Club Troppo

Abstract: This paper argues that openness to new, unconventional and disruptive ideas has a first-order impact on creative innovations-innovations that break new ground in terms of knowledge creation. After presenting a motivating model focusing on the choice between increment...

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Researchers warn that substance abuse among the elderly will double by 2020 , but few journalists or policymakers worry about age pensioners squandering welfare money on alcohol and drugs. Things were different in 1905–6 when a royal commission looked at establishing a Commonw...

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As the festival is now upon us in Melbourne anyway, I'm sticking it up the front of Troppo for a while for your delectation. Below is a timetable of the French Film Festival in Melbourne together with a table of the films rating better than most. I hope it helps you get to see...

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Work for the Dole doesn't work, says economist Jeff Borland . Citing a study he and Yi-Ping Tseng carried out using data from the late 1990s, he argues that it does nothing to create long-term employment opportunities and too little to build skills. But maybe Borland is missin...

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A new working paper (to be found here ) by two PhD students in our school muses about whether firms optimise profits or returns-to-costs. Normally in economic papers you see the presumption that firms optimise profits, but from the point of view of investors allocating in lots...

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Remember the last time the Coalition government was insinuating treachery on the part of the ABC, and making like it was about to take a cricket bat to it? That was back in the days when Prime Minister Howard’s government was keenly promoting our mission to bring freedom and d...

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kz1XBcWI6LM Above is my presentation to the Berkman Centre for Internet and Society - the background blurb of which is here . You'll find the first half of the presentation on the fractal ecology of public and private goods is effectively the sa...

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It's on again folks - or at least I've started to receive emails about it from you people. The incredible Troppo Crikey Sub. I've not been able to find, on a quick search, the savings on a one year subscription, but if you can give us the link, please do so in comments. We typ...

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T he excesses of ethics committees are a pet hate of mine, but I'd always thought that for instance the Stanley Milgram experiment was an example of the kind of experiment where genuine ethical issues arose that might justify not going ahead. But now I read on Wikipedia that:...

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"as much as I don’t understand it, Jeffrey Sachs really, really, really doesn’t understand it." Nina Monk, author of The Idealist "I don’t want to argue with you Jeff, because I don’t want to be called ignorant or unprofessional. I have worked in Africa for 30 years. My collea...

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Well here we are at the beginning of another year trying to get things in order. And I've got two bits of spring cleaning (OK so seasonal metaphors are dominated by northern hemisphere geography - I guess I'm doing summer cleaning). Having been slack in not having my checkup f...

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http://youtu.be/84NwnSltHFo

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http://youtu.be/zEnhYlzqKUk

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by Melissa S. Kearney, Phillip B. Levine Abstract: This paper explores how specific media images affect adolescent attitudes and outcomes. The specific context examined is the widely viewed MTV franchise, 16 and Pregnant, a series of reality TV shows including the Teen Mom seq...

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Does Planning Regulation Protect Independent Retailers? by Raffaella Sadun Abstract: Regulations aimed at curbing the entry of large retail stores have been introduced in many countries to protect independent retailers. Analyzing a planning reform launched in the United Kingdo...

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How would you measure the safety of private motor vehicle travel? Let’s agree to focus on fatalities. Serious injuries are also important, but all the points I am going to make hold equally as well for injuries as for fatalities. Probably the silliest way to measure road fatal...

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A recent Swiss proposal for a basic income guarantee has sparked interest from commentators on both the left and right. In a discussion of libertarian arguments for the proposal, Bleeding Heart Libertarians blogger Matt Zwolinski suggests that the classical liberal economist F...

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In the last 5 years, I have made a point of giving clear predictions on complex socio-economic issues. I give predictions partially to improve my own understanding of humanity: nothing sharpens the thoughts as much as having to actually predict something. Another reason is as...

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I know three people who say they're quite strongly affected by the weather. They dislike rainy, overcast or muggy days and like fine ones that are not too hot or cold. Me? Well I agree, but while I can enjoy a nice day, I have no feeling of a bad day weighing me down. I've jus...

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https://soundcloud.com/zekejmiller/new-recording-68 Read more here .

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