Archive for February, 2009
Counter-cyclical demand watch #1
So we’re in a recession, and in a recession people tend to buy less of most everything. That is unless you’re dealing with inferior goods. So what’s been shown to be economic inferior goods lately?
Pasta. From a post to Curious Capitalist you can learn about the Pasta Index and the currently fabulous fortunes of the [...]
Alberta government continues with vague economic pronouncements
From the Canadian Press comes the announcement that the Alberta Government feels that it has the oilsands problem figured, since they announced that they have a 20 year plan. Directly from the Canadian Press:
The report says the energy industry should be required “to use best available technology” that is “economically achievable.” The fine print doesn’t [...]
Half or double - Alberta government employee salaries
Straight out of See, comes an article describing expectations for the new sitting of the Alberta Legislature. Tucked in near the bottom of the article is a paragraph describing a move by Harry Chase:
Social Workers: Harry Chase, the Liberal MLA for Calgary-Varsity, is calling for a review of the wages for social workers or other [...]
Strange names likely screw with your kid’s future
Do unusual names really affect future outcomes for your children? A study out of the States by David E. Kalist and Daniel Y. Lee - First Names and Crime: Does Unpopularity Spell Trouble? - suggests that this might be true.
Their objective in the study:
We investigate the relationship between first name popularity and juvenile delinquency to [...]
Economic experience in formative years affects adult attitudes
In a paper entitled Depression Babies: Do Macroeconomic Experiences Affect Risk-Taking? (PDF) Ulrike Malmendier and Stefan Nagel try to determine what effect the larger economic environment during childhood has on adult economic decision making. They lead in with the idea that people are biased and will incorporate all available historical data from their experience. From [...]
Deep sleep enhances memory
It’s a truism that getting a good night will help you function better the next day, but a study by out of Holland done by Ysbrand van der Werf and his colleagues, published in Nature Neuroscience, explicitly shows effects of differing types and amount of sleep. Most clearly they show that uninterrupted deep sleep greatly [...]
Stay grumpy and you’ll have a more realistic worldview…
A 2008 paper out of Australia, entitled “Can bad weather improve your memory? An unobtrusive field study of natural mood effects on real-life memory” attempts to show the effects of mood on subjects ability to recall items recently seen in a shop.
Using weather as a proxy for mood, what they found was those who were [...]
White guys do not look all alike…
Catching up child development and behaviour related articles that I’ve seen and read over the past few weeks.
A study was recently published by Sophie Labrecht, Lara J. Pierce, Michael J. Tarr and, James W. Tanaka, from Brown University and the University entitled “Perceptual Other-Race Training Reduces Implicit Racial Bias“. The team attempted to:
…examine the relationship [...]
Thailand training tax incentives and unintended consequences
Recently in Thailand they passed an amendment to the tax code that I received as a note from our Smiling Albino accountant. In that note they said:
Please also note, that in line with Government Policy, with regard to educational seminars, you are entitled to deduct 200% as a company expense.
My gut said that it was [...]
Alberta Gov’t incentive “plan” sounds economically illiterate
As many of you know, there has been lots of recent discussion about Alberta’s competitive advantage compared to other regimes in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basic (WCSB), and other jurisdictions. Recently, a few reports have suggested that Alberta is the highest cost region in the highest cost basin in the world right now. There are [...]
Adam Smith’s Lost Legacy
If you have any interest in the writings of Adam Smith and see his name and works seemingly quoted in the press, you really should take a peak at Adam Smith’s Lost Legacy. Gavin Kennedy, a prof out of the UK, does an excellent job deconstructing and critically evaluating the general misuse, misunderstanding and misquoting [...]
Top 5 things I’d like to see Obama do
These are more pet issues that the world saving ideas that top other lists, but they’d make a significant difference in America and in it’s sphere of influence.
1. Trade with Cuba
The trade embargo has allowed a despot to drive his country into abject poverty, and kill thousands. Trade will increase - and would have increased [...]
Why the federal budget is poorly conceived…
Ok, ok, ok. I know it’s late and this topic has been pundited to death, but I figured I should throw my two dollars in here.
The Canadian Federal Government recently (last week) brought down the new budget. In it there seemed to be something for everyone, and like in the US it’ll take us, federally, [...]
