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Around the world there are a lot of complaints that there is too much debt, that debt will prevent a recovery, and that debt is the root of all problems – be it fiscal deficits, debt fueled consumption, or a debt powered housing market. While there are undeniable issues to keep in mind, there are […]
If you can follow the idea that price setting is a co-ordination game, you can see one of the reasons why monetary policy has real effects. When economists discuss “menu costs” as a major reason for prices not changing, they are primarily thinking of this strategic element (where there are multiple, pareto ranked, stable and […]
There have been a wide range of people saying that the changes to the tax treatment of property will lead to a leap in rents. So will it? I would say that the answer is yes, and no. Here is why.
The Libertarian party is the next group to release an alternate budget for Budget 2010 with further discussion here. I am glad to see more people doing alternative budgets, but as always I have some concerns: It is subject to the same criticisms as Sir Roger’s budget – namely the trade-off between equity and efficiency […]
I was impressed by the title of a NZ Herald article today “Fat is normal“. I was like, yes it is perfectly rational for an individual to put on weight, contrary to what we are often told. I began to think that if policy wonks would treat the idea of putting on weight sensibly we […]
The Freakonomics blog provides another perplexing picture (the last one was discussed here). This time we have a situation where it costs LESS to buy two of something then to buy just 1. So they are PAYING people to take the second unit. What gives? The way I see it, there are two likely explanations: […]