Club Troppo

Turnbull has now upped the ante. At the political level, Australia is now fighting (a) an aversion to public sector deficits and (b) the appropriate choice between taxation cuts v/s other forms of spending. During the Howard years every household wanted to go into debt, while...

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My daughter Anna (just turned 15) really hurt her big toe last week the nail was half ripped off and it took a day or so before the pain died down. I was talking to her and said that althought it sounded pretty pathetic coming from me who was not feeling any pain, she should t...

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Ever rung a hospital or medical practice for advice and been told that they won't give you advice unless you come in. For private practitioners this is partly a way of making money - they get to see not just the whites of your eyes, but the colour of your money. But the rule i...

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[caption id="attachment_7102" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Palestine-Israel Journal"] [/caption] I grew up in a household that was quietly but staunchly pro-Israel. This was of course (and still generally is) the default position in the west. Most Australians would h...

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Yes, Ned the Bear is back. Again. After an exceptionally busy 2008, Ned now has time on his paws, so much time, in fact, that he has started his own blog , where Ned will attempt to appear daily. (Well, Monday to Friday, at least.) Of course, on particularly cranky days Ned wi...

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Fiscal policy has become the subject of an intense ideological warfare among economists. Over the long term - i.e. over the business cycle as a whole - economists do not agree on whether the structural budget should aim for a surplus or a deficit. This is understandable as sev...

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In this post a while back I explored an idea as follows: I was driving through the Burnley tunnel today. It has three lanes. As you go into it travelling east, the three lanes I was on had to become two to make way for another lane entering from the left. Normally what happens...

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The Colbert Report Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c Better Know a Beatle - Paul McCartney Colbert Report Full Episodes Paul McCartney Appearance Funny Political Videos More Funny Videos

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A short column in t he Age published today Reduce the bugbears with some beta-tested policies THERE'S a saying made famous by Eric S. Raymond, the author of the landmark book on Web 2.0, The Cathedral and the Bazaar. In computer geek speak, it's this: "given a large enough bet...

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Carmen M. Reinhart, Kenneth S. Rogoff NBER Working Paper No. 14656 Issued in January 2009 This paper examines the depth and duration of the slump that invariably follows severe financial crises, which tend to be protracted affairs. We find that asset market collapses are deep...

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One of Nicholas Gruen's favorite people, William Easterly has joined the blogosphere to keep the Aid bastards honest. Today, I foist a new blog called Aid Watch on the blogosphere. The objective is to be brutally honest when aid is not helping the poor, but also praising it wh...

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I sometimes like to try to get the feel of the prosperity of a US era from films and TV shows made at the time and about that time. Not the fantasy stuff, or things for kids generally or horror, but the consciously era-based ones that set out to create a feel. This is not a sc...

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A feed on US road accidents summer vs winter etc . A feed from Organizations and Markets. Does the inclement weather have you worried about sliding off the road to an icy death? If so, Ive got some good news for you. On a per-mile driven basis (or per-trip or per-minute travel...

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Here's my AFR column for today Making an exception As Groucho Marx said to some unfortunate, I never forget a face, but in your case, Ill make an exception. In policy, as in life, it matters when and how you make exceptions. If you want to free up trade, economic textbooks and...

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By reaching out to neoconservatives Obama could "fracture the opposition's idea machine and help turn the Republicans back into the stupid party for years to come", writes Gabriel Schoenfeld . This isn't as far fetched as it sounds. The first wave of neoconservatives were disi...

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