Monthly Archives: January 2010

Prospect for interest rates

Posted on January 29, 2010 by Fred Argy

The headlines all warn that core inflation “remains high” and that the futures market is predicting a 78% chance that the RBA will increase rates next week. We need to keep things in perspective. First, after three annual increases in … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics and public policy | 1 Comment

Google’s doodle boo boo?

Posted on January 26, 2010 by Don Arthur

Google removes Aboriginal flag from winning Doodle 4 Google entry Last year 11 year old Jessie Du won Google’s Doodle 4 Google competition with her entry ‘Australia Forever’. Displayed on Google’s homepage for Australia Day, the doodle features Australian animals … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorised | 7 Comments

Hugging the local optima: Two superstars lament “our technology-rich and innovation-poor modern world”

Posted on January 25, 2010 by Nicholas Gruen

Two apparently unrelated articles by superstars of the 1980s and 90s in their respective fields which share a common theme – the market’s aversion to serious innovation, it’s tendency to move incrementally towards lower levels of innovation leaving really fundamental … Continue reading →

Posted in Chess, Climate Change, Economics and public policy | 9 Comments

The public goods of Web 2.0

Posted on January 23, 2010 by Nicholas Gruen

One thing I’ve been at pains to stress is that Web 2.0 platforms – like Wikipedia, Blogger, Google Search, Google Calendar, Facebook – are public goods. Further, although a core function of government is to build public goods, none of … Continue reading →

Posted in Web and Government 2.0 | 5 Comments

Couldn’t have put it better myself: given how little we know, we could do with less certainty

Posted on January 21, 2010 by Nicholas Gruen

As we lurch from one disaster to another, I think Mark Thoma quoting Chris Blattman, hopping into David Brooks gets it exactly right. Chris Blattman: David Brooks saves the world in 1000 words, by Chris Blattman: Haiti, like most of … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics and public policy | 12 Comments

Buzzity buzz

Posted on January 19, 2010 by Jacques Chester

A lot of folks on Facebook have been sending me links for a new website called “Menzies House”. According to the blurb, it’s the “leading Australian blog for conservative, centre-right and libertarian thinkers and activists”, which must come as news … Continue reading →

Posted in Metablogging | 10 Comments

Google develops moral minerals

Posted on January 13, 2010 by Jacques Chester

Google’s announced that they were the subject of a precise and sophisticated attack, apparently aimed at getting access to the GMail accounts of pro-democracy critics of the Chinese Communist regime, both living in China and abroad. Google don’t think that … Continue reading →

Posted in IT and Internet, Politics - international | 5 Comments