In an act of striking economic naivete and breathtaking historical revisionism, writer Joe Beagelhole marshals the European debt crisis as evidence that allowing political institutions to use a lack of transparency to rack up debt is sustainable, and that we don’t need an independent body making the full cost of fiscal decisions transparent to the …
Category Archive: Political economy
Permanent link to this article: http://www.tvhe.co.nz/2011/07/26/a-independent-tax-authority-is-not-undemocratic-it-is-more-democratic/
Apr 21 2011
A good illustration of tax incidence
Via Marginal Revolution we have seen this post from Steve Landsburg. So what happens if the government takes Mr. Kendrick’s $84 million away? Answer: A bunch of zeros and ones get shifted around on bank computers. Mr. Kendrick goes right on pushing his cars around. And nothing else has changed. Unless, of course, the government …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.tvhe.co.nz/2011/04/21/a-good-illustration-of-tax-incidence/
Apr 20 2011
Black markets, crime, and costs
Via Facebook I’ve been informed that our Australian friends have added an interesting interpretation to the costs of crime syndicates. “Every dollar stolen through organised crime activity is a dollar that cannot be spent on education, health or any number of services,” O’Connor said. Now on the face of it this statement is patently ridiculous …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.tvhe.co.nz/2011/04/20/black-markets-crime-and-costs/
Apr 06 2011
Quake levy and timing
Kiwiblog states that he disagrees with the Herald on a tax levy being introduced now. I think his points on it slowing the economic recovery are valid – increasing taxes to pay for investment when the government can borrow the money at a lower rate of interest AND many consumers are actually locked out of …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.tvhe.co.nz/2011/04/06/tax-levy-and-timing/
Apr 01 2011
Why I’m not holistic
A lot of New Zealand policy discussion and debate is holisitc – we say we want a set of outcomes, these outcomes are desirable, these are the outcomes we need to achieve. In essence, they are saying there are a set of states “we” could be in as a society and we should strive to …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.tvhe.co.nz/2011/04/01/why-im-not-holistic/
Mar 22 2011
Quote of the Day: Nordhaus and Samuelson
Regular readers of the blog will understand why I instantly thought of Matt Nolan when I read this quote:) Economics cannot answer questions of how much poverty is acceptable and fair, but it can help design more effective programs to increase the incomes of the poor
Permanent link to this article: http://www.tvhe.co.nz/2011/03/22/quote-of-the-day-nordhaus-and-samuelson/
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