordic countries where income is distributed mor...

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I gave a talk on Australia and the financial crisis today in Adelaide and, in preparation went over a speech Ric Simes and I gave to a conference that Ric organised for which Australians should be ever grateful to Ric. At a time when the now ex-Treasurer was basking in the joy...

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by Edward L. Glaeser, Matthew G. Resseger, Kristina Tobio - #14419 (PE) Abstract: What impact does inequality have on metropolitan areas? Crime rates are higher in places with more inequality, and people in unequal cities are more likely to say that they are unhappy. There is...

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In light of the massive interventionism that is being practiced by governments to handle the financial crisis, a warning needs to be repeated regarding two very different kinds of government action. The warning can be found in Chapter 17 of The Open Society and its Enemies , s...

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Last week I was privileged enough to go to the PM's Science Awards in Parliament House. Kevin was, as usual enjoying his place in the centre of the stage, and gave a good speech which impressed his audience. But the highlight was the scientists. Just five got awards - two were...

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There are important lessons to be learned from the Great Depression but I have the impression that the left emerged with the view that the New Deal was required to save the US from rampant capitalism. There is an alternative account . For an MP3 version of the story . The New...

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The Myer Foundation's 'Cranlana' Program is named after Sidney Myer's magnificent Toorak home where the program holds a range of functions. I attended one of these when I was working at the BCA. I remember doing the reading for it before hand and thinking it was going to be aw...

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From today's AFR column. Go early, go hard, go households. This slogan, coined by Treasury Secretary Ken Henry in discussions on the fiscal stimulus takes me back. To another time long, long ago. Flashbacks are better suited to the silver screen than newspaper columns, but ima...

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When debating this issue, John Quiggin ( September 27, 2008 ) made the claim that neo-liberalism had failed (relative to social democracy). Paul Frijters ( recent Club Troppo piece ), on the other hand, dismisses the topic as largely irrelevant. One reason for this disagreemen...

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"Goodbye and f.... you!" A hemp-inspired comment maybe? This came out of the farewell letter from Andrew Lahde, manager of a small California hedge fund, Lahde Capital, which recentlyreturned 866 percent betting against the subprime collapse. He has retired to live the good li...

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The Australian Skeptics Prize for Critical Thinking has been won this year by Peter Ellerton, a Queensland teacher who established a network promoting critical thinking in schools. The prize is worth $10,000. For a decade up to 2006 it was awarded as a part of the Australian M...

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(Written in response to a question from an ANZ customer, who sent me a copy of an open letter to Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Managing Director of the IMF, from Martin Weiss, Chairman of the Sound Dollar Committee, urging him to resist government interventions in the financial syst...

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I was sufficiently taken with this piece in the Fin that I asked it's author Peter Cebon of the Melbourne Uni Business School if I could republish it here. Were told that the root cause of the current financial crisis is a few regional financiers selling dodgy mortgages to poo...

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It has been a busy time for academic economists in the past few weeks. Every lunch break has been dominated by talk about all the goings on in the markets and the government plans that are coming thick and thin. We are trying desperately to remain more knowledgeable about the...

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This is an invite to an exhibition at the Jewish Museum by someone who is pondering his roots as a descendant of those who experienced the holocaust. I was sent it as someone on the Dunera News mailing list. I think about this myself, not so much in relation to myself, but rat...

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[caption id="attachment_6120" align="alignleft" width="330" caption="Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan leaves the Treasury Building. Courtesy Bloomberg"] [/caption] It doesn't get any easier to give this administration the benefit of the doubt. For a fleeting moment in recent days, it...

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From the Universe Today website. The Cassini mission has released some of the most detailed images of Saturn's poles yet, revealing vast cyclones churning up the gas giant's atmosphere in the north and south. These observations show very similar storms to the south pole observ...

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My take on Krugman's Nobel - from today's Crikey! And there's lots of other views around the blogosphere, not all of whose I've read. Joshua had Krugman as a teacher and his post is a goodie - make sure you read Krugman's interstellar trade theory. Because I don't think I can...

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Though it's late the day, I want to recommend Opera Australia's production of Billy Budd . There are only two performances left -- tonight (Monday 13 October) and Thursday. This is indeed short notice for tonight but, for the spontaneous among you, tickets are only $60 if you...

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Courtesy of a friend Paul, here is an email I received of neologisms from the neologism competition in the Washington Post. Once again, The Washington Post has published the winning submissions to its yearly neologism contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternate mea...

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It's long seemed obvious to me that without large injections of fresh capital, all the other efforts to deal with the ever unfolding financial crisis would prove inadequate. Or even counterproductive . The official debate has finally swung in this direction but the question of...

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People will recall that political economy started out as moral philosophy (a la Adam Smith, Professor of Moral Philosophy) then evolved into the study of national economies, then reverted to the narrower scope of economics, focussed on the idealised "economic actor". For those...

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Regular readers of this blog may remember Neil, the guy who runs a great taxi 'ring' - a group of drivers who cooperate in providing a superior service to the crap you have to put up with from the branded networks of taxis. I really hate their policy of not offering you any id...

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A subject that has mystified me as it's mystified pretty much everyone. I've always guessed he felt it was the best he could get out of Paulson with whom he had to come up with a joint plan. That's what Steve Randy Waldman thinks too - though he suggests a bit more detail - ov...

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I was reading this post by a favourite lefty last night and getting pretty depressed at the US's massively greater propensity for hysteria than our own political culture - maybe it goes back to the witch trials in Salem, or perhaps the madness the South pre and post Civil War...

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I went to see the film The Dutchess the other night about Georgiana Dutchess of Devonshire Tea (In the film they pronounce her name Georgaina in case you care). I didn't expect much but just wanted to see a movie and knew that if it was awful the costumes would be just fine. A...

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Someone who used to do some 'spot' research assistance for Lateral Economics has got a new job which means he can no longer do it. Anyone interested in doing occasional research assistasnce should drop me an email at ngruen AT lateraleconomics DOT com and after that add a DOT...

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On this analysis two major factors in the train wreck were the regulations that pushed lenders to water down prudent criteria for lending and the flight of speculators from the housing market when prices ceased to rise. A nuance in this analysis is to point out that it was not...

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A companion site to the 200 years of Australian technology, " Bright Sparcs ", hosted by the University of Melbourne. A register of people involved in the development of science, technology, engineering and medicine in Australia, including references to their archival material...

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I recently received an offer to buy some David Jones shares of mine - bought for the discount that I think they're in the process of phasing out. The offer is to buy the shares for $2.04 per share when their market value - at the time the letter was sent was $4.08. All this is...

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Fortunately executives of 'rescued' outfits realise how important it is for them to reassure the rest of us by showing us that life goes on and we should continue to lead it (as best we can in our newly straitened circumstances) as usual. Thus for instance the Washington Post...

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[caption id="attachment_6021" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Clearwater, Fla (6th October)"] [/caption] Conservative commentators* piled on after the vice presidential debate last week. Greg Sheridan made no attempt to hide his pleasure: "Sarah Palin, the pitbull in li...

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Here's today's AFR column. No pain no gain. Were all familiar with the cliché. Meet its twisted sister. Courting the pundits respect for taking tough decisions, our politicians simply make the economy worse. Call it all pain, no gain. In the next few weeks the Federal Governme...

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The Henson episode has raised some questions about the role of art and artists that Jacques Barzun addressed in his book The Use and Abuse of A rt. Barzun (1907 - ) turned 100 last year and deserves to be better known as arguably the premier scholar in cultural studies in the...

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I'm thinking about Aussie Mac again. The Federal Government has been led to water but only wants a sip - it's investing $4 billion of its surplus in buying mortgages when the credit that was taken out by the collapse of the residential mortgage backed securities market was aro...

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From last Tuesday's Financial Review: The Oppositions proposal for a $30 a week boost to the single age pension has not died, let alone been cremated. To avoid more political embarrassment, the government will grant an expensive pension increase before the next election. The a...

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On the weekend the ABC News reported on the excitement about Bill Henson being given permission by a primary school principal to trawl for photography models. The news then covered the various photo ops put on by Kevin and Malcolm telling us how disgusted they were. (Malcolm w...

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From The Melbourne Age on 1st October 2008 Monday nights rejection by the US House of Representatives of the US Treasury Secretary Paulsons Troubled Assets Recovery Plan, which had been modified to accommodate the concerns of Congressional leaders, has propelled the financial...

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Getting back to the basic things that really matter. If the Manly Seaeagles are to fulfull their promise as the favorites for this event, and defeat the reigning champions, the Melbourne Storm, the Manly pivot Jamie Lyon holds the key due to his responsibilities in both defenc...

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For people who have the time or the need to get into the details of the proposed bailout package, this link provides a section by section summary of the bill. Given the size of the bill, something like this is the only way that most people will ever get a glimpse of the mechan...

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Paul Krugman, the op ed maestro has another great column for us all. But I must say the first commenter on the column stole the show. Joe Idaho says... I like McCain. I think he has a strong understanding of the issues, and that he is a strong leader who will lead us towards p...

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Here is Pundit Grattan thinking aloud about government spending. Meanwhile, it is a bit rash, with revenue uncertain, to be talking up expectations on spending, as Rudd did this week when he said it was time to "bite the bullet" on a paid maternity scheme, "and we intend to do...

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The recent post on architectural delights reminded me that during the Beaconsfield mining disaster I googled Beaconsfield and turned up some pictures of the Batman Bridge nearby. That led to some more pictures of Tasmanian bridges and one of them led to some other bridges in V...

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When I was a boy growing up in Sydney - and this is the 60s we're talking about here - I often spent school holidays at my grandmother's house in the western suburbs. Generally speaking, it wasn't much fun. My grandmother never had any money. There was a box on the wall out th...

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In the USA, Lawrence Summers tells us that the case for a fiscal stimulus is stronger than at any time in my professional lifetime. And most people other than a few crazy republicans agree with him. Paul Krugman and Greg Mankiw both add their voice: counter-cyclical measures a...

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In a recent post , Rafe quoted Frank Shostak as one of the dissenters who are critical of the bailout proposal, not only in its particulars, but in principle. Shostak sees all interventions of this kind as economically damaging as well as adding to the already existing mountai...

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