Monthly Archives: 2015-08

12 published posts from 2015-08.

The Impact of R&D Subsidy on Innovation

The Impact of R&D Subsidy on Innovation: a Study of New Zealand Firms by Adam B. Jaffe, Trinh Le - #21479 (PR) Abstract: This paper examines the impact of government assistance through R&D grants on innovation output for firms in New Zealand. Using a large database that links...

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Posted in Economics and public policy, Innovation

Cool graphic. Spot the outlier!

[caption id="attachment_27688" align="aligncenter" width="865"] The diagram is here [/caption]

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Posted in Sport-general

The sharing economy: Panel discussion at Grattan

https://vimeo.com/136778702 Above is a panel discussion on the sharing economy with Jim Minifie, Ian Harper and me. There was a lot of good feedback on it after the event, so I was pleased to see it up on the Grattan website.

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Posted in Economics and public policy, Geeky Musings, Innovation

Gay marriage rites

I think I am in favour of gay marriage, on balance, with some reservations. I would not wave placards in the street, or even change my vote on this issue. Yet it seems that this moderate position is not considered ethical. There is almost zero tolerance among some people for a...

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Posted in Politics - national, Philosophy, Society

Gotcha Journalism as bullshit: Propaganda v anti-propaganda

One does not go about identifying the weaknesses of what another person says in order to prove that one is always right, but one seeks instead as far as possible to strengthen the other's viewpoint so that what the other person has to say becomes illuminating. Such an attitude...

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Posted in Economics and public policy, Media

Another workaround our dysfunctional legal system

This article explains the idea being explored in Victoria for a 'victims redress' scheme for victims of institutional child abuse. It's clearly yet another scheme for cutting the dysfunctional legal system largely out of the action of providing redress for abuse and handing it...

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Posted in Economics and public policy, Law

How not to rate (or review) a play

[caption id="attachment_27634" align="aligncenter" width="865"] Tips: The two most important things about a play - seriously really the most most important - are the quality of the play itself - the script - and the acting. Direction is also important. Lighting, sets, costumes...

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Posted in Art and Architecture, Cultural Critique

Bitcoin: another public good privately provided

https://youtu.be/zs7XEEbQl_s In July last year I gave a talk to a Bitcoin conference and was whisked away (as one sometimes is) to give an interview that would be chopped up into 'grabs' for a doco on bitcoin. The 'uncut' interview (it's lightly cut, not uncut, but it's the fe...

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Posted in Economics and public policy, Innovation, Cultural Critique

Towards a post-capitalist or a post-WTF world?

Vint Cerf is a serious guy or so I thought I was entitled to believe - he's one of the early architects of the internet. Anyway, with David Nordfors he's disrupting unemployment . How? He's got this amazing idea for an internet platform to match people who want to work with pe...

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Posted in Economics and public policy, Information, Innovation

Some wisdom on Europe from 1972!

John Pinder , "Economic Growth, Social Justice and Political Reform," in Richard Mayne (ed.), Europe Tomorrow: Sixteen Europeans Look Ahead (1972): "... the European Community appears to be moving towards a repetition of the old centralizing errors of the nation-states, by mak...

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Posted in History, Economics and public policy

Hayek - left right and centre

My friend Martin Stewart-Weeks points me to this piece by Simon Griffiths which argues that "an engagement with Hayek does not mean a capitulation to the market". Quite. Indeed it's always struck me that it's a pity that Hayek pursued his ideas in such a tendentious way. He ha...

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Posted in Uncategorized, Philosophy, Economics and public policy, Political theory

RIP Ann Gruen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wcsg-KIdDX4 The video above is a recording of the speeches at a funeral for my mother who died at around 10.15 am on Sunday 7th June. Sadly she was far gone - not with it for several years. As her mind gradually failed her, even when she didn't...

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Posted in Life, History