Category Archives: Politics – national

From being to seeming: why empirical scientists failed in times of Covid.

Posted on June 29, 2020 by Paul Frijters

There have long been scientists who were celebrities in their own time. Galileo, Keppler, Goodall, Linneus, Cousteau, Darwin, Smith, Leeuwenhoek, Da Vinci, Ibn Khaldhun, Curie, and many others in the last 800 years were followed and admired. They in many … Continue reading →

Posted in Coronavirus crisis, Cultural Critique, Democracy, Economics and public policy, Education, Geeky Musings, Health, Life, Philosophy, Politics - national, Religion, Science, Social Policy, Society, Theatre | 15 Comments

What kind of crowd are we now seeing? The 5 surprises in this pandemic.

Posted on June 17, 2020 by Paul Frijters

There are 5 aspects of the covid-19 pandemic I really did not see coming, all pointing to a phenomenon that European sociologists of a century ago spent their whole lives describing, coming up with theories about crowds and their behaviour … Continue reading →

Posted in Coronavirus crisis, Cultural Critique, Economics and public policy, History, Life, Philosophy, Politics - international, Politics - national, Science, Social, Society, Theatre | 117 Comments

A seminar/workshop on wellbeing cost-benefit analysis applied to covid

Posted on June 8, 2020 by Paul Frijters

Find below the video of a seminar for the Australian Institute for Progress done a few weeks ago detailing the basic cost-benefit view of the current pandemic. The slides of this presentation are here: Presentation CBA Covid May 2020_V2 Most … Continue reading →

Posted in Coronavirus crisis, Employment, Health, History, Politics - international, Politics - national, Science, Social Policy, Society | 79 Comments

How can the University of Queensland recover from the Drew Pavlou affair?

Posted on May 30, 2020 by Paul Frijters

The management of the University of Queensland, and in particular Peter Hoj and Peter Varghese, stand condemned today by the international media, by both Labor and Liberal politicians, by both left-wing and right-wing Australians, by its own students, and by … Continue reading →

Posted in Cultural Critique, Democracy, Humour, Journalism, Politics - national, Review, Science, Social, Social Policy | 55 Comments

Covid strategies for Australia: herd immunity or quarantine land?

Posted on May 28, 2020 by Paul Frijters

Let’s talk about some of the covid policy options facing Australia in the coming months and years. It seems to me we can either grasp the nettle and accept we will get a wave of highly visible covid-19 deaths before … Continue reading →

Posted in Coronavirus crisis, Death and taxes, Democracy, Economics and public policy, Education, Employment, Health, History, Journalism, Libertarian Musings, Life, Politics - international, Politics - national | 16 Comments

Against decentralising: why crowded is good

Posted on May 20, 2020 by David Walker

Note: This post was original published on 6 July 2015; I’ve updated it several times because both parties keep revisiting a decentralisation agenda. Once again we’re hearing the argument that Australia would be a much better place if only we could … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics and public policy, Innovation, Politics - national | 49 Comments

On Corona/Covid-19, herd immunity and WELLBY tradeoffs: key predictions and numbers

Posted on May 14, 2020 by Paul Frijters

[in progress: will add more references, links and latest numbers when I get the time] In this note, I want to deal with three related issues: the main lessons on the corona virus from the reported deaths across countries with … Continue reading →

Posted in Coronavirus crisis, Cultural Critique, Death and taxes, Democracy, Economics and public policy, Education, Employment, Health, IT and Internet, Libertarian Musings, Life, Politics - international, Politics - national, Science, Social, Social Policy, Society | 52 Comments