A bit of this, a bit of that

 I will be taking a break so no Around the Traps for a bit.

Spam

What really gets up my goat with regard to spam is not so much the useless ads for a larger penis or I can be a millionaire with crypto. No it is when  my wife buys something and puts down my e-mail address.

When I hit unsubscribe it merely goes back to the website sso the unsubscribe is a lie.

Cricket

We will wallop the poms as I said when they announced their squad. Can we acknowledge the Big L is a very very lucky batsman. He either snicks it between fieldsmen, gets dropped or simply plays and misses.

Injuries' have played havoc with the poms. an attack of wood, Archer and Stone all of whom can bowl over 150 k would show up every Aussie batsman. Archer showed that at Lords and wood showed that in Brisbane.

Politics

I am quite amazed at most of the commentariat saying Morrison is a great campaigner. This is only correct if he increases his vote in a campaign. There was a massive polling failure last election so what is the basis of the claim. Well there is no basis.

Merry Christmas everyone and let us hope 2022 is a lot better than 2021

Dune- the novels.

Following my watching of the current Dune movie and the 1984 original ( and better movie) I have been inspired to re-read the dune set of novels.

Christmas is a good time to do this. The Dune series is  pretty good except for the God Emperor novel however that was necessary for the last two and possibly best novels of the series. The characters change and except for one novel have substance.

Frank Herbert is a wonderful writer and I am not passing over many pages. As i am writing I am on Dune Messiah.

Possibly the most questioned thing would be how are swords and weapons compatible. history tells us swords are antiques when guns and the like arrive however I am happy to have poetic license on that. 

I am a voracious reader but mainly of non-fiction. The fact that Frank Herbert got me to read his novels tells you they are good. I cannot remember how I got to know of Dune but I am glad I did.

Recommended Christmas reading.

David Glasner V Larry Summers

 Larry summers is worried about inflation rising up during the medium term.

DAVID GLASNER joins a chorus against his warnings. I am with David ( and Kruggers) at present.

Around the Traps 17/12/21

 It is time yet again for Around the Traps.

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oy, Oy, Oy

• Sophie Adams on solar-curtailment-is-emerging-as-a-new-challenge-to-overcome-as-australia-dashes-for-rooftop-solar
• Flavio Macau on australias-shortage-of-diesel-additive-adblue-is-serious-but-we-can-stop-it-going-critical
• Frank Bongiorno on farewell-to-2021-in-federal-politics-the-year-of-living-in-disappointment
• Honar Cuffe on history-making-aukus-allyship-and-1957-defence-review
• Ross Gittins on stop-kidding-2024-tax-cut-will-be-irresponsible, inheritance-major-life-event-no-politician-wants-to-mention
• Institutional Economics on the-reserve-bank-of-australias-pandemic-response-and-the-new-keynesian-trap
• croaking cassandra on price-income-ratios, hyefu-bits-and-bobs
• Greg Jericho on dont-believe-the-coalitions-emissions-are-down-spin-australia-has-not-delivered-on-climate-policy
• Malcolm MacKerras on whats-going-on-with-independent-candidates-and-the-federal-election
• Sam Roggeveen on changing-my-mind-about-aukus
• Mark the Ballot on latest-polling-charts
• Andrea Taschetto and Agus Santoso on back-so-soon-la-nina-heres-why-were-copping-two-soggy-summers-in-a-row
• Melissa Tyler on why-isn-t-australia-putting-diplomacy-first
• renew economy on fortescue-and-alinta-switch-on-australias-biggest-solar-farm-outside-of-main-grids, south-australia-adds-another-wind-farm-as-it-moves-towards-100-pct-renewables, csiro-gencost-wind-and-solar-still-reign-supreme-as-cheapest-energy-sources
• Martin Henscher and Mary Angeles on we-calculated-the-impact-of-long-covid-as-australia-opens-up-even-without-omicron-were-worried
• John Quiggin on hypothecation-and-housing
• Allan Fels on allan-fels-as-accc-chair-gina-cass-gottlieb-will-put-the-public-interest-first-despite-years-of-fighting-for-business
• Richard Holden on no-sign-of-a-return-to-austerity-as-team-frydenberg-prevails-over-the-budget-hawks
• Michelle Grattan and Peter Martin on fydenbergs-myefo-budget-update-shows-big-election-war-chest
• John Hawkins on 16-billion-of-the-myefo-budget-update-is-decisions-taken-but-not-yet-announced-why-budget-for-the-unannounced
• Jared Mondschein on caroline-kennedy-is-an-ideal-us-ambassador-and-a-huge-compliment-to-australia
• Jeffrey Robertson on australia-s-china-blinders-south-korea

Northern America

• Calculated Risk on cleveland-fed-median-cpi-increased-05
• Alisa Hass and Kelsey Ellis on why-the-southern-us-is-prone-to-december-tornadoes
• noahopinion on progressives-need-to-tell-the-positive-story-of-immigration, four-reasons-bidens-spending-bill-wont-make-inflation-worse, omicron-update-inflation-update
• David French on deconstructing-white-evangelical-politics Thanks Brad
• the time of monsters on how-a-remnant-can-rule
• Zack Beauchamp on fox-texts-trump-meadows-ingraham-hannity-capitol-riot
• Santul Nerkar on why-biden-cant-win-on-inflation
• Laurence Lessig on why-the-us-is-a-failed-democratic-state
• David Rohde on is-there-a-smoking-gun-in-the-january-6th-investigation
• Roy Edroso on the-stupid-party Thanks Brad 
• Brad De Long on is-inflation-non-transitory

Europe

• William Gourlay on erdo-loses-his-way
• the grumpy economist on the-ecbs-dilemma
• Mainly Macro on cutting-through
• Jan Bielicki on merkel-mark-ii

Asia

• Michael Beltran on the-interpreter/duterte-playing-both-sides
• The conversable economist on the-economic-success-of-east-asia-industrial-policy-or-sound-fundamentals
• Henry Storey on common-prosperity-meets-belt-and-road
• Michael Schuman on china-getting-worried-about-income-inequality
• Claudia Bozzi on does-the-us-have-the-right-to-sail-warships-through-the-south-china-sea-and-can-china-stop-them

Wonk

• Tim Harford on how-to-take-back-control-one-street-at-a-time
• mumbling and stumbling on on-purified-identities
• Brad De Long on looking-at-diane-coyle-cogs-and-monsters
• noahopinion on crypto-and-the-global-financial-system
• the conversable economist on the-rise-in-global-debt

General

• Jessica Thorne and Sabine Bellstat on some-black-holes-are-anything-but-black-and-weve-found-more-than-75-000-of-the-brightest-ones

Climate

• and Then Theres Physics on classification-of-contrarian-claims-about-climate-change, vulnerability-and-resilience
• Skeptical Science on how machine learning holds a key to combatting misinformation
• Peter Sinclair on fact-check-the-real-truth-about-tornadoes, sea-levels-hidden-cost-rising-ground-water
• open mind on big-change-in-sea-level-rise
• Robinson Meyer on most-effective-nonprofits-fight-climate-change
• Shayne McGregor on la-nina-just-raised-sea-levels-in-the-western-pacific-by-up-to-20cm-this-height-will-be-normal-by-2050
• David Appell on noaa-fourth-warmest-november

Andrew Gelman ( mainly stats)

• lying-to-people-by-associating-health-care-with-conspiracy-theories-its-a-tradition
  
• learning-from-failure-2
  
• causal-inference-and-generalization
  
• lee-wilkinson
  
• wilkinsons-contribution-to-interactive-visualization
  
• the-nfl-regression-puzzle-and-my-discussion-of-possible-solutions
  
• another-example-to-trick-bayesian-inference
  
• the-obesity-wars-and-the-education-of-a-researcher-a-personal-account
  
• economics-as-a-community
  
• an-important-skill-for-woodworkers-and-social-science-researchers
  
• what-we-know-about-designing-graphs
  
• Kaiser Fung on cybersecurity-mystery, cybersecurity-mystery-2, the-merck-covid-19-pill-is-the-result-statistically-significant

Econometrics

• No Hesitations on improved-forecasts-from-imperfect-models

Dianne Coyle (quirky + book reviews)

• essential-white-elephants
  
• best-economics-books-of-2021
  

Vox Wonk

• effects-fintech-lending-small-and-medium-sized-enterprises
  
• towards-high-wage-high-productivity-economy
  
• output-gaps-potential-output-and-covid-19-crisis
  
• economic-drivers-inter-regional-migration-role-housing-and-public-policies
  
• addressing-roots-educational-inequities-shifting-parental-beliefs
  
• covid-19-vaccine-rollouts-drivers-and-effects-health-outcomes
  
• how-nudge-covid-19-vaccination-while-respecting-autonomous-decision-making
  
• real-effects-banking-poor
  
• benefits-macroprudential-policy-low-interest-rate-environments
  
• trust-scientists-amidst-pandemic
  
• economic-effects-covid-19-vaccines
  
• city-autonomy-reduced-incidence-black-death
  
• reforming-eu-macroeconomic-policy-system-economic-requirements-and-legal-conditions
  

The 2nd Test

 We won the first test rather comfortably.

England made some strange selections and then batted on a green top.

What should we expect. firstly the woeful kookaburra ball when pink swings quite sharply and for much longer. hooray.

First Australia. It is a much weaker team. Hazelwood is out and with Cummins one of the key bowlers More so because of the pink ball. I am not convinced Starc is still a test bowler. Nor do I think Lyons will be more than a support bowler. Richardson will be useful but not a match winner. Our middle order still looks streaky.

Second England.  They will all be better for the first test They needed the gallop in Australian conditions. Broad and Anderson will play and if Anderson bowls at night he could win the test. The batsman will be better for the test however the tail is longer and Leach ( or Boss) will be cannon fodder under Australian conditions.  Stokes fitness and skill levels could be crucial. He needs to both score runs and be an able support bowler.

Australia are still favourites but given Andersson i would not be surprised if England win under day/Night conditions.

Stop the press: Cummins out because of covid. A draw looks good

dune the movie a review

 I went and watched DUNE last night with my oldest son who just had a birthday.

Before I start I should say I regularly read the DUNE series of novels over the Christmas break as i wil again do.. They are one of the few novels I read. I am a non-fiction man.

That said I am a very disappointed man. They have changed the storyline so much.

What are the problems.

Paul Atreides is too young. He is far too young for Chani, No Emperor at all, Jessica was a beautiful sister from the Bene Gesserit is average looking, Duncan Idaho is vastly changed, Liet Kynes becomes a woman black naturally. 

There are massive changes as well. If you are a fan of the books then you will get frustrated by all this.

It is only part one and ends when Paul escapes death and finds Stilgar ( who is vastly different as well. More Stlgar from Dune Messiah.

My son who has never read the books found it hard to understand however the movie is enjoyable but fans will almost find it blasphemous in how some characters are portrayed, the change in storylines and the absence of some important characters.

I think the 1984 film better bit it appears one am one of the few that enjoyed it.

Go and see it

how to increase people getting vaccines without mandates

 an interesting article coming out of Japan on getting more people to have vaccines without having top use mandates.

The proposed tax cuts are irresponsible

 I heartily concur with Ross Gittins in his article stop-kidding-2024-tax-cut-will-be-economically-irresponsible.

We do have a  large debt and there needs to be budget repair. It doesn't merely go away if you have good economic growth. Indeed budget repair can help in boosting economic growth as Keynes said way back in 1936. It is in good times when you adopt austerity.

Around the Traps 10/12/21

 It is time again for Around the Traps.

Aussie,Aussie,Aussie,Oy,Oy,Oy

• Wesley Morgan on labors-2030-climate-target-betters-the-morrison-government-but-australia-must-go-much-further-much-faster
• renew economy on labor-has-produced-a-brilliant-renewables-plan-wrapped-up-in-a-terrible-climate-plan, look-no-taxes-labors-modest-target-assumes-82-pct-renewables-and-89-pct-evs-by-2030, alinta-proposes-1000mw-offshore-wind-farm-to-help-power-portland-smelter, agl-fortescue-strike-deal-to-turn-hunter-coal-plants-into-huge-green-hydrogen-hub, brown-coal-likely-to-close-by-2032-aemo-says-but-all-coal-could-be-gone-by-then
• Michelle Grattan on view-from-the-hill-running-berejiklian-ahead-of-icac-report-would-send-the-worst-of-signals-on-integrity
• Rohan Fisher and Neil Burrows on we-are-professional-fire-watchers-and-were-astounded-by-the-scale-of-fires-in-remote-australia-right-now
• Peter Martin on whos-the-unsung-architect-behind-labors-climate-plans-a-retiring-coalition-minister
• Croaking Cassandra on debt-and-deficits, lsap-losses
• Ross Gittins on beware-of-governments-using-algorithms-to-collect-revenue
• Greg Jericho on australian-house-prices-will-keep-rising-and-its-truly-depressing-for-those-hoping-to-get-into-the-market
• Tom Fairman et al on australian-forests-will-store-less-carbon-as-climate-change-worsens-and-severe-fires-become-more-common
• Peter Hannan on australias-coal-fired-power-plants-likely-to-shut-almost-three-times-faster-than-expected-report-suggests
• Richard Holden on the-case-against-death-duties-just-got-stronger
• Cyra Patel on should-i-get-my-covid-vaccine-booster-yes-it-increases-protection-against-covid-including-omicron
• Richard Dennis on comparing-the-coalition-and-labors-climate-modelling-reveals-some-underlying-truth
• Johanna Bowyer on australian-government-emissions-projections-show-44-of-coal-capacity-will-close-by-2030

Northern America

• Andrew Gelman on $
• noahopinion on yes-the-us-is-still-a-flawed-democracy, the-omicron-situation-week-2
• Jane Kirtley on how-dual-loyalties-created-an-ethics-problem-for-chris-cuomo-and-cnn
• David Reynolds on andrew-johnson-was-no-moses
• the time of monsters on the-two-bob-doles
• Brad De Long on great-resignation-us-lack-of-support-for-workers
• Lawyers Guns Money on dole Thanks Brad
• Prudence Flowers on will-roe-v-wade-be-overturned-and-what-would-this-mean-the-us-abortion-debate-explained
• William Saleten on every-single-way-you-can-tell-trump-world-is-lying-about-its-latest-covid-scandal
• David Brooks on true-conservatism-dead-fox-news-voter-suppression
• Barton Gellman on january-6-insurrection-trump-coup-2024-election
• McKenzie Wilkes and Andrew Rackich on trumps-2022-endorsements-are-earlier-bolder-and-more-dangerous-than-when-he-was-president
• Champe Barton on what-new-data-on-gun-recoveries-can-tell-us-about-increased-violence-in-2020

Europe

• Mainly Macro on they-lie-about-everything-else-so-why-is-the-economy-different
• stumbling and mumbling on the-decline-of-the-impartial-spectator
• William Gourlay on erdo-loses-his-way
• Mateo Szlapek-Sewillo on europe-finally-getting-serious-about-china

Asia

• the conversable economist on chinas-role-in-international-financial-flows
• Brad De Long on p/is-is-the-moment-my-long-run-china
• Institutional economics on chinas-wto-accession-and-us-economic-engagement-20-years-on
• Haneea Issad on coal-lock-in-in-southeast-asia-presents-a-challenge-for-the-asian-development-banks-coal-retirement-plan

Wonk

• Patricia O'Brien on 80-years-on-the-attack-on-pearl-harbour-offers-lessons-for-today
• Stephen Grenville on twenty-years-brics
• the conversable economist on policing-whats-the-function, the-us-treasury-review-of-economic-sanctions
• Alex Tabarrok on the-rise-and-decline-and-rise-again-of-mancur-olson
• Gholeinhossein Bagheri et al on an upper bound on one to one exposure to human respiratory particles  Thanks Brad

General

• Coell Hellier on a-new-exoplanet-meet-gj-367b-an-iron-planet-smaller-and-denser-than-earth

Climate

• and Then Theres Physics on no-it-probably-isnt-mostly-due-to-changes-in-clouds

Andrew Gelman ( mainly stats)

• prior-knowledge-elicitation-the-past-present-and-future
  
• they-call-him-dr-manhattan-because-he-updates-one-dimension-at-a-time
  
• declaredesign
  
• journals-submit-article-with-fake-data-demonstrate-that-some-higher-education-journal-youd-never-heard-of-is-as-bad-as-pnas-psychological-science-lancet-etc-etc-etc
  
• two-sides-no-vig-the-problem-with-generative-and-inferential-reasoning-in-social-science
  
• eliciting-expert-knowledge-in-applied-machine-learning
  
• christopher-columbus-and-the-replacement-level-historical-figure
  
• objectively-worse-but-practically-better-an-example-from-the-world-chess-championship
  
• interpreting-apparently-sparse-fitted-models
  
• statschat on viagra-and-alzheimers, making-it-up-in-volume
• Kaiser Fung on whats-smelling-fishy-maybe-your-data

Econometrics

• nuttin

Dianne Coyle ( quirky + book reviews)

• state-of-the-person-state-of-the-nation
  
• sailing-into-the-future
  
• Tyler Cowen on what-ive-been-reading

vox wonk

• informational-barriers-market-access
  
• pollution-trends-and-us-environmental-policy
  
• eu-firms-and-covid-crisis
  
• bond-versus-bank-financing-transition-low-carbon-economy
  
• modernisation-and-china-s-century-humiliation
  
• inflation-and-fiscal-dominance
  
• socioeconomic-gap-childcare-enrolment
  
• import-competition-labour-market-regulation-and-outsourcing
  
• financial-incentives-and-other-nudges-do-not-increase-covid-19-vaccinations-among-hesitant
  
• socially-responsible-investors-amplify-positive-externalities-regulatory-enforcement
  
• effects-fintech-lending-small-and-medium-sized-enterprises
  
• towards-high-wage-high-productivity-economy
  

Peter Martin's take on ALP's climate policy

 My old mate Peter Martin has an interesting  article. whos-the-unsung-architect-behind-labors-climate-plans-a-retiring-coalition-minister.

Peter is a great writer and this article highlights this. Imagine the ALP thanking Greg Hunt!!

the Ashes start today

 the Ashes start today. Australia are clear favourites. England have far too many fast medium bowlers and not enough fast bowlers.

However India di beat us in Brisbane last year where two of their bowlers would be lucky to take wickets in shires cricket. Our batting is brittle. We rely too much on Cummin and Hazelwood ( who are over bowled) and we have a fast bowling captain. Two day nighters could enable Anderson to unleash his magic.

England's batting looks solid but their bowling looks pedestrian for Australia. 

From the Australian point of view Starc has clearly lost his inswinger. this is due to where he places his right foot when he delivers the ball. Lyon was never a threat against India. Green will need a larger role so both Hazelwood and Cummins can rest.

Can we get some decent commentators as well. Why do the poms have a monopoly on this role and why are we hopeless?  A royal commission is needed.

Local government

 In NSW we had local government elections on Saturday. I voted early as I thought I would be umpiring on the Saturday at a game starting at 10 so I would have to be there at 9 which would mean leaving home at 8.30. As it was I got a game starting at 12.15!

I live in the Parramatta LGA. I only had a choice of six candidates to choose three from. One group was the ALP and the other Independents. It appears the ALP gained ground. In my ward two ALP got elected  including one young man who does not look as he has reached 30 yet.

Ryde Council is very close. The ALP gained one seat here as well. I even talked with Jeremy Laxalle the current Mayor at an early polling booth. I was impressed. He pointed out he was not an expert on every policy area and had a good understanding of what the ALP had done in Bennelong over the last few elections.

In both LGAs there were plenty of Independents who had plenty of people to help them hand out how to vote leaflets.

I am cheesed off with local councils however. Football season ended quite early and cricket season started late. This should have meant the grounds would be perfect as grass should cover all the grounds. It should also have meant perfect pitches as the groundsmen had plenty of time to prepare pitches,

What I have seen each weekend are a lot of bare patches on the grounds and pitches which spin a lot with little bounce. The Councils have simply not had the groundsmen looking after the grounds at all.

It is a disgrace not only to cricket but also to football who also should be anticipating the best grounds in history.

Modernisation and China's century of humiliation

 Over at the ever excellent Vox wonk as I call it Wolfgang Keller and Carol Shuie have written modernisation-and-china-s-century-humiliation.

It is really interesting. Have a read.

Around the Traps 3/12/21

 It is time for Around the Traps

Aussie,Aussie,Aussie,Oy,Oy,Oy

• Brendan Coates on the-compelling-case-for-a-future-fund-for-social-housing
• David Rowe on pat-cummins-becomes-australian-mens-test-captain-why-is-it-so-rare-for-a-fast-bowler-to-take-the-reins
• Garry Cook et al on australias-black-summer-of-fire-was-not-normal-and-we-can-prove-it
• Claire Young on opportunity-lost-australia-s-antarctic-aerodrome-cancelled
• Antony Green on why-the-nt-seat-of-lingiari-keeps-being-mentioned-in-the-voterid-debate
• renew economy on wind-and-solar-grab-world-record-135-pct-share-of-state-demand-108-pct-over-two-days, new-network-fees-could-kill-the-viability-of-battery-and-pumped-hydro-storage, states-running-australias-renewables-race-alone-say-reports-as-feds-put-up-hurdles, south-australia-grid-just-one-step-away-from-operating-with-wind-and-solar-only, battery-storage-projects-could-be-hamstrung-by-new-rules-and-network-charges, solar-and-la-nina-boost-summer-reliability-outlook-but-failing-coal-still-a-worry
• Greg Jericho on the-economy-is-getting-back-to-normal-we-dont-even-know-what-that-looks-like-any-more, these-are-strange-economic-times-some-measures-look-horrific-but-others-are-booming
• Sonia Parlmieri on the-jenkins-review-has-28-recommendations-to-fix-parliaments-toxic-culture-will-our-leaders-listen
• Ross Gittins on when-house-prices-soar-everyone-forgets-who-suffers-the-most
• Chelsea Jarvis and Scott Power on do-la-ninas-rains-mean-boom-or-bust-for-australian-farmers
• Peter Martin on sure-the-national-accounts-show-gdp-going-backwards-but-look-at-whats-to-come
• Croaking Cassandra on central-bank-digital-currencies
• Graeme Beardmore on theres-an-enormous-geothermal-pool-under-the-latrobe-valley-that-can-give-us-cheap-clean-energy
• Richard Holden on albanese-to-come-clean-on-emissions-targets-but-a-carbon-price-is-still-hush-hush
• Krystian Seibert on are-charities-being-silenced-why-a-new-law-is-alarming-activists-and-could-scuttle-their-election-campaigns
• Bill Hare on australias-biggest-fossil-fuel-investment-for-a-decade-is-in-the-works-and-its-greenhouse-gas-emissions-will-be-horrifying
• Peter Layton on only-truly-national-security-strategy-can-forestall-disaster
• Gabrielle Cooper on a-national-ev-policy-and-other-steps-towards-electrifying-australia

Northern America

• Menzie Chinn on guest-contribution-inflation-is-back-but-the-1970s-arent
• Daniel Cox on why-crime-likely-wont-be-an-issue-in-the-2022-midterms
• macromania on on-necessity-and-desirability-of-cbdc
• Sasha Fegan on kurt-campbell-what-america-rather-what-we-re-against
• Amelia Thomson-Deveaux on what-americans-really-think-about-abortion
• noahopinion on the-george-floyd-protests-were-not-a-civil-war
• Chris Bertram on the-american-right-and-franco-blast-from-the-past
• the conversable economist on lessons-from-a-half-century-of-us-industrial-policies

Europe

• stumbling and mumbling on the-end-of-evidence-based-centrism
• Mainly Macro on death-by-government-policy-assisted-by-the-brexit-press
• Ian Hill on kremlin-may-be-tiring-impasse-eastern-ukraine

Asia

• Syed Haider on doha-accord-and-taliban-legitimacy
• Craig Keating on increasingly-illiberal-thailand
• Michael Schuman on what-peng-shuai-scandal-reveals-about-chinese-power
• Kim Ghattas on iran-us-biden-middle-east
• Divyanshul Jindal on russia-more-china-leaves-india-dilemma
• Vibhuti Garb on update-indias-coal-crisis-produced-twin-glaring-conclusions-coal-is-expensive-and-unreliable 

Wonk

• Ben Rich and Leena Adel on the-iran-nuclear-talks-are-resuming-but-is-there-any-trust-left-to-strike-a-deal
• Jacques Raubenheimer on covid-death-data-can-be-shared-to-make-it-look-like-vaccines-dont-work-or-worse-but-thats-not-the-whole-picture
• Shabir Madhi on omicron-is-the-new-covid-kid-on-the-block-five-steps-to-avoid-ten-to-take-immediately
• Anthony Zwi on travel-bans-arent-the-answer-to-stopping-new-covid-variant-omicron
• Tim Harford on why-carbon-taxes-really-work
• noahopinion on the-omicron-situation, how-to-fix-twitter
• the conversable economist on forks-a-story-of-technological-diffusion, some-economics-of-place-effects
• Tyler Cowen on an-update-on-the-mask-debate
• Vafa Ghazavi on time-step-global-kleptocracy
• Institutional economics on omicron-is-the-least-of-the-problems-for-global-trade
• Greg Earl on economic-diplomacy-free-trade-vs-economic-resilience

General

• Gail Lles on could-we-really-deflect-an-asteroid-heading-for-earth-an-expert-explains-nasas-latest-dart-mission
• Tanya Hill on total-solar-eclipse-will-bring-2-minutes-of-darkness-to-antarcticas-months-of-endless-daylight

Climate

• and Then Theres Physics on no-it-probably-isnt-mostly-due-to-changes-in-clouds
• Open Mind on sea-level-at-wilmington-nc-and-other-places, sea-level-rising-fast
• renew economy on coal-power-plants-are-killing-millions-with-air-pollution-and-must-be-closed-research-finds
• Alex Tabarrok on why-the-new-pollution-literature-is-credible

Andrew Gelman ( mainly stats)

• a-little-correlation-puzzle-leading-to-a-discussion-of-the-connections-between-intuition-and-brute-force
  
• design-of-surveys-in-a-non-probability-sampling-world
  
• have-we-been-thinking-about-the-pandemic-wrong-the-effect-of-population-structure-on-transmission
  
• nudge-for-reals
  
• importance-of-understanding-variation-when-considering-how-a-treatment-effect-will-scale
• an-interesting-research-problem-at-the-intersection-of-graphical-perception-and-comparative-politics
  
• when-confidence-intervals-include-unreasonable-values-when-confidence-intervals-include-only-unreasonable-values
  
• statschat on probably-in-the-top-two, up-and-down, some-of-my-best-friends-are

Econometrics

• nuttin

Dianne Coyle ( quirky + book reviews)

• economists-are-not-all-the-same
  
• Brad De Long on reading-sewall-the-selling-of-joseph, reading-seneca-to-lucilius-on-slavery
• Tyler Cowen on best-movies-of-2021

Vox Wonk

• us-china-tariff-war-and-china-s-economy-evidence-night-lights
  
• how-euro-area-consumers-adjust-their-medium-term-inflation-expectations-turbulent-times
  
• how-climate-change-reallocates-capital-and-labour-within-nations
  
• bank-leverage-constraints-and-bond-market-illiquidity-during-covid-19-crisis
  
• 2021-surge-inflation-look-sticky-prices
  
• central-banks-social-media
  
• new-survey-based-measure-economic-uncertainty
  
• populism-financial-markets-and-political-capitalism
  
• covid-19-recession-france
  
• discretion-efficiency-and-abuse-public-procurement-new-ebook
  
• evolution-wage-gender-gap-firm-level-evidence-france
  
• propagation-and-amplification-local-productivity-spillovers
  
• evolution-wage-gender-gap-firm-level-evidence-france
  
• informational-barriers-market-access
  
• pollution-trends-and-us-environmental-policy
  

The Jenkins Report

 The Jenkins report into the Commonwealth Parliamentary workplace.

Some recommendations are urgently needed. That there is no Human Relations department is a disgrace. If someone is bullied, assaulted etc then has been no place to go to to make a complaint.

Is the behaviour worse these days then in days of yore?  I am told it is. I suspect one of the reasons is advisors these days come straight to the politician's office from politics at University. In my day there were people who were seconded from Treasury like a young Ken Henry I met or they came to Canberra after working elsewhere for some time. 

They were all good on any side of the fence even green!

This has changed. Implementing the recommendations would be a good start BUT it always needs reviewing.