Tyler Cowen lists his and others follow. So here are mine (in some but not perfect order) and I am treating the word ‘influenced’ seriously. Read more »
Tyler Cowen lists his and others follow. So here are mine (in some but not perfect order) and I am treating the word ‘influenced’ seriously. Read more »
The Australian Football League (AFL) begins again this weekend — at last. Back in the day cricket was a vital part of Australian summer culture. But now it is so heavily over supplied I only follow it out of the corner of my eye, unless Australia is playing India or South Africa. As cricket has declined the football off-season has come to seem like an eternity.
One antidote to missing your favourite sport is to read some works of philosophy, because thinking about the great questions of philosophy — what we can know?, how we should live?, how we should be governed? — highlights the utter banality of sport. So, during the summer I listen to philosophy lectures from The Teaching Company on my ipod, but now football is back so philosophy is put to one side. Read more »
Mark Latham’s opinion piece in the AFR today is highly critical of the www. myschool.edu.au website. Latham believes that the website is just a flash-in-the-pan which will serve to provide occasional dramatic headlines, but do no long term good in Australian education.
I think he is completely wrong. The myschool initiative strikes me as being very well executed. No wonder that Julia Gilliard’s stocks have risen some much in the Government when her execution of the education initiatives is compared to the fiascos of the pink batt installation, the renewable energy credits, ETS design and bargaining, defence procurement, management of the Murray-Darling, etc. Read more »
I recently watched this TED presentation by Microsoft’s Balise Aguera y Arcas on Bing maps. It is amazing. However, what struck me was how ‘Apple like’ Bing’s map feature was relative to Google Maps. Similarly, Microsoft’s Zune OS and new Mobile Windows are far more Apple-like in look and feel than Google’s Android. All of them are engineering marvels but there is a clear strategic difference in the bets Apple-Microsoft and Google are making. Apple & Microsoft clearly think that, whatever gains Google is getting in terms of speed, are less important than look and feel aesthetics for the future. Google is betting that consumers won’t sacrifice speed for anything and want to push as far as possible on that dimension. Right now, I suspect Google’s placement is right given mobile bandwidths. But the question is whether, when the time comes that that is no longer the constraint, which approach will be able to morph into the optimal mix. I have no idea, I was just noting the clear difference and the millions being bet on different assumptions. Read more »
It looks like the NSW Government is worried about credit card surcharges.
EXCESSIVE fees for credit card purchases could be abolished in the wake of an inquiry into exorbitant surcharges.
The charges are often applied by corporations with market dominance, such as airlines and taxi firms.
They were allowed to be introduced by the Reserve Bank in 2003 in an effort to let companies recoup the cost of transactions.
Research has found taxis and airlines are slugging customers up to 10 per cent, with Qantas and Tiger airways last year delivered a “shonky” award by Choice for charging passengers $7.70 each.
Choice said the real cost to the airlines was more like 1 per cent. Read more »
So I have been taking a number of flights recently (and if you look at my presentation schedule you can see why). What I have noticed is that there is widespread violation of the no using of electronics rule for take-off and landing. I have seen people with iPods, iPhones, Blackberries, etc., all using them during the restricted times. What is more, the plane appears to be no worse for wear while their fellow passengers, including me, are clearly unconcerned. Some, like Steve Levitt, have been bucking the rule for years but the extent of use I observed is quite widespread.
That said, it isn’t an open revolution. I tried to continuing using my Kindle (which let’s face it draws less power than an overheard light) but it is out in the open and after enough requests (and some mild protests) I had to put it away. On Qantas, Kindles don’t appear to be an issue. Anyhow there goes on potential advantage they might have had over and iPod. Read more »
In today’s New York Times, an account of the scrambling and general mess going on in e-books as Amazon and Apple try to position themselves in the market ahead of the iPad launch. They are each pushing different pricing models — Amazon who sets the price to consumers and negotiates the price to publishers and Apple who will let publishers choose their own price but will just take a 30% cut (a la the App Store). Actually, Amazon aren’t totally against that model but are looking for lock in deals and guarantees of not being undercut if they move to the ‘agency’ model. Publishers don’t know what to do but would like to keep their options open. Read more »
As regular blog readers will know, I’m a big fan of randomisation. In the context of tax audits, this is particularly useful. Though politically controversial, random audit experiments like the US TCMP have taught us a lot about who underreports tax. And now a new two-stage experiment in Demark is revealing other lessons. Perhaps Australia – which has never had a random audit of personal income taxpayers – could follow suit. Read more »
Xiaodong Gong and I have a paper in the latest issue of the Australian Economic Review. Abstract below. Read more »
My AFR op-ed today is on the economic incidence of company taxes. The draft benefited from comments by Nicholas Gruen and an anonymous friend. Full text over the fold.
‘Abbott Tax Hits Workers’, Australian Financial Review, 16 March 2010
On the morning that Tony Abbott released his proposal to pay for paid parental leave with a tax on Australia’s 3200 largest firms, I was reading Norman Lindsay The Magic Pudding to my three year old son. As you know, it involves a pugilist strolling around outback Australia, punching his enemies on the nose and promising his friends a free lunch. The Magic Pudding has a similar storyline.
Promising to raise company taxes has an visceral appeal to any ambitious opposition. Perhaps some voters will think that they will be borne by the companies themselves, leaving all living persons miraculously unharmed. Slightly savvier citizens might think that company taxes are entirely borne by investors. Read more »