Club Troppo

I've outlined some of the pathologies of what I call 'vox pop' democracy in various posts from time to time. As Western democracy degrades before our very eyes (President Donald Trump wasn't really imaginable a decade or so ago and is still hard to fully comprehend) we need to...

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In reciting his famous ditty, Henry Higgins offers a comical take on an ancient dilemma. This is a brief postscript to my essay on Care where I rather surprised myself by expounding my take on 'feminist economics' and the ethics of care. There's an inherent tension in feminism...

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[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="778"] Exactly why George Pell's face should come up on Googling "Crikey" is anyone's guess, but I for one would like people to stop being mean to him. After all, he didn't ask to travel First Class representing the world's religion of po...

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Reg ular readers may know of my fondness for the recent film of Vera Brittain's Testament of Youth, so I was intrigued to come upon this fantastic book on the subject. I say 'book' because in many ways this is how I think books should be written. It's written on a Wordpress bl...

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMLt7bSX3iE I In writing a series of essays last year I came to an obvious conclusion. It's perhaps one that others had come to years ago, but then there's something in coming to a conclusion from a position sympathetic to its opposite.[1. As J....

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On completing a consumer survey for the Melbourne Theatre Company. I was intrigued to come upon this table. Which of the following would encourage you to attend the theatre more frequently? (Select all that apply) Free pre/post shows talks with artists Greater variety of produ...

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Do anti-poverty programs sway voters? Experimental evidence from Uganda By: Blattman, Christopher ; Emeriau, Mathilde ; Fiala, Nathan A Ugandan government program allowed groups of young people to submit proposals to start skilled enterprises. Among 535 eligible proposals, the...

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Research Design Meets Market Design: Using Centralized Assignment for Impact Evaluation Date: 2016-12 By: Abdulkadiroğlu, Atila (Duke University) ; Angrist, Joshua (MIT) ; Narita, Yusuke (Yale University) ; Pathak, Parag A. (MIT) Atmospheric pollution was an important side eff...

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An incomplete series of thoughts beginning with a couple of paragraphs suggesting something with grander aspirations - which of course may be realised some day - but not in this blog post. Still I'm heading overseas now, and I'm not sure how the aspirations can be realised, so...

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Time was (I'm guessing, if it was it didn't last long) when linkbait had standards . You (I'm obviously still guessing here) took some aspect of something and beat it up a bit. Anyway courtesy of ZergNet (who knew) I just saw this bit of linkbait. George Michael's Ex-Wham! Par...

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One of the central contemporary critiques of the industrial revolution was its undermining of crafts and craftsmanship. Today this is happening within the world of ideas. And at least right now, it's looking like this is not a very happy development. This was brought home to m...

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This paper estimates the large array of long-run benefits of an influential early childhood program targeted to disadvantaged children and their families. It is evaluated by random assignment and follows participants through their mid-30s. The program is a prototype for numero...

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Foreign Competition and Domestic Innovation: Evidence from U.S. P atents by David Autor, David Dorn, Gordon H. Hanson, Pian Shu, Gary Pisano Manufacturing is the locus of U.S. innovation, accounting for more than three quarters of U.S. corporate patents. The rise of import com...

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In a recent speech "Who owns a company?", Andy Haldane has this to say: In the earlier period, dividends decreased as often as they increased. This is as we would expect if profits fluctuate both up and down. After 1980, however, we see a one-way street. Dividend payout ratios...

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6W0d9xMhZbo I wasn't a huge fan of George Michael, though I liked his songs, but I absolutely loved this one. So good to horse around on the dance floor to. When I was in my early 20s I was greatly taken with gay culture. It was a liberation mov...

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Well I came to this passage and thought it was the first thing the World Economic Forum have said in a while that I agree with. "A significant part of the global elite lost the sense of solidarity when it was needed." But of course it was from the head of the WEF, so he couldn...

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Sky News' Matt Cunningham is unimpressed by the actions of the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory, in restricting cross-examination of detainees, failing to proceed with hearings before Christmas, and obtaining a five month...

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It’s been a great 15 years in Australia for me and the family, so we will be leaving lots of friends and colleagues behind as we seek new adventures in London, where from next week onwards I will be part of a Wellbeing centre, pretty much the same topic as the Australian Resea...

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The Effect of Early Education on Social Preferences by Alexander W. Cappelen, John A. List, Anya Samek, Bertil Tungodden We present results from the first study to examine the causal impact of early childhood education on social preferences of children. We compare children who...

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The well-being or 'happiness' push has been rolling for more than a decade now. Though there were plenty of other voices like Bruno Frey , I date its take-off from around the turn of the 21st century when Richard Layard started cranking up the issue and invoking the ghost of B...

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