Yay, we’re the 15th happiest country in the world! Unsurprisingly, while money makes us happy, it doesn’t really matter once you earn over 15,000 USD/capita. What really matters is trust, tolerance and religion, apparently. Being religious makes you seven percentage points happier on average, which probably explains Saudi Arabia’s unusual happiness in the face of such intolerance.
And now for the big picture(s)! Read more
At Typealyzer they have they have a tool that finds out the personality type of a blog (ht Greg Mankiw).
Given that this is a mainstream economics blog the result was unsurprising – INTJ – The Scientists. Here is the description:
The long-range thinking and individualistic type. They are especially good at looking at almost anything and figuring out a way of improving it – often with a highly creative and imaginative touch. They are intellectually curious and daring, but might be physically hesitant to try new things.
The Scientists enjoy theoretical work that allows them to use their strong minds and bold creativity. Since they tend to be so abstract and theoretical in their communication they often have a problem communicating their visions to other people and need to learn patience and use concrete examples. Since they are extremely good at concentrating they often have no trouble working alone.
I’m back now, I will attempt to answer the comments that have turned up in posts over the next week.
I’ve noticed that New Zealand elected a National government while I was away – very interesting. Labour really did get hammered – I think that ridiculous advertising campaign about whether John Key could be trusted backfired.
I also noticed that the other authors wrote a number of very interesting posts.
I have a ton of reading to catch up on now, hopefully I can come out with comments and posts over the next few days.
TVHE is a bunch of current and former Wellingtonians so, via The Wellingtonista, here is a map of how we voted down here.
Tom at The Wellingtonista has done an amazing job with the data so click the map to see a detailed breakdown by polling booth. Read more
Update: Thanks to the journalistic skills of Kimble and StephenR we know this chart is a hoax, it has however sparked some amusing comments on the IQ/party matches for NZ:)
While procrastinating doing work on the weekend I found this little stunner
Would be interesting to see a similar exercise for the 08 election
Agnitio
Matt is away for the next two weeks.
There will still be posts from me – which are time delayed. However, my response to any questions will also be significantly time delayed as I will not have access to the internet.
Other authors will be posting and commenting while I am away – I just wanted to inform you that if I don’t reply it is because I am not here, not (just) because I’m a bastard 😉