Club Troppo

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="399" caption="A bit of feline behavioural economics "] [/caption] Generally it's a good thing to leave people to decide what they should do and respect their decisions. But a bit of friendly paternalistic 'nudging' never did much harm d...

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I raised the issue a few weeks ago of what might happen to GDP output and public debt if the discretionary stimulus package were simply cut off in mid-stream. I argued that this would lead to higher numbers on jobless benefits and much lower corporate profits. Could it also pr...

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I'm doing some research on IP and particularly on patents. As in other areas of economics we tend to debate IP according to well arranged protocols. There's a 'pro' and an 'anti' or a 'more' and a 'less' party with each accusing the other of not getting it. There's lots legiti...

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Recently, Jeremy Sammut of the Centre for Independent Studies has had a number of opinion pieces published in the Australian Welfare saps the will to save on March 5 and "Welfare killed saving" (December 18) and a longer paper published by CIS - A Streak of Hypocrisy: Reaction...

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Peter Klein at Organizations and Markets offers some calming thoughts on the AIG bonus debate . 1. The main lesson is that AIG should never, ever have been bailed out with taxpayer dollars. I said that at the beginning, and I stand by it even more today. AIG should have declar...

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Theres a laminated sign that sits over the sink in the office kitchen. It says : There is NO magical kitchen fairy please clean up your dishes yourself. I hadnt really paid attention to it before, but noticing it for the first time the other day floored me. It was after all a...

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A couple of weeks ago recently retired High Court Justice Michael McHugh entered the public debate on whether Australia should have a legislated bill of rights. The debate (such as it is) was one of the "outcomes" of the Rudd government's 2020 Summit, and more recently led to...

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All subjects are linked to crocodiles. Just ask the NT News ( via Flickr ) High Court challenge jeopardises $900 bonus - Sydney Morning Herald (19 March) - THE High Court has agreed to hear a challenge to the legality of the Federal Government's proposed $900 tax bonus to 8.7...

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Mark Crosby explains - I couldn't agree more. The RBA released minutes of their most recent meeting yesterday. Debate in the press today about the merits of the RBA keeping their powder dry, or whether they should have cut further. The minutes end with The question for policy...

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The Slave Trade and the Origins of Mistrust in Africa by Nathan Nunn, Leonard Wantchekon NBER Abstract: We investigate the historical origins of mistrust within Africa. Combining contemporary household survey data with historic data on slave shipments, we show that individuals...

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It seems incredible, hard to believe, but we've got ten double passes to give away to Highly Suss , which looks like fun. I'd go myself if I wasn't going to be overseas. If you're planning to be in Melbourne for the 4th of April, then let us know and we can send you a ticket t...

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[caption id="" align="alignright" width="470" caption="July 20, 2007, MACQUARIE Bank chairman David Clarke yesterday was forced into a staunch defence of the controversial bonus scheme that delivered $200 million this year to its top 13 senior executives following an unprecede...

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This man is Dave Bloustien. Why should you be interested? Because you will always remember this man's face as the first sign that being a reader of Club Troppo made you an insider , somone in the know and on the money . Yes, folks, due to our extraordinary buying power, our pu...

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Michael Duffy liked my most recent column for the Fin and invited me onto his Counterpoint program where we had a bit of a chat about various things - including Oscar Wilde - though the topic was the permanent income hypothesis and what will happen to the handouts. In any even...

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It it not necessary to be a fan of the Rudd administration or the alcopops tax to deplore the horse-trading that is going on to hold the Government to ransom on legislation to ratify the tax. Abuse of the Senate is not a novely and the man from Tasmania was probably the worst...

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From Today's Crikey Trashing Pauline Hanson was a class act Jeff Sparrow, editor of Overland writes: Yesterday, Jonathan Green asked the excellent question: if photos of a youthful Peter Costello mugging in his Speedos found their way to a newspaper editor, would the images tu...

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I've been sent two free tickets to an advance screening of the film Elergy, but unfortunately it turns out I can't make it. So please email me on nicholas AT gruen DOT com DOT au and if you can pop round to my Port Melbourne house to pick up the tickets, you can have them. The...

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