Around the Traps 31/3/17

It is time for Around the Traps again

Aussie,Aussie,Aussie,Oy,Oy,Oy

• Croaking Cassandra on labourgreen-budget-responsibility-rules , time-to-wind-up-the-nz-superannuation-fund , comparing-acc-investment-returns-to-nzsfs, fiscal-policy-in-defence-of-the-last-labour-government
• Ken Parish on is-scomo-a-bastard-for-cutting-the-territorys-gst-funding
• David Peetz on the-government-is-belatedly-backing-the-penalty-rates-cut-it-always-wanted
• Jiyoung song and Neil Cuthbert on what-happens-failed-asylum-seekers
• Jamie Alcock on houses-arent-more-unaffordable-for-first-home-buyers-but-they-are-riskier
• Mark the Graph on rental-inflation-rates
• David Walker on snowy-announcement
• Ross Gittins on company-tax-cut-has-not-so-dirty-little-secret , home-affordability-problem-caused-by-generational-conflict
• The Kouk on why-are-bill-shorten-and-labor-scared-to-run-on-the-economy , -why-an-interest-rate-cut-is-needed , what-s-behind-australia-s-sheer-dumb-luck
• Dylan McConnell on hazelwood-closure-what-it-means-for-electricity-prices-and-blackouts
• Liz Ritchie-Tyo on tracking-the-storm-the-science-behind-tropical-cyclone-debbie
• Greg Jericho on superannuation-default-fund-changes-political-industry-v-retail , does-earning-180000-make-you-rich-lets-not-pretend-about-whos-rich-and-whos-poor
• Paul Gardner-Stephen on how-to-keep-your-mobile-phone-connected-when-the-network-is-down
• Erik Ekland on hazelwood-power-station-from-modernist-icon-to-greenhouse-pariah
• Brian McNair on why-politicians-and-television-still-need-each-other
• Melanie Blanchette and Mark Lund on turning-hazelwoods-empty-coal-mine-into-a-lake-could-help-heal-mining-towns
• Bruce Mountain on comparing-australias-electricity-charges-to-other-countries-shows-why-competition-isnt-working

Northern America

• Harry Enten and Julie Azaria on the-two-cracks-in-the-republican-party
• Promarket on no-indication-trump-is-pro-competition , richard-posner-real-corruption-ownership-congress-richThanks Mark
• Tim Duy on markets-are-witnessing-a-yellen-fed-at-its-humblest Thanks Mark
• Mark Thoma gives us Kruggers on how-to-build-on-obamacare
• Calculated Risk on real-house-prices-and-price-to-rent-ratio-in-january
• Mike Konzal on four-lessons-from-the-health-care-repeal-collapse Thanks Brad
• Brad De Long on must-read-it-has-long-been-clear-to-me-that-the-last-thing-fred-hiatt-and-his-crew-at-the-_washington-post_-are-interest
• Mike Kimel on do-patents-lead-to-economic-growth , how-much-crime-do-illegal-immigrants-commit
• Robert Waldmann on blinded-by-the-right-literally
• Belle Waring on whos-crying-now-i-mean-other-than-paul-ryan
• James Hamilton on how-the-federal-reserve-controls-interest-rates 
• Cecchetti and Schoenholtz on the-feds-successful-tightening Thanks Mark
• Ben Casselman on trumps-plan-wont-reverse-coals-decline
• Timothy Taylor on in-order-that-they-might-rest-their-arguments-on-facts
• Aaron Bycoffe on trump-is-beating-previous-presidents-at-being-unpopular
• Dougal Robinson on trump-s-legislative-headaches-no-good-predictable-foreign-policy
• Justin Fox on the-jobs-statistics-trump-should-be-worried-about
• Liberty economics on qe-frictions-could-banks-have-favored-refinancing-over-new-purchase-borrowing Thanks Mark
• Ross Douthat on is-obamacare-a-lifesaver Thanks Brad
• Douglas Campbell on raise-rates-to-raise-inflation Thanks Mark
• Adam Davidson on how-trump-could-still-undermine-obamacare Thanks Mark 
• Macroblog on bad-debt-bad-for-your-health Thanks Mark
• Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson on republicans-health-care-tax-cuts-rich-ryan-future-gop Thanks Brad

Europe

• Bruno Tertrais on after-brexit-and-trump-french-election-surprises
• Simon Wren-Lewis on one-vote-that-rules-them-all , lessons-from-brexit
• Coppolla comment on barnier-and-tantalus-game
• David Warsh on money that poured into russia Thanks Mark
• Ula Staiger on brexit-negotiations-what-does-europe-want
• Richard Whitman on article-50-triggered-but-is-a-brexit-deal-really-possible-in-two-years
• stumbling and mumbling on newt-troubles
• John Cassidy on theresa-mays-empty-brexit-promises Thanks Brad
• Richard Holden on vital-signs-war-gaming-the-economic-fallout-from-brexit
• Simon Heffer on post-brexit-will-kingdom-stay-united
• Menzie Chinn on how-well-is-uk-business-fixed-investment-holding-up-in-the-brexit-era

Asia

• Promarket on netanyahu-trump-nixon-use-antitrust-tame-media Thanks Mark
• Roger Shanahan on syrian-safe-zones-planning-nightmare
• Peter Layton on advancing-china-s-south-china-sea-dominance
• Sidney Jones on caliphate-unlikely-bishop-still-right-focus-southern-philippines
• Donna Weeks on neo-nationalist-crack-abe-s-grand-strategy
• Andrew Seith on myanmar-and-aung-san-resurrection-icon
• John Lee on new-chinese-diaspora

Wonk

• Simon Wren-Lewis on on-criticising-existence-of-mainstream-economics , /misrepresenting-academic-economists
• Brad De Long on the-need-for-a-reformation-of-authority-and-hierarchy-among-economists-in-the-public-sphere
• Peter Dorman on economics-part-of-rot-part-of-treatment
• Douglas Campbell on corporations-in-age-of-inequality Thanks Mark
• Kevin O'Rourke on does-trade-policy-only-have-a-small-impact-on-trade-flows-interwar-evidence , gambling
• Sandwichman on says-other-law-misery-is-inseparable-companion-of-luxury
• long and variable on re-specifying-the-inflation-target-for-low-real-interest-rates
• Timothy Taylor on global-productivity-growth-diminishing-convergance , global-investment-spending-piece-of-the-puzzle , how-between-firm-inequality-drives-economic-and-social-inequality
• pseudoerasmas on ancient-greece-economic-growth
• Nick Rowe on old-keynesian-multipliers-cross-section-and-time-series
• stumbling and  mumbling on keynes-flaws
• Branko Milanovic on /the-welfare-state-in-age-of-gloabalisation Thanks Mark
• freemarket on role-antitrust-free-market-economy Thanks Mark
• Brad De Long on must-read-back-in-1992-larry-summers-and-i-warned-that-even-with-business-cycles-of-the-size-seen-in-the-great-moderation
• William Magnuson on is-brexit-the-beginning-of-the-end-for-international-cooperation
• Croaking Casandra on do-big-countries-get-richer-or-more-productive-faster , natural-resources-norway-and-the-uk
• Noah Smith on robuts-takin-jerbs
• Bank Underground on does-productivity-drive-wages-evidence-from-sectoral-data Thanks Mark

General

• David Coward on something-big-exploded-in-a-galaxy-far-far-away-what-was-it
• John Gooding on content-control-reckoning-tech-giants
• Astri Suhrke on new-refugee-compact-will-struggle-live-lofty-rhetoric
• David Glasner on a-tale-of-three-posts

Climate

• Whats up with that Watts et al on 3-behind-curtain-of-bates-facade
• and Then Theres Physics on bias-in-science , hearing-about-climate-science-and-the-scientific-method
• Greg Laden on global-warming-has-and-will-continue-to-cause-extreme-weather-new-research
• Rabett run on gravity-greenhouse-effect-and-surface-temperature
• Regblog on on-achieving-climate-change-goals-without-clean-power-plan

Andrew Gelman (mainly stats)

• lets-accept-idea-treatment-effects-vary-not-something-special-just-matter-course
• dead-wire
• association-psychological-pseudoscience
• crack-shot
• hideout
• aggregate-age-adjusted-trends-death-rates-non-hispanic-whites-minorities-u-s
• prediction-model-fleet-management
• Noah Smith on the-blogs-vs-case-deaton
• Gene Callahan on the-limits-of-bayesian-inference Thanks Jim Rose
• Kaiser Fung on collaboration-with-new-york-public-library , confused-by-machines-or-spooked-by-the-machine-makers

Genial Dave Giles (econometrics)

• a-journal-of-insignificant-economic-results
• in-praise-of-two-giants-of-econometrics
• Marc Bellamare on how should econometrics be taught
• Winnifred Louis and Cassandra Chapman on the-seven-deadly-sins-of-statistical-misinterpretation-and-how-to-avoid-them
• No Hesitations on text-as-data

Dianne Coyle ( quirky + book reviews)

• Tim Harford on undercover-friday
• Greg Laden on arduino-playground-book-review-of-a-serious-maker-book
• doverbeach on daily-reading-2 , daily-reading-3, weekend-reading-35

Vox Wonk

• productivity-slowdown-s-dirty-secret-growing-performance-gap
• immigrants-and-innovation-us-history
• aftershocks-monetary-unification-hysteresis-financial-twist
• fed-s-price-stability-achievement
• economic-resilience-growth-and-economic-fragility-trade
• economic-growth-us-tale-two-countries
• post-brexit-trade-and-development-policy
• informational-constraints-antipoverty-programmes
• introducing-new-vox-series-cepr-flashbacks-insights-past-reports
• sacrificing-consumption-mitigate-catastrophic-risks
• effect-banning-junk-food-advertising
• israels-positive-immigration-story
• health-human-capital-and-domestic-violence
• global-repercussions-us-tight-oil-boom

A pot pourri of articles

Reading last night I realised there was quite a few different articles which were interesting on different topics.

Here are some:

• Aaron Bycoffe on trump-is-beating-previous-presidents-at-being-unpopular
• stumbling and mumbling on martin-mcguinness-the-nature-of-politics , keynes-flaws
• Winnifred Lewis and Cassandra Chapman on the-seven-deadly-sins-of-statistical-misinterpretation-and-how-to-avoid-them
• Dylan McConnell on hazelwood-closure-what-it-means-for-electricity-prices-and-blackouts ( only for us Aussies)
• Greg Laden on global-warming-has-and-will-continue-to-cause-extreme-weather-new-research
• Alexis Grigorief et al on information-changes-attitudes-towards-immigrants

They will be all on Around the Traps on Friday.

A little bit on Econometrics

If you are like me and studied economics at University then you would have done a few units in econometrics.
I remember during my Masters course I got Les Johnson , the american statistics lecturer at Macquarie University at the time. to provide me with a bunch of 'pinko' econometric papers.

We all had to talk about the papers we read, the importance of the papers, the significance etc. For anyone  interested the papers in the 'pink' journals were good. I even read one from Evan Jones who was part of the political economy lot at Sydney University!

Anyway these days I keep up to  date on the date by reading Genial Dave Giles blog.
This blog is a must read!

So of late it was interesting to read three articles on econometrics and how to use/teach it.

The oldest is by Carola Binder.
the next is by the highly authoritative Francis Diebold
the last by the inimitable Marc Bellamare


Given genial dave agrees with Francis I am going that way but it is very interesting if not somewhat arcane!

Will the Socceroos make it to Russia?

Australia beat the UAE 2-0 in a spiteful match in Sydney.

We did not leak as much at the back ( Sainbury?) as usual but still missed chances that should be put away up front.
The more I think about it the more The Socceroos and the Wanderers are alike. Both are leaky at the back and both teams create a lot of chances but miss simple goal chances.
I am genuinely wondering whether we will make it to the World Cup.

We have no great players as in 2006. We have very few whom play in the Premier League, La Liga, The Bundesliga or Serie A.

This means we have to rely on team work and spirit to get through. although the spirit is there the teamwork which was there in abundance during the Asian cup is only there every so often. We are drawing games we should easily win.

The next game against Saudia Arabia will the the bellwether. If we play our best we will win and go on to Russia. if we lose Uh Oh

Two things I should have talked about.
Why are we so lost on through balls?
Why do we give the ball away so often?

It is mystifying. The answer could be lack of class

The Productivity puzzle

Productivity has fallen almost everywhere around the world.

 The ever conversable Timothy Taylor examiner this in lieu of a talk by  Andy Haldane.

 Dan Andrews et al  also examine this with a short paper at Vox wonk as I call it.

Plenty of food for thought here. We are still discussing this in Australia and reasons why productivity has fallen in recent times.                            

Cricket Season has ended

We had the finals of both the Junior and Senior cricket associations on over the weekend.

It proved very hard work. for some unfathomable reason council suddenly got anal about having cricket played on the grounds one week before football starts,

We did say it did not matter if grounds were marked out for football or even posts inserted into the ground however it seemed Councils seemed to simply want no play at all of cricket in the last week of March despite this occurring for both Junior and Senior Cricket last season and nothing whatso ever occurring.

Also given the wet weather I was phoning up Umpires  on Saturday night informing them of one-day matches for finals in some age bracket as well as change of venues!

for the first time in its history we had fully qualified umpires for all our semi-final matches .These matches were unfortunately washed out.

The NDCA and the NCU ( A turf competition where 6 teams from the NDCA and 6 teams from the NSCA battle out in two competitions) went through tough circumstances but came out better for it. Just have to wait until mid-September now!

Postscript:

I should have added the best batsman for the club I was associated with was told by Gladesville Spirit the football club he plays with that  his cricket team was playing in the final. He was told if he played he would be benched for the whole season, Lovely club!

Around the Traps 24/3/17

It is time for Around the Traps again.

Aussie,Aussie,Aussie,Oy,Oy,Oy

• Alan Pears on gas-crisis-energy-crisis-the-real-problem-is-lack-of-long-term-planning
• Myles McGregor Lowndes on boards-must-do-more-to-stamp-out-wrongdoing-that-damages-trust-in-charities
• Seb Henbest on global-lessons-south-australias-power-dilemma
• Croaking Cassandra on new-zealand-initiative-on-immigration-part-9-the-case-for-open-arms , labour-on-financing-new-housing-infrastructure , what-does-the-oecd-really-have-to-offer-us
• Ross Gittins on someone-has-to-give-if-were-to-fix-the-budget , the-future-of-work-wont-be-as-bad-as-we-are-told , why-growth-in-wages-is-so-slow
• The Kouk on aussie-labour-market-why-beauty-is-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder , a-2-billion-national-building-snow-job
• Wes Mountain on infographic-the-truth-behind-centrelinks-waiting-times
• Paul Henman on after-the-robo-debt-debacle-heres-how-centrelink-can-win-back-australians-trust
• John McCarthy on values-conundrum-australias-foreign-policy
• Greg Jericho on fracking-and-coal-seam-gas-is-no-solution-to-an-energy-crisis-of-our-own-making
• Mark Andrich and Emma Green on how-electric-cars-can-help-save-the-grid
• John Daley and Brendan Coates on the-latest-ideas-to-use-super-to-buy-homes-are-still-bad-ideas
• Kevin Bonham on poll-roundup-attack-of-poll-shaped-objects
• Andrew Elder on laws-of-gravity
• John Quiggin on adani-with-an-asterisk
• Adrieene Nicotra et al  on snowy-hydro-scheme-will-be-left-high-and-dry-unless-we-look-after-the-mountains
• Ken Parish on australian-politics-and-the-emperors-new-clothes
• Tim Wright on australia-violating-non-proliferation-treaty
• Peter Martin on how-to-kill-stamp-duty-and-produce-a-budget-to-remember
• Richard Holden on vital-signs-if-it-looks-like-a-bubble-and-sounds-like-a-bubble
• Maria Yanotti on capital-gains-tax-concession-is-too-generous-economists-poll
• Darryl Adair and David Bond on sporting-codes-deals-with-gambling-companies-force-them-into-a-faustian-bargain

Northern America

• Promarket on convincing-evidence-concentration-rising, growing-evidence-u-s-regulators-may-value-profits-incumbents-regulate-consumer-welfare Thanks Mark
• Douglas Campbell on links-to-two-short-essays-on-monetary-policy.one-good-one-bad Thanks Mark
• Nancy LeTournea on there-is-no-grand-strategy-to-repeal-obamacare Thanks Brad
• Nicholas Bagley on obamacare-replacement-disaster Thanks Brad
• run 74551 on increased-penalties-for-the-uninsured-under-the-republicans-ahca
• Mark Thoma gives us Kruggers on americas-epidemic-of-infallibility
• Jonathan Baker on market-power-in-the-u-s-economy-today Thanks Mark
• Timothy Taylor on whats-value-of-us-household-production
• Perry Barron on what-paul-ryan-and-donald-trump-hope-will-happen-on-obamacare-this-week
• John Robertson on working-for-yourself-some-of-the-time Thanks Mark
• Mohamed A El-Erain on trump-market-optimism-economic-growth Thanks Mark
• Stephen Grenville on are-us-fed-rate-projections-behind-curve
• Menzie Chinn on econofact-the-agricultural-implications-of-mr-trumps-policies , cbo-projections-of-coverage-under-the-aca
• Kumuda Simpson on trumps-credibility-takes-a-hit-as-fbi-finds-no-evidence-of-obama-wiretap
• 538 on the-rituals-of-the-presidency-make-trump-seem-more-presidential
• Mark Thoma on the-worlds-easiest-chart-to-make
• Jason Furman on why-us-growth-2-percent-plausible-and-unlikely-get-much-higher
• New Deal Democrat on housing-production-and-jolts-all-good-news
• Mark Thoma gives us Tim Duy on fed-watch-is-bank-lending-a-concern
• Calculated Risk on a-few-comments-on-february-existing, a-few-comments-on-february-new-home-sales
• David Beckworth on monetary-policy-analysis-is-hard
• Ezra Klein on trumps-weak-closing-argument-on-health-care-and-why-it-matters Thanks Brad
• David Glasner on deconstructing-judge-bybees-disingenuous-dissent
• John Whitehead on economists-believe-that-the-cbo-makes-credible-forecasts Thanks Mark
• Nate Silver on the-gop-health-care-bill-is-unpopular-even-in-republican-districts
• Perry Bacon on the-obamacare-fight-is-about-way-more-than-health-care , how-trump-lost-on-health-care
• David Anderson on the-individual-market-under-ahca-v2 Thanks Brad
• David Frum on the-republican-waterloo Thanks Brad
• Larry Summers on why scrapping NAFTA would be Trump's biggest gift to china Thanks Mark
• Menzie Chinn on guest-contribution-mnuchin-multilateral-meetings-money-manipulation-and-message-mayhem
• Josh Barro on republicans-ahca-health-care-obamacare Thanks Brad
• Robert Frank on upshot/health-insurance-medicare-obamacare-american-health-care-act Thanks Mark

Europe

• Simon Wren-Lewis on a-response-to-gudgin-coutts-gibson , the-brexiteers-know-war-is-far-from-over
• Kevin O'Rourke on we-have-to-prepare-for-the-worst 
• Coppolla comment on of-cars-and-tariffs-and-brexit-fantasies
• long and variable on brexit-and-scottish-independence-it-may-have-been-time-for-some-bad-game-theory
• Stumbling and mumbling on incentivizing-politicians
• David Lowe on terrorism-in-westminster-london-had-expected-attack-for-some-time-but-it-still-came-as-a-shock
• Daniel Woker on finally-good-news-european-union
• Adrian Penalver on natural-rate-interest-estimates-euro-area Thanks Mark 
• David Wells on london-attack-tragic-and-widely-predicted

Asia

• Kerry Brown on china-s-national-people-s-congress-needs-demonstrate-vision
• J Michael Cole on why-strengthening-taiwan-japan-alliance-makes-perfect-sense
• Sayed Nasrat on getting-juice-flow-afghanistans-private-sector
• Timothy Taylor on india-whats-needed-for-sustained-growth
• Merriden Varrall and Frances Kitt on china-leadership-prizes-internal-security-over-one-upping-us

Wonk

• Nick Rowe on real-interest-on-reserves
• Kruggers on robot-geometry-very-wonkish
• Peter Dorman on where-should-we-put-economic-empiricism-on-the-hubris-humility-spectrum
• Simon Wren-Lewis on post-truth-is-media-as-propaganda
• Peter Dorman on fifty-shades-of-yellow-post-truth-then-and-now
• Bank Underground on of-goosebumps-and-ccp-default-funds thanks Mark
• Patrick Kiger on money-human-origins-journey-humankind Thanks Mark
• Noah Smith on how-to-give-a-cool-appraisal-to-hot-economics-studies , facts-or-econofacts
• Understanding society on the-soft-side-of-critical-realism Thanks Mark
• Barkely Rosser on complacency-or-community-commitment
• Brad De Long on Are there benefits from trade
• stumbling and bumbling on martin-mcguinness-the-nature-of-politics
• liberty street economics on the-need-for-very-low-interest-rates-in-an-era-of-subdued-investment-spending Thanks Mark
• Nick Bunker on what-kind-of-fiscal-policy-works-best-at-the-zero-lower-bound Thanks Mark
• Douglas Campbell on the-saga-of-currency-unions-and-trade Thanks Mark

General

• Timothy Taylor on american-leisure-tv-and-bit-of-socialising
• Tim Dean on how-we-edit-science-part-2-significance-testing-p-hacking-and-peer-review , how-we-edit-science-part-3-impact-curiosity-and-red-flags , how-we-edit-science-part-4-how-to-talk-about-risk-and-words-and-images-not-to-use , how-we-edit-science-part-5-so-what-is-science
• Tim Harford on some-things-are-best-left-to-the-technocrats
• Nick Gruen on organisational-culture-and-the-generative-commons-the-ethics-of-buzzwords

Climate

• Arctic sea ice on lowest-maximum-on-record-again
• Guy Walton on the-extreme-temperature-index-identifying-which-records-are-most-significant
• moyhu on global-average-integration-and-webgl
• and Then Theres Physics on areduced-climate-sensitivity ,based-on-observations-only
• John Abraham on global-warming-increasing-rainfall-rates
• microeconomic insights on can-market-based-regulation-reduce-greenhouse-gas-emissions-evidence-america Thanks Mark

Andrew Gelman ( mainly stats)

• noise-and-bias
• whassup-pace-investigators-youre-still-hiding-data-cmon-dudes-loosen-getting-chronic-fatigue-waiting-already
• clarkes-law-sufficiently-crappy-research-indistinguishable-fraud
• natural-solutions-p-value-communication-problem-wont-work
• big-deal-overuse-psychotropic-medications-advanced-alzheimers-patients
• mortality-rate-trends-age-ethnicity-sex-state
• research-active-opposition
• no-op-case-case-deaton
• lets-accept-idea-treatment-effects-vary-not-something-special-just-matter-course

Genial Dave Giles (econometrics)

• No Hesitations on ml-and-metrics-viii-new-predictive-econometric-modelling , forecasting-and-as-if-discounting

Dianne Coyle (quirky + book reviews)

• financial-crises-past-recent-and-future
• Peter Dorman on review-of-economism

Vox wonk

• meeting-standard-trade
• competition-china-reduced-innovation-us
• designing-alcohol-taxes
• exchange-rate-implications-border-tax-adjustment-neutrality
• economic-growth-and-reductions-carbon-emissions
• cyclical-forces-global-trade-slowdown
• when-britain-turned-inward
• how-exporters-grow
• accounting-new-gains-trade-liberalisation

Bill Leak and Cant

Bill Leak was the author of a quite racist cartoon.
Why was it racist?

It showed a male aboriginal as both a drunkard and a man who did not know even the name of one of his children.
Bill Leak had to know this cartoon went way over the line with regarding taste. If he was too stupid to understand this then his editor should have known.

The fact neither did shows either both were very stupid or they actually courted the controversy.

Let me be very firm on one thing before going on. I am not alleging either was a racist.

Both had to know this cartoon would attract blow back.
If Bill Leak did not want the heat of that blow back he did not have to draw the cartoon. He could have at the very least either apologise or explain what his cartoon was all about . Nuance is very hard to draw! I do not remember this at all.

Now let us go to the  infamous 18c action.

His legal team went hardball on this, They at no time drew on 18d as a defence Although the plaintiff wanted to reconcile his team did not.

If Leak was affected by all this he only had himself to blame.

His legal team would have explained the strategy. He could either agree with it or say he did not and wanted another strategy.
We can only assume he wet along with the hardball strategy. That being the case I have absolutely no sympathy if Leak suffered at all.

HE brought it all on himself . We have to admit we do not know why. We only know he was a willing 'victim'. I would not be surprised if it all went too far and in the end he could not speak out.

However he was a willing victim.

18c was NEVER going to be a reason why Leak would be prosecuted.

The Problem with FACTS

Tim Harford has written a brilliant and somewhat lengthy post on the problem with facts.

It is well worth a read but of course you read it over the weekend because it was in Around the Traps!

Simon Wren-Lewis adds to this as well.
Added bonus, Peter Dorman

Hidden Figures

I have just come back after watching Hidden Figures with my wife. After watching Lion and being dreadfully disappointed this move was fantastic. It is essentially about three remarkable women who were black who worked in the NASA space program only this occurred way back in 1961.

No spoilers just go and watch it and feel good. Even Kevin Costner is good!

Trumps kicks another own goal , possibly a game changer

The heads of both the FBI and the NSA both essentially said Trumps allegations re Obama and wiretapping was a load of old cobblers.
So we now know for sure when Trump made these reckless allegations he did so without any input from intelligence and security agencies. He did it on the basis of a fake news outlet!

Neither he nor his cronies will apologise.
See Kumuda Simpson

However much worse for Trump is the announcement by Comey that the FBI is investigating to see if there was any collaboration between Russia and the Trump team during the election.
Of this Trump has no idea given his chaotic management style. He now must be worried sick because if any of his team is found to have been collaborating with Russia then it is goodnight Irene on this Presidency.

No Yank likes Treason!

Why Penalty rates are different between unionised and non-unionised industries

Malcolm Turnbull showed a lot of ignorance yesterday ( as did the Royal Commission into Unions) on penalty rates.

They do not understand the word negotiation.

In most unionised industries the penalty rates have been negotiated down. If negotiations have been made then you have to see what was negotiated. Neither Turnbull's staff nor the Royal Commission had the nous or the work ethic to discover what was involved. It involves a hell of a lot of work to discover this.

I have neither the time nor the interest to do so but let us simply examine what employees for Coles or Woolworths might have that employees in say a restaurant might not have.

• Flexibility on rosters
• Long service leave
• ability to take annual leave when you wish to
• other forms of leave
• protocols involving dismissal

That is merely off the top of my head. Just remember as well a Union might negotiate a EBA BUT it is the employees who have to sign off on it.

If a person mentions that say the SDA have  not the same penalty rates for their member as employees on the award there is a very good reason for that. You cannot compare both as it is comparing apples with oranges.

The USA on the decline?

Possibly the only topic not broached since we have had the extraordinary chaos and incompetence of Donald Trump is the decline of the USA as a superpower.

The last time we see this was when the USA overtook the UK as the major superpower. Some historians see this occurring during WW1. Some others see it happening following the Washington Naval Treaty.

What is occurring now is quite extraordinary. Donald Trump does not understand what NATO is about. He makes allegations about foreign agencies which patently has no evidence to back it up.
 He abuses other countries leaders and then leaks the conversation as we know only too well in Australia.
We know he is an ignorant braggart. It is not a quality to endears himself to other leaders.

He is very unpopular overseas. If he tried to lead the other Western Countries they would be loathed to follow because of the electoral consequences or because he has no clout!

His cabinet is highly unimpressive. Whether it be a Treasury Secretary which refuses to endorse free trade or a Secretary of State which goes overseas with no journalists. We still do not know whether an ex-General can be a decent Defence secretary! And the Administration is at war with its own intelligence and security community!

What about the big picture?

The US policies on free trade and the environment (climate change) has enabled China to come out as a leader on the world stage on these two policy areas.
The policy on free trade is obvious to everyone who has expertise on the matter. Protectionism leads to lower living standards, less industry and less employment. Again we have seen all this in Australia.

It is not surprising Trump does not acknowledge evidence concerning climate change as he never does in any policy area where it collides with his prejudices. His idiotic EO on refugees and immigrants shows this.

China has observed this and is sharply changing its stance. All coal fired generators will be gone from Beijing for example.

It will be highly ironic that Trump who wants to make the USA great again will be the main reason why it declines as a world superpower. This will come down to a President who simply does not understand what is going on and will not change his mind despite evidence to the contrary. His main advisors either are in the same boat or cannot explain this to their President!

Update:

Neither Trump nor anyone else seem to appreciate soft power. I thought that obvious above but it seems some people did not get that.

Around the Traps 17/3/17

It is time for Around the Traps again. from a very wet Sydanee! More evidence of global warming.

Aussie,Aussie,Aussie,Aussie,Oy,Oy,Oy

• Croaking Cassandra on new-zealand-initiative-on-immigration-part-7-productivity-and-all-that, reforming-the-reserve-bank, new-zealand-initiative-on-immigration-part-8-labour-market , still-no-better-than-middling, thinking-about-senior-central-bank-appointments
• John Quiggin on electricity-renationalisation-a-response-from-the-1980s
• Mark the Graph on dwelling-unit-statistics
• Ross Gittins on abused-public-servants-help-bring-Turnbull-down
• Alan Pears on the-solution-to-australias-gas-crisis-is-not-more-gas
• Penny Van Oostervee and Norman Duke on extreme-weather-likely-behind-worst-recorded-mangrove-dieback-in-northern-australia
• The Piping Shrike on a-morbid-symptom
• Greg Jericho on trade-war-is-it-time-to-collect-canned-food-and-build-a-bunker, can-budget-2017-fix-housing-affordability-here-are-seven-options
• Tony Wood on why-the-free-market-hasnt-slashed-power-prices-and-what-to-do-about-it
• Jeffrey Sommerfield on south-australias-energy-plan-gives-national-regulators-another-headache
• Hugh Saddler on south-australia-makes-a-fresh-power-play-in-its-bid-to-end-the-blackouts
• Ross Gittins on private-schools-becoming-less-fashionable
• Rod Tucker on australians-could-get-faster-broadband-with-more-kerbside-nbn-connections
• Terry Hughes et al on year-on-year-bleaching-threatens-great-barrier-reefs-world-heritage-status
• The Piping Shrike on a-morbid-symptom
• Kevin Bonham on wa-washup-another-one-bites-dust
• The Kouk on why-are-bill-shorten-and-labor-scared-to-run-on-the-economy
• Scott Ferraro and Claire Painter on emissions-standards-on-cars-will-save-australians-billions-of-dollars-and-help-meet-our-climate-targets
• Stephen Fitzgerald on managing-australian-foreign-policy-in-a-chinese-world
• Roger Dargaville on snowy-hydro-gets-a-boost-but-seawater-hydro-could-help-south-australia
• Ann Kaillies on south-australias-energy-plan-deals-a-blow-to-state-federal-relations
• Peter Martin on that-sucking-sound-is-australians-being-robbed-of-our-gas, if-your-wallet-is-empty-youre-part-of-the-new-majority

Northern America

• Mark Thoma gives us Tim Duy on fed-watch-green-light 
• Progrowth liberal on health-care-and-market-based-solutions
• Mark Thoma gives us Kruggers on facts-are-enemies-of-the-people, populism-and-the-politics-of-health, conservative-fantasies-colliding-with-reality
• Kevin Drum on trump-omb-director-claims-obama-manipulated-unemployment-figures Thanks Brad
• Timothy Taylor on differing-productivity-across-us-industries , us-health-care-case-for-going-upstream , the-rise-and-fall-of-personal-interest-income
• Ben Casselman on the-white-house-takes-its-attacks-on-jobs-data-to-a-new-and-dangerous-level , what-trumps-budget-says-about-his-priorities
• Daniel Drezner on the-politics-of-discomfort-in-the-age-of-trump Thanks Brad
• Stephen Grenville on america-first-undermines-international-economic-cooperation
• Menzie Chinn on trumpcare-evaluated
• Kruggers on trumpcare-vs-obamacare-apocalypse-foretold
• Mark Thoma on Why-Republican-Health-Care-Plan-Destined-Fail Thanks Brad
• Catherine Rampell on the-trump-administration-dons-a-tinfoil-hat thanks Mark
• Dan Alpert on the-case-for-aggressive-public-infrastructure-spending Thanks Brad
• Barkely Rosser on trumpcare-saves-social-security
• New Deal democrat on a-quick-primer-on-interest-rates-and-rate-hikes , february-jobs-report-hitting-on-all-cylinders-but-wages
• Calculated Risk on key-measures-show-inflation-close-to-2%-in-February, comments-on-february-housing-starts
• Menzie Chinn on nowcasting-with-omb-director-mick-mulvaney
• Brad De Long on the-trump-infrastructure-plan-useful-or-bunga-bunga-policy-there-are-two-ways-the-trump-infrastructure-fiscal-expansion
• Brookings on understanding-us-productivity-trends-from-the-bottom-up Thanks Mark
• Douglas Campbell on a-policy-proposal-for-us-manufacturing, the-peso-has-recovered-good-news-for-NAFTA Thanks Mark
• Nick Bunker on changing-sources-of-inflationary-pressures-in-the-united-states Thanks Mark
• Saahil Desai on trumps-trade-policies-could-crush-mike-pences-hometown Thanks Brad
• Carola Binder on cautious-optimism-about-fed-independence
• Peter Dizikes on america-economy-decline-middle-class Thanks Mark
• Lane Kenworthy on americas-employment-problem Thanks Mark
• Environmental economics on youll-get-nothing-and-like-it Thanks Mark
• Jared Bernstein on my-favorite-remaining-institutions-the-justice-system-and-the-fed Thanks Mark
• Neil Mehrotra on fiscal-policy-stabilization-purchases-or-transfers Thanks Brad
• FRBSF on Fed Views  Thanks Mark
• Ezra Klein on donald-trump-gop-health-bill Thanks Brad
• Brad Setser on just-how-much-money-should-the-border-adjusted-tax-raise-be-expected-to-raise Thanks Mark
• Noah Smith on thoughts-on-will-wilkinsons-post-on-cities

Europe

• Coppolla comment on game-theory-in-brexitland
• John Quiggin on deal-or-no-deal
• Ed Turner on red-lines-and-red-rags-europeans-unimpressed-by-britains-tough-talk-on-brexit
• Simon Wren-Lewis on brexit-makes-economics-of-scottish-independance-much-more-attractive, will-may-face-down-those-who-want-no-deal, labour-mps-are-keeping-corbyn-in-power
• Mathew Dal Santo on russian-revolution-century
• Chris Dillow on david-daviss-strategic-ignorance
• Caroline Gray on what-economy-will-the-new-dutch-government-inherit Thanks Mark

Asia

• Roger Shanahan on muddying-syrian-waters
• Aidan Foster Carter on moon-river-new-course-south-korea 
• Euan Graham on north-korea-diplomatic-dispute-malaysia-no-more-mr-underdog
• Douglas Campbell on the-real-exchange-rate-and-chinas-savings Thanks Mark
• Sam Geall on aiib-still-lean-clean-and-green
• Casper Wuite on eu-shouldnt-strike-turkey-style-deal-libya
• Dhruva Jaishankar on modi-strengthens-his-hand-india-and-abroad

Wonk

• Nick Gruen on two-types-of-strategy-part-one
• Mark Thoma on life-expectancy-and-health-expenditure
• Simon Wren-Lewis on does-free-movement-really-enable-low-wage-economy
• Rui Esteves and Ali Tuncer on Eurobonds:  past and present Thanks Brad
• Justin Fox on getting-through-the-long-post-crisis-hangover Thanks Mark
• Bank Underground on  unintended-consequences-specialising-in-risky-mortgages-under-basel-ii , an-intuitive-interpretation-of-factor-models Thanks Mark
• David Glasner on samuelson-rules-the-seas
• Mark Thoma gives us Thomas Piketty on public-capital-private-capital
• Timothy Taylor on pigouvian-taxes-and-bounties
• Chris Dillow on coping-with-the-backfire-effect, deregulation-fantasies
• Noah Smith on misuses-of-empirical-econ , how-to-restore-faith-in-economics , beware-of-thinking-like-economist, the-man-who-made-us-see-that-trade-isn-t-always-free
• Tim Harford on society-and-the-profiteroles-paradox
• Brad Setser on capital-is-no-longer-flowing-uphill Thanks Mark
• Peter Dorman onwhere-should-we-put-economic-empiricism 
• regblog on alternative-math-claim-redistribution-futile Thanks Mark
• Jonathan Portes on whats-the-role-of-experts-in-the-public-debate Thanks Mark

General

• Timothy Taylor on benjamin-franklin-on-origins-of-daylight-saving, africas-cities-low-development-trap
• Doverbeach on feser-on-natural-law-and-sexual-ethics
• Noah Smith on white-supremacism-is-not-nationalism
• John Quiggin on trumpism-and-religion
• Tim Harford on the-problem-with-facts

Climate

• Moyhu on residuals-of-monthly-global-temperatures , giss-up-by-018-now-11C , temperature-residuals-and-coverage-uncertainty
• and Then Theres Physics on matt-ridley-responds-to-tim-palmer, the-feedback-paradox
• Real Climate on predictable-and-unpredictable-behaviour
• Stoat on influence-of-high-latitude-atmospheric-circulation-changes-on-summertime-arctic-sea-ice
• hotwhopper on second-hottest-february-on-record
• Critical Angle on global-temperature-update-february-2017

Andrew Gelman (mainly stats)

• beyond-heterogeneity-effect-sizes
• never-say-die
• fair-warning
• lady-in-the-mirror
• cage-match-null-hypothesis-significance-testing-meets-incrementalism-nobody-comes-alive
• ensemble-methods-doomed-fail-high-dimensions
• fatal-lady-2
• blog-post-can-help-industry
• noise-and-bias
• Kaiser Fung on in-the-name-of-diversity, one-statement-employing-two-resistance-tactics-to-fend-off-the-data

Genial Dave Giles (econometrics)

• No Hesitations on ml-and-metrics-vii-cross-section-nonlinearities

Dianne Coyle (quirky + book reviews)

• accountancy-innovation-and-cyberattacks-slightly-random-reading
• free-innovation
• prospects-for-the-swedish-model
• Tim Harford on undercover-friday-6
• Noah Smith on book-review-phishing-for-phools
• Barkely Rosser on should-complacent-class-be-fearful-class

Vox wonk

• long-run-money-demand-redux
• benefits-importing-evidence-us-firms
• monetary-policy-credibility-and-exchange-rate-pass-through
• performance-mixed-sex-and-single-sex-competitions
• great-chinese-inequality-turnaround
• sovereign-spreads-eurozone-redenomination-versus-political-risk
• super-easy-monetary-policy-and-reflating-japan-s-economy
• more-we-mix-better
• how-globalisation-affected-manufacturing-around-world

Kaiser Fung destroys Scott Pruitt

Scott Pruitt is the New EPA Secretary and is disputing climate change.
Eminent statistician Kaiser Fung absolutely destroys his argument HERE

Unbelievable!

Faster Broadband

Rod Tucker from Melbourne University looks at the NBN and considers australians-could-get-faster-broadband-with-more-kerbside-nbn-connections.

If I can say something about speed I am vastly amused when people such  Sinclair Davidson talk in grandiose terms about using a wifi network and how fast it is. They clearly have no idea that speeds on a wifi network slow down commensurately with the amount of people using it. If for example you no longer had the NBN and people only had access to wifi the speed would be very slow.
Ah research!

Free market has not worked with power prices

Tony Wood is with the Grattan Institute which is undoubtedly the pre-eminent think tank in Australia.
He has written about why-the-free-market-hasnt-slashed-power-prices-and-what-to-do-about-it.

There is a link in it which will lead you to the Grattan Institute paper he has written.

Highly impressive and very interesting.

Update:

Two comments on South Australia.
HUGH SADDLER
JEFFREY SOMMERFELD

Coopers are gutless

Tim Wilson and Andrew Hastie had a highly civilised debate on gay marriage. Wilson was for it and Hastie against it.

They both argued their cases well and whats more understood the others case as they had to summarise the other case which both could do well.

They did this whilst drinking Coopers lite. ( I much prefer coopers export). The homosexual lobby was very unhappy about this.They thought this was hate speech.

Unbelievable!
Now Coopers have cravenly caved in to this fascist lobby by absolving themselves from the event.

This whole thing is an absolute disgrace.

THIS is a great column.  I will no longer drink Coopers!

We have more than enough gas

I have been amused to hear Federal government ministers say the States need to have more gas exploration to boost supply.

It is incorrect.

Allan Pears gives a great snapshot of gas and it future.

Around the Traps 10/3/17

It is time for Around the Traps again.

Aussie,Aussie,Aussie, Oy,Oy,Oy

• Mark the Graph on taxes
• Croaking Cassandra on house-prices-and-population , half-a-hand-clap , bias-and-a-possible-gender-pay-gap, total-factor-productivity-growth-how-have-we-been-doing, new-zealand-initiative-on-immigration-part-6-the-economists
• David Walker on standing-up-for-cities
• John Rice and Nigel Martin on company-results-how-competition-is-transforming-australias-retail-sector
• Ross Gittins on reserve-bank-spells-out-company-tax-options-to-politicans , politicians-have-worked-hard-to-make-houses-so-high
• Greg Jericho on penalty-rates-real-life-stories-dont-stick-to-treasurers-script , peak-farm-good-weather-high-prices-and-free-trade-a-boon-for-agriculture , what-do-the-australian-housing-market-trump-and-brexit-have-in-common
• Lesley Russell on why-do-specialists-get-paid-so-much-and-does-something-need-to-be-done-about-it
• Kristine McCartney et al on is-there-a-test-your-child-can-take-before-getting-vaccinated-as-pauline-hanson-said
• The Kouk on addressing-housing-affordability-with-a-sellers-subsidy, housing-affordability-get-the-facts-right-and-the-right-facts
• Ken Parish on Treaty: Nah,Maybe
• Graham Readfearn on why-has-andrew-bolt-suddenly-fallen-out-of-love-with-antarctica
• Julie Leask et al on australians-attitudes-to-vaccination-are-more-complex-than-a-simple-pro-or-anti-label
• Niro Kandasamy on not-all-is-forgiven-for-asylum-seekers-returned-to-sri-lanka
• Hugh Webb et al on goodbye-glamour-puss-and-rugged-hero-smokers-lose-brand-identity-with-plain-cigarette-packaging
• Jim Molan on australia-iraq-2002-2010-inconsequential-confused-and-timid

Northern America

• Jared Bernstein on clashing-with-the-fed-should-they-stay-or-should-they-go , trade-trade-deficits-secular-stagnation-and-a-good-use-for-excess-savings Thanks Brad
• Mark Ryan on letters-more-dignified-america , letters-more-dignified-america-part-2
• Progrowth liberal on kevin-36000-hassett-to-head-cea, destination-based-cash-flow-tax-and-supplyside-silliness , kevin-hassett-v-nate-silver-on-what-caused-the-great-recession
• Douglas Campbell on what's wrong with the US economy
• Mark Thoma gives us Kruggers on -a-party-not-ready-to-govern, a-plan-set-up-to-fail, a-bill-so-bad-its-awesome
• Ann Maria Barry-Jester on trumps-new-travel-ban-could-affect-doctors-especially-in-the-rust-belt-and-appalachia
• CBPP on unauthorized-immigrants-pay-greater-share-of-income-in-state-and-local-taxes-than-top-earners Thanks Mark
• Cecchetti and Schoenholtz on the-feds-price-stability-achievement Thanks Mark
• Alan Auerbach and Michael Devereax on the-case-for-a-border-adjusted-tax Thanks Mark
• James Goldrick on united-states-coast-guard-starving-remarkable
• Stephen Grenville on the-trump-trade-agenda
• Nate Silver on why-its-so-hard-for-the-gop-to-agree-on-health-care
• Menzie Chinn on gop-economist-concerned-data-quality-may-be-hurt-under-trump
• Sarah Kliff on american-health-care-act-gop-replacement Thanks Soony
• Narayana Kocherlakota on when-the-fed-meets-we-need-to-know Thanks Mark 
• Noah Smith on trump-s-industrial-rebirth-is-a-dead-end, trump-s-plan-to-bring-back-manufacturing-isn-t-crazy
• Mark Thoma gives us Tin Duy on fed-watch-employment-report-ahead
• David Wesserrman on purple-america-has-all-but-disappeared
• Spencer England on trumponomics
• Sam Wang on how-abnormal-is-the-trump-presidency
• Catherine Rampell on the-republican-health-care-plan-isnt-about-health-care-at-all Thanks Mark
• Barry Eichengreen on trump-policies-institutional-constraints Thanks Mark
• Kruggers on smart-republicans
• The Incidental economist on the-ahcas-mandate-replacement-doesnt-make-sense-to-me , the-republicans-american-health-care-act-in-a-few-words-as-i-can-manage Thanks Mark and Brad
• Calculated Risk on comment-another-solid-employment-report, public-and-private-sector-payroll-jobs-under-various-presidents
• Ezra Klein on republican-health-bill-obamacare-replacement thanks Brad

Europe

• Simon Wren-Lewis on why-its-your-bloody-gdp-not-ours, budget-day-nonsense
• Stumbling and mumbling on limits-of-supply-side-reform
• Tony Yates on if-brexit-means-brexit-we-are-not-doing-what-we-need-on-macro-policy-to-make-the-best-of-it
• Timothy Taylor on those-rising-german-trade-surpluses
• EconomoMontior on italys-predicament-is-europes-predicament Thanks Mark

Asia

• Morris Jones on north-korea-goes-its-own-way-missile-tests
• Jindong Yuan on chinas-defence-spending-whats-behind-slowdown
• Progrowth liberal on tax-reform-japanese-style
• Aniseh Tabrizi and Aaditya Dave on chabahar-key-strategic-partnership-between-india-and-iran 
• Elliot Brennan on new-chapter-thailand-s-plagued-politics

Wonk

• Copolla comment on adam-smiths-destructive-hand
• Stumbling and mumbling on yes-slavery-matters , on-salient-identities , how-capitalist-power-works
• Douglas Campbell on yes-monetary-policy-works-in-liquidity-trap-and-fiscal-stimulus-stimulates Thanks Mark
• Promarket on  pwc-oscars-auditors-take-investors-la-la-land , regulation-build-trust-or-entrench-cliques , political-engagement-corporations-derives-focused-seeking-monopolistic-powerThanks Mark
• Branko Milanovic on how-i-met-samuelson-and-friedman
• Mike Kimel on education and externalities
• Timothy Taylor on sagging-productivity-in-construction, global-kidney-exchange, international-corporate-tax-rates-some-comparisons
• Dietrich Vollrath on profits and productivity Thanks Mark
• Rajiv Sethi on the-teaching-of-economics  Thanks Mark
• John Quiggin on alternate-history-kerensky-edition
• Justin Fox on some-political-systems-handle-populism-better-than-others Thanks Mark
• David Glasner on cyclical-versus-secular-causes-of-stagnation
• Noah Smith on anti-empiricism-is-not-humility
• Simon Wren-Lewis on the-output-gap-and-innovations-gap

General

• Tim Harford on the-real-answer-to-the-problem-of-texting-while-driving , has-facebook-ruined-the-news
• Daniel Little on the-atomic-bomb Thanks Mark
• Erica Woof and LucyFox  on explainer-what-are-blood-groups-and-why-do-they-matter
• and Then Theres Physics on the-ivory-tower
• Alan Cooper and Laura Weyrich on the-daily-life-of-a-neanderthal-revealed-from-the-gunk-in-their-teeth

Climate

• David Appell on trump-wants-to-cut-nasas-climate , global-warming-made-australias-record-breaking, sizzling-summer-50-times-more-likely, continental-us-had-2nd-warmest-february
• Variable variability on global-warming-in-original-celsius-scale
• and Then Theres Physics on advocacy-and-scientific-credibility
• Bob Henson on sea-ice-extent-in-antarctica-bottoming-out-at-lowest-on-record 
• Arctic sea ice on piomas-march-2017
• Rabett run on another-one-of-problems-with-judith-curry
• Greg Laden on dr-gavin-schmidts-epic-response-to-scott-adams

Andrew Gelman (mainly stats)

• checkmate
• hey-can-guess-3-goofy-tricks-new-journal-trying-improve-peer-review
• descriptive-analysis-using-regression-models
• fistful-stan-case-studies-divergences-bias-identifying-mixtures-weakly-informative-priors
• science-communication-not-one-shot-game
• blind-alley
• applying-statistics-science-will-likely-remain-unreasonably-difficult-life-time-no-intention-changing-careers
• preregistration-like-random-sampling-controlled-experimentation
• 2-questions-hud-eligibility-rules-federal-housing-programs
• expectation-propagation-way-life-framework-bayesian-inference-partitioned-data

Genial Dave Giles (econometrics)

• march-reading-list
• No Hesitations on machine-learning-and-econometrics-vi
• Douglas Campbell on on-perverse-incentives-and-replication Thanks Mark

Dianne Coyle (quirky + book reviews)

• cities-are-the-future
• should-economic-policy-be-joined-up-and-strategic-or-not
• should-economic-policy-be-joined-up-and-strategic-or-not
• Doverbeach on anthony-esolen-on-out-of-the-ashes-rebuilding-american-culture, weekend-reading

Vox wonk

• exchange-rates-and-utilisation-free-trade-agreements
• assessing-effects-regulatory-bank-levies
• benefits-gdp-indexed-bonds
• designing-mega-regional-trade-agreements
• new-ebook-long-economic-and-political-shadow-history-europe-and-americas
• revisiting-paradox-of-capital
• how-re-employ-spanish-long-term-unemployed
• how-eec-membership-drove-margaret-thatcher-s-reforms