Are you over 18 and want to see adult content?
More Annotations
![A complete backup of www.www.anonib.com](https://www.archivebay.com/archive5/images/1dab8ed8-c93e-4929-9dc7-4d54c2ef7d6f.png)
A complete backup of www.www.anonib.com
Are you over 18 and want to see adult content?
![A complete backup of www.www.barravipsrio.com](https://www.archivebay.com/archive5/images/dba0c0bc-2f71-4e45-bd48-28656592dea3.png)
A complete backup of www.www.barravipsrio.com
Are you over 18 and want to see adult content?
![A complete backup of www.asiaerotica.com](https://www.archivebay.com/archive5/images/85fafd89-7933-4042-be96-cda7b260fb5b.png)
A complete backup of www.asiaerotica.com
Are you over 18 and want to see adult content?
![A complete backup of www.shoepalace.com](https://www.archivebay.com/archive5/images/00cc3a2b-2ffd-4c12-91df-e0904de0b467.png)
A complete backup of www.shoepalace.com
Are you over 18 and want to see adult content?
![A complete backup of www.www.relaxchile.cl](https://www.archivebay.com/archive5/images/6314ea71-cad4-48dc-8c53-55ce8e5a8945.png)
A complete backup of www.www.relaxchile.cl
Are you over 18 and want to see adult content?
![A complete backup of girlsgogames.com](https://www.archivebay.com/archive5/images/7e0f0209-de34-4c0e-a411-45e7d05530a1.png)
A complete backup of girlsgogames.com
Are you over 18 and want to see adult content?
![A complete backup of www.aerisdies.com](https://www.archivebay.com/archive5/images/5f5241a9-cb25-467c-a69c-e1ef1ed2f02f.png)
A complete backup of www.aerisdies.com
Are you over 18 and want to see adult content?
![A complete backup of www.azz-overload.net](https://www.archivebay.com/archive5/images/3f0f8385-2e93-4367-8dff-8c5b160a359d.png)
A complete backup of www.azz-overload.net
Are you over 18 and want to see adult content?
![A complete backup of femaledominationworld.com](https://www.archivebay.com/archive5/images/100ee433-a59e-4813-8d33-67c11277354f.png)
A complete backup of femaledominationworld.com
Are you over 18 and want to see adult content?
![A complete backup of www.www.hotgirlclub.com](https://www.archivebay.com/archive5/images/09377648-a88a-41b5-afd6-64c4afe6ae44.png)
A complete backup of www.www.hotgirlclub.com
Are you over 18 and want to see adult content?
![A complete backup of www.www.amyellisnutt.com](https://www.archivebay.com/archive5/images/49846d78-3f16-4d79-bd42-d7a115ca1ad6.png)
A complete backup of www.www.amyellisnutt.com
Are you over 18 and want to see adult content?
Favourite Annotations
![A complete backup of www.overthedesk.com](https://www.archivebay.com/archive5/images/cc6d4dba-e005-4039-8b32-76e28ae78310.png)
A complete backup of www.overthedesk.com
Are you over 18 and want to see adult content?
![A complete backup of www.coedcherry.com](https://www.archivebay.com/archive5/images/7af71bd1-c20c-45e8-be60-0455950d66a8.png)
A complete backup of www.coedcherry.com
Are you over 18 and want to see adult content?
![A complete backup of travestismexico.com](https://www.archivebay.com/archive5/images/e9d5b1bc-bab7-45f0-8aed-63b8659890af.png)
A complete backup of travestismexico.com
Are you over 18 and want to see adult content?
![A complete backup of www.artofzoo.com](https://www.archivebay.com/archive5/images/32daf1b6-74f8-42fc-b950-9d9437470007.png)
A complete backup of www.artofzoo.com
Are you over 18 and want to see adult content?
![A complete backup of www.topboard.org](https://www.archivebay.com/archive5/images/3720358e-4197-4501-9282-e7b335ba10e8.png)
A complete backup of www.topboard.org
Are you over 18 and want to see adult content?
![A complete backup of www.thecandidforum.com](https://www.archivebay.com/archive5/images/06fb949c-1ce0-4af7-af52-ed5c97f71f48.png)
A complete backup of www.thecandidforum.com
Are you over 18 and want to see adult content?
![A complete backup of www.www.streamray.com](https://www.archivebay.com/archive5/images/c109b3c4-6f98-4b8f-881e-34ba5d1dd2c8.png)
A complete backup of www.www.streamray.com
Are you over 18 and want to see adult content?
Text
JOHN QUIGGIN
Unsurprisingly, the forced grounding of an airliner flying over Belarus, and the arrest of a critical journalist on board has provoked a burst of whataboutery from Russia and a reciprocal round of ‘false equivalence’ from the West.. The parallel case is that of the forced landing of the Bolivian presidential plane, with President Evo Morales on board, on the basis of the false suspicion ECONOMICS IN TWO LESSONS I’ve got quite a few events coming up in the next ten days. I’ll be in Adelaide for the Writers Week (program here), appearing at the Pioneer Women’s Memorial Garden, King William Road on Wednesday 4 March at 2pm in conversation with Jane Goodall, on the theme the Common Good. I’ll be signing copies of Economics in Two Lessons.. I’ve fitted in two earlier events on Tuesday 3 March. CCS VS HAZELWOOD (UPDATED) CCS vs Hazelwood (updated) September 7, 2015 John Quiggin 33 Comments. It’s often hard to get an idea of the scale at which different technologies are operating. For example, there’s a lot of discussion about Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS or ‘clean coal’), though less than there used to be. To get an idea of current and near THE TRAGEDY OF GALLIPOLI 100 years ago today, Australian and New Zealand forces landed at what is now Anzac Cove in the Gallipoli Peninsula, suffering heavy losses as they attempted to storm entrenched Turkish positions. Eight months later, having failed to dislodge the Turks, despite the loss of more than 10 000 killed and 20 000 wounded the Anzacs THERE’S A LOT OF RUIN IN A COUNTRY There’s a lot of ruin in a country. So said Adam Smith a couple of centuries ago, and he will, I hope, be proved right, in the US, and elsewhere in the world. Trump and the Republican majority in Congress and (imminently) in the Supreme Court will, in all probability, repeal Obamacare, restore and expand the Bush tax cuts for the rich, stopRAWLS AND BENTHAM
Rawls and Bentham. May 19, 2003 John Quiggin 4 Comments. Rereading what I said earlier about Rawls and utilitarianism, I think it needs a correction. Rawls really is proposing something different in its approach from classical utilitarianism. In particular, his approach focuses attention on the idea that we might want to pay attention tothings
COGNITIVE BIASES
Ross Gittins cites some interesting questions used by some of my QUT colleagues to assess cognitive biases before undertaking a study of investment behavior. Here you go: Try to answer before reading on or checking comments: Give me high and low estimates for the average weight of an adult male sperm whale (the largest of ISLAMISM AND TERRORISM Islamism and terrorism. September 7, 2004 John Quiggin 19 Comments. As Ken Parish observes, in my recent post about Chechnya, I discussed the issue of terrorism and its causes in generic terms and didn’t have anything specific to say about Islamism. So, I’ll start by observing that most of what has been written on this topic is, in my FAREWELL TO EARTH SANCTUARIES The remaining shareholders of Earth Sanctuaries Limited, among whom I'm one, have been advised that the company is to be wound up. ESL, which was floated with high hopes (a little too late to catch the dotcom boom, unfortunately) was Australia's most substantial attempt at private-sector biodiversity conservation. IS THERE A SOLUTION TO THE REFUGEE PROBLEM? Is there a solution to the refugee problem? The announcement by Kevin Rudd and PNG PM O’Neill that asylum seekers arriving by boat would, from now on, be settled in PNG came as a shock to most of us. I’ve waited a while to respond, because I’m neither happy with the policy nor satisfied with the critical responses from the Left.JOHN QUIGGIN
Unsurprisingly, the forced grounding of an airliner flying over Belarus, and the arrest of a critical journalist on board has provoked a burst of whataboutery from Russia and a reciprocal round of ‘false equivalence’ from the West.. The parallel case is that of the forced landing of the Bolivian presidential plane, with President Evo Morales on board, on the basis of the false suspicion ECONOMICS IN TWO LESSONS I’ve got quite a few events coming up in the next ten days. I’ll be in Adelaide for the Writers Week (program here), appearing at the Pioneer Women’s Memorial Garden, King William Road on Wednesday 4 March at 2pm in conversation with Jane Goodall, on the theme the Common Good. I’ll be signing copies of Economics in Two Lessons.. I’ve fitted in two earlier events on Tuesday 3 March. CCS VS HAZELWOOD (UPDATED) CCS vs Hazelwood (updated) September 7, 2015 John Quiggin 33 Comments. It’s often hard to get an idea of the scale at which different technologies are operating. For example, there’s a lot of discussion about Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS or ‘clean coal’), though less than there used to be. To get an idea of current and near THE TRAGEDY OF GALLIPOLI 100 years ago today, Australian and New Zealand forces landed at what is now Anzac Cove in the Gallipoli Peninsula, suffering heavy losses as they attempted to storm entrenched Turkish positions. Eight months later, having failed to dislodge the Turks, despite the loss of more than 10 000 killed and 20 000 wounded the Anzacs THERE’S A LOT OF RUIN IN A COUNTRY There’s a lot of ruin in a country. So said Adam Smith a couple of centuries ago, and he will, I hope, be proved right, in the US, and elsewhere in the world. Trump and the Republican majority in Congress and (imminently) in the Supreme Court will, in all probability, repeal Obamacare, restore and expand the Bush tax cuts for the rich, stopRAWLS AND BENTHAM
Rawls and Bentham. May 19, 2003 John Quiggin 4 Comments. Rereading what I said earlier about Rawls and utilitarianism, I think it needs a correction. Rawls really is proposing something different in its approach from classical utilitarianism. In particular, his approach focuses attention on the idea that we might want to pay attention tothings
COGNITIVE BIASES
Ross Gittins cites some interesting questions used by some of my QUT colleagues to assess cognitive biases before undertaking a study of investment behavior. Here you go: Try to answer before reading on or checking comments: Give me high and low estimates for the average weight of an adult male sperm whale (the largest of ISLAMISM AND TERRORISM Islamism and terrorism. September 7, 2004 John Quiggin 19 Comments. As Ken Parish observes, in my recent post about Chechnya, I discussed the issue of terrorism and its causes in generic terms and didn’t have anything specific to say about Islamism. So, I’ll start by observing that most of what has been written on this topic is, in my FAREWELL TO EARTH SANCTUARIES The remaining shareholders of Earth Sanctuaries Limited, among whom I'm one, have been advised that the company is to be wound up. ESL, which was floated with high hopes (a little too late to catch the dotcom boom, unfortunately) was Australia's most substantial attempt at private-sector biodiversity conservation. IS THERE A SOLUTION TO THE REFUGEE PROBLEM? Is there a solution to the refugee problem? The announcement by Kevin Rudd and PNG PM O’Neill that asylum seekers arriving by boat would, from now on, be settled in PNG came as a shock to most of us. I’ve waited a while to respond, because I’m neither happy with the policy nor satisfied with the critical responses from the Left. NUCLEAR POWER IS A STALKING HORSE FOR GAS That’s the self-explanatory headline for my latest piece in Independent Australia NUCLEAR POWER IS A STALKING HORSE FOR GAS Thank you JQ. Please consider asking for all prior appointees to be published. Only fair to show real Origin. I emailed to no avail. Note: you and others disappeared from;WORLD EVENTS
John Quiggin 8 Comments. Reading about the recent military coup in Myanmar, I’ve seen the view that Biden’s criticism of the coup is undermined by the fact that the pretext for the coup, a supposedly stolen election, was exactly the same as that raised by Trump and the Republican Party in response to Biden’s 2020 election victory.JOHN QUIGGIN
I’m trying to get the MS of Economic Consequences of the Pandemic finished by May, while chasing a moving target. Over the fold, I return to a favorite topic of mine, the role of generational change. I’ve spent a lot of time pointing out the silliness of most talk about generations, but in the process I’ve learned quite a bit about the nuggets of insight that can be mined by thinking inENVIRONMENT
Posts about Environment written by John Quiggin. There’s not a lot new to be said about the leak of documents from the Heartland Institute, revealing that the Institute was channeling funds from far-right billionaires and corporations to a large number of self-described sceptics, notably including our own Bob Carter, who’s apparently on a monthly retainer, despite his prior claims of SLOW BURN – JOHN QUIGGIN Slow Burn. That’s the headline for my latest piece in Inside Story, with the summary. At the time of writing, at least fourteen people have been killed by this season’s bushfires. And with most of January and all of February still to come, the number is sure to rise. But these dramatic deaths are far outweighed by the hundreds, perhaps ISLAMISM AND TERRORISM Islamism and terrorism. September 7, 2004 John Quiggin 19 Comments. As Ken Parish observes, in my recent post about Chechnya, I discussed the issue of terrorism and its causes in generic terms and didn’t have anything specific to say about Islamism. So, I’ll start by observing that most of what has been written on this topic is, in myTHREE WORD SLOGANS
I have a piece up at the Drum, looking at how the three-word slogan approach of the Abbott government helps to explain their budget problems. Text is over the fold Assuming the current Parliament runs its full term, the Abbott government has one more budget to deliver before facing the voters. In assessing its options, AGAINST LOCKE, PART 3 Obama’s statement, “You didn’t build that,” certainly resonates. There are certain genres of writing, usually dynasty novels or sentimental histories of famous families, where the following sorts of statements are made. TWO BILLION EXAMPLES OF INNUMERACY Two billion examples of innumeracy. In the leadup to the recent British Royal wedding, it was repeatedly suggested that the event would be watched by 2 billion people worldwide, that is, about 30 per cent of the world’s population. It says something for the quality of the news media that none of those reporting this estimate offered asource
JOHN QUIGGIN
Unsurprisingly, the forced grounding of an airliner flying over Belarus, and the arrest of a critical journalist on board has provoked a burst of whataboutery from Russia and a reciprocal round of ‘false equivalence’ from the West.. The parallel case is that of the forced landing of the Bolivian presidential plane, with President Evo Morales on board, on the basis of the false suspicion EMAIL NEWSLETTER FOR MAY 2021 You can read my latest email newsletter, covering May 2021, here. I'm looking into Substack as a way of distributing the newsletter, and providing links to the blog, but am still finding my way. Any thoughts would be appreciated CCS VS HAZELWOOD (UPDATED) CCS vs Hazelwood (updated) September 7, 2015 John Quiggin 33 Comments. It’s often hard to get an idea of the scale at which different technologies are operating. For example, there’s a lot of discussion about Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS or ‘clean coal’), though less than there used to be. To get an idea of current and nearCOGNITIVE BIASES
Ross Gittins cites some interesting questions used by some of my QUT colleagues to assess cognitive biases before undertaking a study of investment behavior. Here you go: Try to answer before reading on or checking comments: Give me high and low estimates for the average weight of an adult male sperm whale (the largest ofCARNABETIAN
The crucial line turns out to be. Everywhere the carnabetian army marches on, Each one an dedicated follower of fashion. It’s obvious when it’s written out that carnabetian is a reference to Carnaby Street, the fashion centre of Swinging London in the 1960s, but I don’t think I would ever have worked it out by ear. Post navigation.RAWLS AND BENTHAM
Rawls and Bentham. May 19, 2003 John Quiggin 4 Comments. Rereading what I said earlier about Rawls and utilitarianism, I think it needs a correction. Rawls really is proposing something different in its approach from classical utilitarianism. In particular, his approach focuses attention on the idea that we might want to pay attention tothings
TWO BILLION EXAMPLES OF INNUMERACY Two billion examples of innumeracy. In the leadup to the recent British Royal wedding, it was repeatedly suggested that the event would be watched by 2 billion people worldwide, that is, about 30 per cent of the world’s population. It says something for the quality of the news media that none of those reporting this estimate offered asource
ISLAMISM AND TERRORISM Islamism and terrorism. September 7, 2004 John Quiggin 19 Comments. As Ken Parish observes, in my recent post about Chechnya, I discussed the issue of terrorism and its causes in generic terms and didn’t have anything specific to say about Islamism. So, I’ll start by observing that most of what has been written on this topic is, in my THERE’S A LOT OF RUIN IN A COUNTRY There’s a lot of ruin in a country. So said Adam Smith a couple of centuries ago, and he will, I hope, be proved right, in the US, and elsewhere in the world. Trump and the Republican majority in Congress and (imminently) in the Supreme Court will, in all probability, repeal Obamacare, restore and expand the Bush tax cuts for the rich, stop FAREWELL TO EARTH SANCTUARIES The remaining shareholders of Earth Sanctuaries Limited, among whom I'm one, have been advised that the company is to be wound up. ESL, which was floated with high hopes (a little too late to catch the dotcom boom, unfortunately) was Australia's most substantial attempt at private-sector biodiversity conservation.JOHN QUIGGIN
Unsurprisingly, the forced grounding of an airliner flying over Belarus, and the arrest of a critical journalist on board has provoked a burst of whataboutery from Russia and a reciprocal round of ‘false equivalence’ from the West.. The parallel case is that of the forced landing of the Bolivian presidential plane, with President Evo Morales on board, on the basis of the false suspicion EMAIL NEWSLETTER FOR MAY 2021 You can read my latest email newsletter, covering May 2021, here. I'm looking into Substack as a way of distributing the newsletter, and providing links to the blog, but am still finding my way. Any thoughts would be appreciated CCS VS HAZELWOOD (UPDATED) CCS vs Hazelwood (updated) September 7, 2015 John Quiggin 33 Comments. It’s often hard to get an idea of the scale at which different technologies are operating. For example, there’s a lot of discussion about Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS or ‘clean coal’), though less than there used to be. To get an idea of current and nearCOGNITIVE BIASES
Ross Gittins cites some interesting questions used by some of my QUT colleagues to assess cognitive biases before undertaking a study of investment behavior. Here you go: Try to answer before reading on or checking comments: Give me high and low estimates for the average weight of an adult male sperm whale (the largest ofCARNABETIAN
The crucial line turns out to be. Everywhere the carnabetian army marches on, Each one an dedicated follower of fashion. It’s obvious when it’s written out that carnabetian is a reference to Carnaby Street, the fashion centre of Swinging London in the 1960s, but I don’t think I would ever have worked it out by ear. Post navigation.RAWLS AND BENTHAM
Rawls and Bentham. May 19, 2003 John Quiggin 4 Comments. Rereading what I said earlier about Rawls and utilitarianism, I think it needs a correction. Rawls really is proposing something different in its approach from classical utilitarianism. In particular, his approach focuses attention on the idea that we might want to pay attention tothings
TWO BILLION EXAMPLES OF INNUMERACY Two billion examples of innumeracy. In the leadup to the recent British Royal wedding, it was repeatedly suggested that the event would be watched by 2 billion people worldwide, that is, about 30 per cent of the world’s population. It says something for the quality of the news media that none of those reporting this estimate offered asource
ISLAMISM AND TERRORISM Islamism and terrorism. September 7, 2004 John Quiggin 19 Comments. As Ken Parish observes, in my recent post about Chechnya, I discussed the issue of terrorism and its causes in generic terms and didn’t have anything specific to say about Islamism. So, I’ll start by observing that most of what has been written on this topic is, in my THERE’S A LOT OF RUIN IN A COUNTRY There’s a lot of ruin in a country. So said Adam Smith a couple of centuries ago, and he will, I hope, be proved right, in the US, and elsewhere in the world. Trump and the Republican majority in Congress and (imminently) in the Supreme Court will, in all probability, repeal Obamacare, restore and expand the Bush tax cuts for the rich, stop FAREWELL TO EARTH SANCTUARIES The remaining shareholders of Earth Sanctuaries Limited, among whom I'm one, have been advised that the company is to be wound up. ESL, which was floated with high hopes (a little too late to catch the dotcom boom, unfortunately) was Australia's most substantial attempt at private-sector biodiversity conservation. EMAIL NEWSLETTER FOR MAY 2021 You can read my latest email newsletter, covering May 2021, here. I'm looking into Substack as a way of distributing the newsletter, and providing links to the blog, but am still finding my way. Any thoughts would be appreciated NUCLEAR POWER IS A STALKING HORSE FOR GAS Thank you JQ. Please consider asking for all prior appointees to be published. Only fair to show real Origin. I emailed to no avail. Note: you and others disappeared from; PHILOSOPHY – JOHN QUIGGIN A few years ago, I wrote a series of articles in Jacobin showing how Locke’s theory of property, on which most modern propertarianism is based, was entirely consistent with his personal involvement in American slavery and the expropriation of indigenous Americans. Historian Holly Brewer has come to Locke’s defence, pointing to more evidence about Locke’s involvement in AmericanENVIRONMENT
September 1, 2020 John Quiggin 20 Comments. It’s now clear that we have the technology we need to run a completely decarbonized electricity generation system. South Australia is the world leader generating more than 50 per cent of its energy from renewable sources, and aiming for 100 per cent renewables by 2030. BONEHEADED STUPIDITY For decades, they advanced a conspiracy theory in which all the governments in the world, backed up by every major scientific institution, were advancing a fraudulent theory of global warming. Here’s a pretty typical example from Pat Michaels, then the lead climate authority at Cato, being interviewed on Fox.ENVIRONMENT
Despite Fukushima and the failure of the US “nuclear renaissance”, nuclear power still has plenty of fans in Australia. A question which opponents routinely ask is “where are the nuclear power plants goingto go?”.
THE TRAGEDY OF GALLIPOLI 100 years ago today, Australian and New Zealand forces landed at what is now Anzac Cove in the Gallipoli Peninsula, suffering heavy losses as they attempted to storm entrenched Turkish positions. Eight months later, having failed to dislodge the Turks, despite the loss of more than 10 000 killed and 20 000 wounded the Anzacs MAY 2003 – JOHN QUIGGIN Economists v philosophers Round V. May 29, 2003 John Quiggin 16 Comments. Matt Yglesias accepts my invitation to demonstrate the naivety of economic thinking about consequentialism. He proposes the following example. John is at the casino and he puts $100 on the number 12 spot at the roulette table. While the wheel is spinning,John dies suddenly.
AUGUST 2003
August 31, 2003 John Quiggin. A Universal History of Infamy by Jorge Luis Borges. Among other interesting features is the fact that Borges has drawn on sources including Gangs of New York (which was only recently published at the time Borges wrote) and Life on the Mississippi. I haven’t read either and also missed the film of Gangsof New
JUNE 2003 – JOHN QUIGGIN June 29, 2003 John Quiggin. Brian Weatherson links to a paper he’s written with the title ‘ imaginative resistance”. It’s about the fact that, whereas it’s easy to imagine fictional events, people and so on, or to imagine real people and things having properties different from those they actually have, it’s very hard to imagineJOHN QUIGGIN
Unsurprisingly, the forced grounding of an airliner flying over Belarus, and the arrest of a critical journalist on board has provoked a burst of whataboutery from Russia and a reciprocal round of ‘false equivalence’ from the West.. The parallel case is that of the forced landing of the Bolivian presidential plane, with President Evo Morales on board, on the basis of the false suspicionJOHN QUIGGIN
Sandpit. May 3, 2021 John Quiggin 21 Comments. A new sandpit for long side discussions, conspiracy theories, idees fixes and so on. To be clear, the sandpit is for regular commenters to pursue points that distract from regular discussion, including conspiracy-theoretic takes on the issues at hand.WORLD EVENTS
John Quiggin 8 Comments. Reading about the recent military coup in Myanmar, I’ve seen the view that Biden’s criticism of the coup is undermined by the fact that the pretext for the coup, a supposedly stolen election, was exactly the same as that raised by Trump and the Republican Party in response to Biden’s 2020 election victory. THE TRAGEDY OF GALLIPOLI 100 years ago today, Australian and New Zealand forces landed at what is now Anzac Cove in the Gallipoli Peninsula, suffering heavy losses as they attempted to storm entrenched Turkish positions. Eight months later, having failed to dislodge the Turks, despite the loss of more than 10 000 killed and 20 000 wounded the Anzacs CCS VS HAZELWOOD (UPDATED) CCS vs Hazelwood (updated) September 7, 2015 John Quiggin 33 Comments. It’s often hard to get an idea of the scale at which different technologies are operating. For example, there’s a lot of discussion about Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS or ‘clean coal’), though less than there used to be. To get an idea of current and near MAY 2003 – JOHN QUIGGIN Economists v philosophers Round V. May 29, 2003 John Quiggin 16 Comments. Matt Yglesias accepts my invitation to demonstrate the naivety of economic thinking about consequentialism. He proposes the following example. John is at the casino and he puts $100 on the number 12 spot at the roulette table. While the wheel is spinning,John dies suddenly.
RAWLS AND BENTHAM
Rawls and Bentham. May 19, 2003 John Quiggin 4 Comments. Rereading what I said earlier about Rawls and utilitarianism, I think it needs a correction. Rawls really is proposing something different in its approach from classical utilitarianism. In particular, his approach focuses attention on the idea that we might want to pay attention tothings
THERE’S A LOT OF RUIN IN A COUNTRY There’s a lot of ruin in a country. So said Adam Smith a couple of centuries ago, and he will, I hope, be proved right, in the US, and elsewhere in the world. Trump and the Republican majority in Congress and (imminently) in the Supreme Court will, in all probability, repeal Obamacare, restore and expand the Bush tax cuts for the rich, stop RIGHT-WING POSTMODERNISM Right-wing postmodernism. September 6, 2003 John Quiggin 7 Comments. Josh Marshall observes. the administration’s main obstacle has been the experts themselves–the economists who didn’t trust the budget projections, the generals who didn’t buy the troop estimates, intelligence analysts who questioned the existence of an activenuclear
FAREWELL TO EARTH SANCTUARIES The remaining shareholders of Earth Sanctuaries Limited, among whom I'm one, have been advised that the company is to be wound up. ESL, which was floated with high hopes (a little too late to catch the dotcom boom, unfortunately) was Australia's most substantial attempt at private-sector biodiversity conservation.JOHN QUIGGIN
Unsurprisingly, the forced grounding of an airliner flying over Belarus, and the arrest of a critical journalist on board has provoked a burst of whataboutery from Russia and a reciprocal round of ‘false equivalence’ from the West.. The parallel case is that of the forced landing of the Bolivian presidential plane, with President Evo Morales on board, on the basis of the false suspicionJOHN QUIGGIN
Sandpit. May 3, 2021 John Quiggin 21 Comments. A new sandpit for long side discussions, conspiracy theories, idees fixes and so on. To be clear, the sandpit is for regular commenters to pursue points that distract from regular discussion, including conspiracy-theoretic takes on the issues at hand.WORLD EVENTS
John Quiggin 8 Comments. Reading about the recent military coup in Myanmar, I’ve seen the view that Biden’s criticism of the coup is undermined by the fact that the pretext for the coup, a supposedly stolen election, was exactly the same as that raised by Trump and the Republican Party in response to Biden’s 2020 election victory. THE TRAGEDY OF GALLIPOLI 100 years ago today, Australian and New Zealand forces landed at what is now Anzac Cove in the Gallipoli Peninsula, suffering heavy losses as they attempted to storm entrenched Turkish positions. Eight months later, having failed to dislodge the Turks, despite the loss of more than 10 000 killed and 20 000 wounded the Anzacs CCS VS HAZELWOOD (UPDATED) CCS vs Hazelwood (updated) September 7, 2015 John Quiggin 33 Comments. It’s often hard to get an idea of the scale at which different technologies are operating. For example, there’s a lot of discussion about Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS or ‘clean coal’), though less than there used to be. To get an idea of current and near MAY 2003 – JOHN QUIGGIN Economists v philosophers Round V. May 29, 2003 John Quiggin 16 Comments. Matt Yglesias accepts my invitation to demonstrate the naivety of economic thinking about consequentialism. He proposes the following example. John is at the casino and he puts $100 on the number 12 spot at the roulette table. While the wheel is spinning,John dies suddenly.
RAWLS AND BENTHAM
Rawls and Bentham. May 19, 2003 John Quiggin 4 Comments. Rereading what I said earlier about Rawls and utilitarianism, I think it needs a correction. Rawls really is proposing something different in its approach from classical utilitarianism. In particular, his approach focuses attention on the idea that we might want to pay attention tothings
THERE’S A LOT OF RUIN IN A COUNTRY There’s a lot of ruin in a country. So said Adam Smith a couple of centuries ago, and he will, I hope, be proved right, in the US, and elsewhere in the world. Trump and the Republican majority in Congress and (imminently) in the Supreme Court will, in all probability, repeal Obamacare, restore and expand the Bush tax cuts for the rich, stop RIGHT-WING POSTMODERNISM Right-wing postmodernism. September 6, 2003 John Quiggin 7 Comments. Josh Marshall observes. the administration’s main obstacle has been the experts themselves–the economists who didn’t trust the budget projections, the generals who didn’t buy the troop estimates, intelligence analysts who questioned the existence of an activenuclear
FAREWELL TO EARTH SANCTUARIES The remaining shareholders of Earth Sanctuaries Limited, among whom I'm one, have been advised that the company is to be wound up. ESL, which was floated with high hopes (a little too late to catch the dotcom boom, unfortunately) was Australia's most substantial attempt at private-sector biodiversity conservation.WORLD EVENTS
Reading about the recent military coup in Myanmar, I’ve seen the view that Biden’s criticism of the coup is undermined by the fact that the pretext for the coup, a supposedly stolen election, was exactly the same as that raised by Trump and the Republican Party in response to Biden’s 2020 election victory. There’s a problem in this reasoning which is easy to see, but harder to resolve. NUCLEAR POWER IS A STALKING HORSE FOR GAS 1 day ago · That’s the self-explanatory headline for my latest piece in Independent Australia NUCLEAR POWER IS A STALKING HORSE FOR GAS 1 day ago · Thank you JQ. Please consider asking for all prior appointees to be published. Only fair to show real Origin. I emailed to no avail. Note: you and others disappeared from; SLOW BURN – JOHN QUIGGIN Slow Burn. That’s the headline for my latest piece in Inside Story, with the summary. At the time of writing, at least fourteen people have been killed by this season’s bushfires. And with most of January and all of February still to come, the number is sure to rise. But these dramatic deaths are far outweighed by the hundreds, perhaps ECONOMICS IN TWO LESSONS I’ve got quite a few events coming up in the next ten days. I’ll be in Adelaide for the Writers Week (program here), appearing at the Pioneer Women’s Memorial Garden, King William Road on Wednesday 4 March at 2pm in conversation with Jane Goodall, on the theme the Common Good. I’ll be signing copies of Economics in Two Lessons.. I’ve fitted in two earlier events on Tuesday 3 March.ENVIRONMENT
Despite Fukushima and the failure of the US “nuclear renaissance”, nuclear power still has plenty of fans in Australia. A question which opponents routinely ask is “where are the nuclear power plants goingto go?”.
DISCUSSION POLICY
Discussion policy – please read before commenting. 1. This is a forum for discussion. I publish it at my own expense and in my own time. It is not a public place. There is no automatic right to comment here. 2. The purpose of the comments section is to allow constructiveCOGNITIVE BIASES
Ross Gittins cites some interesting questions used by some of my QUT colleagues to assess cognitive biases before undertaking a study of investment behavior. Here you go: Try to answer before reading on or checking comments: Give me high and low estimates for the average weight of an adult male sperm whale (the largest of TWO BILLION EXAMPLES OF INNUMERACY Two billion examples of innumeracy. In the leadup to the recent British Royal wedding, it was repeatedly suggested that the event would be watched by 2 billion people worldwide, that is, about 30 per cent of the world’s population. It says something for the quality of the news media that none of those reporting this estimate offered asource
IS THERE A SOLUTION TO THE REFUGEE PROBLEM? Is there a solution to the refugee problem? The announcement by Kevin Rudd and PNG PM O’Neill that asylum seekers arriving by boat would, from now on, be settled in PNG came as a shock to most of us. I’ve waited a while to respond, because I’m neither happy with the policy nor satisfied with the critical responses from the Left.JOHN QUIGGIN
Unsurprisingly, the forced grounding of an airliner flying over Belarus, and the arrest of a critical journalist on board has provoked a burst of whataboutery from Russia and a reciprocal round of ‘false equivalence’ from the West.. The parallel case is that of the forced landing of the Bolivian presidential plane, with President Evo Morales on board, on the basis of the false suspicionJOHN QUIGGIN
Sandpit. May 3, 2021 John Quiggin 21 Comments. A new sandpit for long side discussions, conspiracy theories, idees fixes and so on. To be clear, the sandpit is for regular commenters to pursue points that distract from regular discussion, including conspiracy-theoretic takes on the issues at hand.WORLD EVENTS
John Quiggin 8 Comments. Reading about the recent military coup in Myanmar, I’ve seen the view that Biden’s criticism of the coup is undermined by the fact that the pretext for the coup, a supposedly stolen election, was exactly the same as that raised by Trump and the Republican Party in response to Biden’s 2020 election victory. CCS VS HAZELWOOD (UPDATED) CCS vs Hazelwood (updated) September 7, 2015 John Quiggin 33 Comments. It’s often hard to get an idea of the scale at which different technologies are operating. For example, there’s a lot of discussion about Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS or ‘clean coal’), though less than there used to be. To get an idea of current and near MAY 2003 – JOHN QUIGGIN Economists v philosophers Round V. May 29, 2003 John Quiggin 16 Comments. Matt Yglesias accepts my invitation to demonstrate the naivety of economic thinking about consequentialism. He proposes the following example. John is at the casino and he puts $100 on the number 12 spot at the roulette table. While the wheel is spinning,John dies suddenly.
RAWLS AND BENTHAM
Rawls and Bentham. May 19, 2003 John Quiggin 4 Comments. Rereading what I said earlier about Rawls and utilitarianism, I think it needs a correction. Rawls really is proposing something different in its approach from classical utilitarianism. In particular, his approach focuses attention on the idea that we might want to pay attention tothings
RIGHT-WING POSTMODERNISM Right-wing postmodernism. September 6, 2003 John Quiggin 7 Comments. Josh Marshall observes. the administration’s main obstacle has been the experts themselves–the economists who didn’t trust the budget projections, the generals who didn’t buy the troop estimates, intelligence analysts who questioned the existence of an activenuclear
THERE’S A LOT OF RUIN IN A COUNTRY There’s a lot of ruin in a country. So said Adam Smith a couple of centuries ago, and he will, I hope, be proved right, in the US, and elsewhere in the world. Trump and the Republican majority in Congress and (imminently) in the Supreme Court will, in all probability, repeal Obamacare, restore and expand the Bush tax cuts for the rich, stop APRIL 2006 – JOHN QUIGGIN April 29, 2006 John Quiggin 38 Comments. The body of Jake Kovco has finally returned to Australia. It’s hard to imagine what his family must be going through, starting with the news that they had lost a husband, a father and a son, and then compounded with the series of FAREWELL TO EARTH SANCTUARIES The remaining shareholders of Earth Sanctuaries Limited, among whom I'm one, have been advised that the company is to be wound up. ESL, which was floated with high hopes (a little too late to catch the dotcom boom, unfortunately) was Australia's most substantial attempt at private-sector biodiversity conservation.JOHN QUIGGIN
Unsurprisingly, the forced grounding of an airliner flying over Belarus, and the arrest of a critical journalist on board has provoked a burst of whataboutery from Russia and a reciprocal round of ‘false equivalence’ from the West.. The parallel case is that of the forced landing of the Bolivian presidential plane, with President Evo Morales on board, on the basis of the false suspicionJOHN QUIGGIN
Sandpit. May 3, 2021 John Quiggin 21 Comments. A new sandpit for long side discussions, conspiracy theories, idees fixes and so on. To be clear, the sandpit is for regular commenters to pursue points that distract from regular discussion, including conspiracy-theoretic takes on the issues at hand.WORLD EVENTS
John Quiggin 8 Comments. Reading about the recent military coup in Myanmar, I’ve seen the view that Biden’s criticism of the coup is undermined by the fact that the pretext for the coup, a supposedly stolen election, was exactly the same as that raised by Trump and the Republican Party in response to Biden’s 2020 election victory. CCS VS HAZELWOOD (UPDATED) CCS vs Hazelwood (updated) September 7, 2015 John Quiggin 33 Comments. It’s often hard to get an idea of the scale at which different technologies are operating. For example, there’s a lot of discussion about Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS or ‘clean coal’), though less than there used to be. To get an idea of current and near MAY 2003 – JOHN QUIGGIN Economists v philosophers Round V. May 29, 2003 John Quiggin 16 Comments. Matt Yglesias accepts my invitation to demonstrate the naivety of economic thinking about consequentialism. He proposes the following example. John is at the casino and he puts $100 on the number 12 spot at the roulette table. While the wheel is spinning,John dies suddenly.
RAWLS AND BENTHAM
Rawls and Bentham. May 19, 2003 John Quiggin 4 Comments. Rereading what I said earlier about Rawls and utilitarianism, I think it needs a correction. Rawls really is proposing something different in its approach from classical utilitarianism. In particular, his approach focuses attention on the idea that we might want to pay attention tothings
RIGHT-WING POSTMODERNISM Right-wing postmodernism. September 6, 2003 John Quiggin 7 Comments. Josh Marshall observes. the administration’s main obstacle has been the experts themselves–the economists who didn’t trust the budget projections, the generals who didn’t buy the troop estimates, intelligence analysts who questioned the existence of an activenuclear
THERE’S A LOT OF RUIN IN A COUNTRY There’s a lot of ruin in a country. So said Adam Smith a couple of centuries ago, and he will, I hope, be proved right, in the US, and elsewhere in the world. Trump and the Republican majority in Congress and (imminently) in the Supreme Court will, in all probability, repeal Obamacare, restore and expand the Bush tax cuts for the rich, stop APRIL 2006 – JOHN QUIGGIN April 29, 2006 John Quiggin 38 Comments. The body of Jake Kovco has finally returned to Australia. It’s hard to imagine what his family must be going through, starting with the news that they had lost a husband, a father and a son, and then compounded with the series of FAREWELL TO EARTH SANCTUARIES The remaining shareholders of Earth Sanctuaries Limited, among whom I'm one, have been advised that the company is to be wound up. ESL, which was floated with high hopes (a little too late to catch the dotcom boom, unfortunately) was Australia's most substantial attempt at private-sector biodiversity conservation. NUCLEAR POWER IS A STALKING HORSE FOR GAS 1 day ago · Thank you JQ. Please consider asking for all prior appointees to be published. Only fair to show real Origin. I emailed to no avail. Note: you and others disappeared from; SLOW BURN – JOHN QUIGGIN Slow Burn. That’s the headline for my latest piece in Inside Story, with the summary. At the time of writing, at least fourteen people have been killed by this season’s bushfires. And with most of January and all of February still to come, the number is sure to rise. But these dramatic deaths are far outweighed by the hundreds, perhaps NUCLEAR POWER IS A STALKING HORSE FOR GAS 1 day ago · That’s the self-explanatory headline for my latest piece in Independent AustraliaA PODIUM FINISH
An extraordinary run. 2nd John Quiggin Time 04:19:46 Net Time 04:18:20. For comparison, I ran about 20 miles in 3 hrs. as a 16 year old, in a training run “to see if I could do it (20 miles) “. SANDPIT – JOHN QUIGGIN A new sandpit for long side discussions, conspiracy theories, idees fixes and so on. To be clear, the sandpit is for regular commenters to pursue points that distract from regular discussion, including conspiracy-theoretic takes on the issues at hand. It’s not meant as a forum for visiting conspiracy theorists, or trolls posing as such. LABOR AND ITS IMAGINARY FRIENDS: WHY THE PARTY’S That's the headline for my latest piece in Crikey reproduced over the fold. Labor’s poor performance in the by-election seat of Upper Hunter, held by the National Party since 1931 has provoked a new round of soul-searching about the party’s failure to maintain the support of its traditional ‘base’. Implicitly or explicitly, the‘base’ is
MONDAY MESSAGE BOARD Back again with another Monday Message Board. Post comments on any topic. Civil discussion and no coarse language please. Side discussions and idees fixes to the sandpits, please. If you would like to receive my (hopefully) regular email news, please sign up using thefollowing link
DISCUSSION POLICY
Discussion policy – please read before commenting. 1. This is a forum for discussion. I publish it at my own expense and in my own time. It is not a public place. There is no automatic right to comment here. 2. The purpose of the comments section is to allow constructiveENVIRONMENT
Despite Fukushima and the failure of the US “nuclear renaissance”, nuclear power still has plenty of fans in Australia. A question which opponents routinely ask is “where are the nuclear power plants goingto go?”.
TWO BILLION EXAMPLES OF INNUMERACY Two billion examples of innumeracy. In the leadup to the recent British Royal wedding, it was repeatedly suggested that the event would be watched by 2 billion people worldwide, that is, about 30 per cent of the world’s population. It says something for the quality of the news media that none of those reporting this estimate offered asource
JOHN QUIGGIN
Unsurprisingly, the forced grounding of an airliner flying over Belarus, and the arrest of a critical journalist on board has provoked a burst of whataboutery from Russia and a reciprocal round of ‘false equivalence’ from the West.. The parallel case is that of the forced landing of the Bolivian presidential plane, with President Evo Morales on board, on the basis of the false suspicionJOHN QUIGGIN
Sandpit. May 3, 2021 John Quiggin 21 Comments. A new sandpit for long side discussions, conspiracy theories, idees fixes and so on. To be clear, the sandpit is for regular commenters to pursue points that distract from regular discussion, including conspiracy-theoretic takes on the issues at hand.WORLD EVENTS
February 2, 2021. February 2, 2021. John Quiggin 8 Comments. Reading about the recent military coup in Myanmar, I’ve seen the view that Biden’s criticism of the coup is undermined by the fact that the pretext for the coup, a supposedly stolen election, was exactly the same as that raised by Trump and the Republican Party in response toPOLITICS (GENERAL)
A commenter at Crooked Timber just made the often-repeated claim ““Forty years ago (1970’s) global cooling was all the rage!””. As it happens, just before reading this comment, I received a link to some files from the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum.It’s a daily log or similar, and starts with a response to someone named Frank Press who had written to Carterraising
BONEHEADED STUPIDITY For decades, they advanced a conspiracy theory in which all the governments in the world, backed up by every major scientific institution, were advancing a fraudulent theory of global warming. Here’s a pretty typical example from Pat Michaels, then the lead climate authority at Cato, being interviewed on Fox. CCS VS HAZELWOOD (UPDATED) CCS vs Hazelwood (updated) September 7, 2015 John Quiggin 33 Comments. It’s often hard to get an idea of the scale at which different technologies are operating. For example, there’s a lot of discussion about Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS or ‘clean coal’), though less than there used to be. To get an idea of current and nearDISCUSSION POLICY
Discussion policy – please read before commenting. 1. This is a forum for discussion. I publish it at my own expense and in my own time. It is not a public place. There is no automatic right to comment here. 2. The purpose of the comments section is to allow constructiveCOGNITIVE BIASES
Ross Gittins cites some interesting questions used by some of my QUT colleagues to assess cognitive biases before undertaking a study of investment behavior. Here you go: Try to answer before reading on or checking comments: Give me high and low estimates for the average weight of an adult male sperm whale (the largest of IS THERE A SOLUTION TO THE REFUGEE PROBLEM? Is there a solution to the refugee problem? The announcement by Kevin Rudd and PNG PM O’Neill that asylum seekers arriving by boat would, from now on, be settled in PNG came as a shock to most of us. I’ve waited a while to respond, because I’m neither happy with the policy nor satisfied with the critical responses from the Left. ISLAMISM AND TERRORISM Islamism and terrorism. September 7, 2004 John Quiggin 19 Comments. As Ken Parish observes, in my recent post about Chechnya, I discussed the issue of terrorism and its causes in generic terms and didn’t have anything specific to say about Islamism. So, I’ll start by observing that most of what has been written on this topic is, in myJOHN QUIGGIN
Unsurprisingly, the forced grounding of an airliner flying over Belarus, and the arrest of a critical journalist on board has provoked a burst of whataboutery from Russia and a reciprocal round of ‘false equivalence’ from the West.. The parallel case is that of the forced landing of the Bolivian presidential plane, with President Evo Morales on board, on the basis of the false suspicionJOHN QUIGGIN
Sandpit. May 3, 2021 John Quiggin 21 Comments. A new sandpit for long side discussions, conspiracy theories, idees fixes and so on. To be clear, the sandpit is for regular commenters to pursue points that distract from regular discussion, including conspiracy-theoretic takes on the issues at hand.WORLD EVENTS
February 2, 2021. February 2, 2021. John Quiggin 8 Comments. Reading about the recent military coup in Myanmar, I’ve seen the view that Biden’s criticism of the coup is undermined by the fact that the pretext for the coup, a supposedly stolen election, was exactly the same as that raised by Trump and the Republican Party in response toPOLITICS (GENERAL)
A commenter at Crooked Timber just made the often-repeated claim ““Forty years ago (1970’s) global cooling was all the rage!””. As it happens, just before reading this comment, I received a link to some files from the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum.It’s a daily log or similar, and starts with a response to someone named Frank Press who had written to Carterraising
BONEHEADED STUPIDITY For decades, they advanced a conspiracy theory in which all the governments in the world, backed up by every major scientific institution, were advancing a fraudulent theory of global warming. Here’s a pretty typical example from Pat Michaels, then the lead climate authority at Cato, being interviewed on Fox. CCS VS HAZELWOOD (UPDATED) CCS vs Hazelwood (updated) September 7, 2015 John Quiggin 33 Comments. It’s often hard to get an idea of the scale at which different technologies are operating. For example, there’s a lot of discussion about Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS or ‘clean coal’), though less than there used to be. To get an idea of current and nearDISCUSSION POLICY
Discussion policy – please read before commenting. 1. This is a forum for discussion. I publish it at my own expense and in my own time. It is not a public place. There is no automatic right to comment here. 2. The purpose of the comments section is to allow constructiveCOGNITIVE BIASES
Ross Gittins cites some interesting questions used by some of my QUT colleagues to assess cognitive biases before undertaking a study of investment behavior. Here you go: Try to answer before reading on or checking comments: Give me high and low estimates for the average weight of an adult male sperm whale (the largest of IS THERE A SOLUTION TO THE REFUGEE PROBLEM? Is there a solution to the refugee problem? The announcement by Kevin Rudd and PNG PM O’Neill that asylum seekers arriving by boat would, from now on, be settled in PNG came as a shock to most of us. I’ve waited a while to respond, because I’m neither happy with the policy nor satisfied with the critical responses from the Left. ISLAMISM AND TERRORISM Islamism and terrorism. September 7, 2004 John Quiggin 19 Comments. As Ken Parish observes, in my recent post about Chechnya, I discussed the issue of terrorism and its causes in generic terms and didn’t have anything specific to say about Islamism. So, I’ll start by observing that most of what has been written on this topic is, in myLIFE IN GENERAL
The basic physics is simple. (1) weight loss = (kilojoules burnt – kilojoules consumed)*k, (2) kilojoules burnt = base metabolism + work done. where k ≃ 0.025 is a constant reflecting the rate at which your body converts kilojoules of food energy into kilograms of fat. ECONOMICS – GENERAL – JOHN QUIGGIN As a starting point, I assume that we want to consider energy separately from market goods in general. Producing new energy requires inputs of both energy and market goods (including labour and capital). Think about this example. Technology A uses 1 Mwh of energy input and $180 of market inputs to produce 10 MWh of energy output.A PODIUM FINISH
An extraordinary run. 2nd John Quiggin Time 04:19:46 Net Time 04:18:20. For comparison, I ran about 20 miles in 3 hrs. as a 16 year old, in a training run “to see if I could do it (20 miles) “. BONEHEADED STUPIDITY At Five Thirty Eight, Maggie Koerth-Baker has yet another article bemoaning the way partisanship biases our views.Apparently, one side, based on eyeballing, thinks the earth is flat, while the other, relying on the views of so-called scientists, or the experience of international air travel, regards it as spherical, or nearly so. SANDPIT – JOHN QUIGGIN A new sandpit for long side discussions, conspiracy theories, idees fixes and so on. To be clear, the sandpit is for regular commenters to pursue points that distract from regular discussion, including conspiracy-theoretic takes on the issues at hand. It’s not meant as a forum for visiting conspiracy theorists, or trolls posing as such.A PODIUM FINISH
2nd out of 7 in my age group in the Brisbane Marathon. While I often get 1/1, genuine podiums are a rarity for me. Thanks to Nancy for Bike support on lots of training runs I’m raising money MONDAY MESSAGE BOARD Back again with another Monday Message Board. Post comments on any topic. Civil discussion and no coarse language please. Side discussions and idees fixes to the sandpits, please. If you would like to receive my (hopefully) regular email news, please sign up using thefollowing link
LABOR AND ITS IMAGINARY FRIENDS: WHY THE PARTY’S That's the headline for my latest piece in Crikey reproduced over the fold. Labor’s poor performance in the by-election seat of Upper Hunter, held by the National Party since 1931 has provoked a new round of soul-searching about the party’s failure to maintain the support of its traditional ‘base’. Implicitly or explicitly, the‘base’ is
THERE’S A LOT OF RUIN IN A COUNTRY There’s a lot of ruin in a country. So said Adam Smith a couple of centuries ago, and he will, I hope, be proved right, in the US, and elsewhere in the world. Trump and the Republican majority in Congress and (imminently) in the Supreme Court will, in all probability, repeal Obamacare, restore and expand the Bush tax cuts for the rich, stop MAY 2003 – JOHN QUIGGIN Economists v philosophers Round V. May 29, 2003 John Quiggin 16 Comments. Matt Yglesias accepts my invitation to demonstrate the naivety of economic thinking about consequentialism. He proposes the following example. John is at the casino and he puts $100 on the number 12 spot at the roulette table. While the wheel is spinning,John dies suddenly.
JOHN QUIGGIN
Unsurprisingly, the forced grounding of an airliner flying over Belarus, and the arrest of a critical journalist on board has provoked a burst of whataboutery from Russia and a reciprocal round of ‘false equivalence’ from the West.. The parallel case is that of the forced landing of the Bolivian presidential plane, with President Evo Morales on board, on the basis of the false suspicionJOHN QUIGGIN
Sandpit. May 3, 2021 John Quiggin 21 Comments. A new sandpit for long side discussions, conspiracy theories, idees fixes and so on. To be clear, the sandpit is for regular commenters to pursue points that distract from regular discussion, including conspiracy-theoretic takes on the issues at hand.WORLD EVENTS
February 2, 2021. February 2, 2021. John Quiggin 8 Comments. Reading about the recent military coup in Myanmar, I’ve seen the view that Biden’s criticism of the coup is undermined by the fact that the pretext for the coup, a supposedly stolen election, was exactly the same as that raised by Trump and the Republican Party in response toPOLITICS (GENERAL)
A commenter at Crooked Timber just made the often-repeated claim ““Forty years ago (1970’s) global cooling was all the rage!””. As it happens, just before reading this comment, I received a link to some files from the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum.It’s a daily log or similar, and starts with a response to someone named Frank Press who had written to Carterraising
BONEHEADED STUPIDITY For decades, they advanced a conspiracy theory in which all the governments in the world, backed up by every major scientific institution, were advancing a fraudulent theory of global warming. Here’s a pretty typical example from Pat Michaels, then the lead climate authority at Cato, being interviewed on Fox. CCS VS HAZELWOOD (UPDATED) CCS vs Hazelwood (updated) September 7, 2015 John Quiggin 33 Comments. It’s often hard to get an idea of the scale at which different technologies are operating. For example, there’s a lot of discussion about Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS or ‘clean coal’), though less than there used to be. To get an idea of current and nearDISCUSSION POLICY
Discussion policy – please read before commenting. 1. This is a forum for discussion. I publish it at my own expense and in my own time. It is not a public place. There is no automatic right to comment here. 2. The purpose of the comments section is to allow constructiveCOGNITIVE BIASES
Ross Gittins cites some interesting questions used by some of my QUT colleagues to assess cognitive biases before undertaking a study of investment behavior. Here you go: Try to answer before reading on or checking comments: Give me high and low estimates for the average weight of an adult male sperm whale (the largest of IS THERE A SOLUTION TO THE REFUGEE PROBLEM? Is there a solution to the refugee problem? The announcement by Kevin Rudd and PNG PM O’Neill that asylum seekers arriving by boat would, from now on, be settled in PNG came as a shock to most of us. I’ve waited a while to respond, because I’m neither happy with the policy nor satisfied with the critical responses from the Left. ISLAMISM AND TERRORISM Islamism and terrorism. September 7, 2004 John Quiggin 19 Comments. As Ken Parish observes, in my recent post about Chechnya, I discussed the issue of terrorism and its causes in generic terms and didn’t have anything specific to say about Islamism. So, I’ll start by observing that most of what has been written on this topic is, in myJOHN QUIGGIN
Unsurprisingly, the forced grounding of an airliner flying over Belarus, and the arrest of a critical journalist on board has provoked a burst of whataboutery from Russia and a reciprocal round of ‘false equivalence’ from the West.. The parallel case is that of the forced landing of the Bolivian presidential plane, with President Evo Morales on board, on the basis of the false suspicionJOHN QUIGGIN
Sandpit. May 3, 2021 John Quiggin 21 Comments. A new sandpit for long side discussions, conspiracy theories, idees fixes and so on. To be clear, the sandpit is for regular commenters to pursue points that distract from regular discussion, including conspiracy-theoretic takes on the issues at hand.WORLD EVENTS
February 2, 2021. February 2, 2021. John Quiggin 8 Comments. Reading about the recent military coup in Myanmar, I’ve seen the view that Biden’s criticism of the coup is undermined by the fact that the pretext for the coup, a supposedly stolen election, was exactly the same as that raised by Trump and the Republican Party in response toPOLITICS (GENERAL)
A commenter at Crooked Timber just made the often-repeated claim ““Forty years ago (1970’s) global cooling was all the rage!””. As it happens, just before reading this comment, I received a link to some files from the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum.It’s a daily log or similar, and starts with a response to someone named Frank Press who had written to Carterraising
BONEHEADED STUPIDITY For decades, they advanced a conspiracy theory in which all the governments in the world, backed up by every major scientific institution, were advancing a fraudulent theory of global warming. Here’s a pretty typical example from Pat Michaels, then the lead climate authority at Cato, being interviewed on Fox. CCS VS HAZELWOOD (UPDATED) CCS vs Hazelwood (updated) September 7, 2015 John Quiggin 33 Comments. It’s often hard to get an idea of the scale at which different technologies are operating. For example, there’s a lot of discussion about Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS or ‘clean coal’), though less than there used to be. To get an idea of current and nearDISCUSSION POLICY
Discussion policy – please read before commenting. 1. This is a forum for discussion. I publish it at my own expense and in my own time. It is not a public place. There is no automatic right to comment here. 2. The purpose of the comments section is to allow constructiveCOGNITIVE BIASES
Ross Gittins cites some interesting questions used by some of my QUT colleagues to assess cognitive biases before undertaking a study of investment behavior. Here you go: Try to answer before reading on or checking comments: Give me high and low estimates for the average weight of an adult male sperm whale (the largest of IS THERE A SOLUTION TO THE REFUGEE PROBLEM? Is there a solution to the refugee problem? The announcement by Kevin Rudd and PNG PM O’Neill that asylum seekers arriving by boat would, from now on, be settled in PNG came as a shock to most of us. I’ve waited a while to respond, because I’m neither happy with the policy nor satisfied with the critical responses from the Left. ISLAMISM AND TERRORISM Islamism and terrorism. September 7, 2004 John Quiggin 19 Comments. As Ken Parish observes, in my recent post about Chechnya, I discussed the issue of terrorism and its causes in generic terms and didn’t have anything specific to say about Islamism. So, I’ll start by observing that most of what has been written on this topic is, in myLIFE IN GENERAL
The basic physics is simple. (1) weight loss = (kilojoules burnt – kilojoules consumed)*k, (2) kilojoules burnt = base metabolism + work done. where k ≃ 0.025 is a constant reflecting the rate at which your body converts kilojoules of food energy into kilograms of fat. ECONOMICS – GENERAL – JOHN QUIGGIN As a starting point, I assume that we want to consider energy separately from market goods in general. Producing new energy requires inputs of both energy and market goods (including labour and capital). Think about this example. Technology A uses 1 Mwh of energy input and $180 of market inputs to produce 10 MWh of energy output.A PODIUM FINISH
1 day ago · An extraordinary run. 2nd John Quiggin Time 04:19:46 Net Time 04:18:20. For comparison, I ran about 20 miles in 3 hrs. as a 16 year old, in a training run “to see if I could do it (20 miles) “. SANDPIT – JOHN QUIGGIN 1 day ago · A new sandpit for long side discussions, conspiracy theories, idees fixes and so on. To be clear, the sandpit is for regular commenters to pursue points that distract from regular discussion, including conspiracy-theoretic takes on the issues at hand. It’s not meant as a forum for visiting conspiracy theorists, or trolls posing as such. BONEHEADED STUPIDITY At Five Thirty Eight, Maggie Koerth-Baker has yet another article bemoaning the way partisanship biases our views.Apparently, one side, based on eyeballing, thinks the earth is flat, while the other, relying on the views of so-called scientists, or the experience of international air travel, regards it as spherical, or nearly so.A PODIUM FINISH
1 day ago · 2nd out of 7 in my age group in the Brisbane Marathon. While I often get 1/1, genuine podiums are a rarity for me. Thanks to Nancy for Bike support on lots of training runs I’m raising money MONDAY MESSAGE BOARD 1 day ago · Back again with another Monday Message Board. Post comments on any topic. Civil discussion and no coarse language please. Side discussions and idees fixes to the sandpits, please. If you would like to receive my (hopefully) regular email news, please sign up using the following link LABOR AND ITS IMAGINARY FRIENDS: WHY THE PARTY’S That's the headline for my latest piece in Crikey reproduced over the fold. Labor’s poor performance in the by-election seat of Upper Hunter, held by the National Party since 1931 has provoked a new round of soul-searching about the party’s failure to maintain the support of its traditional ‘base’. Implicitly or explicitly, the‘base’ is
THERE’S A LOT OF RUIN IN A COUNTRY There’s a lot of ruin in a country. So said Adam Smith a couple of centuries ago, and he will, I hope, be proved right, in the US, and elsewhere in the world. Trump and the Republican majority in Congress and (imminently) in the Supreme Court will, in all probability, repeal Obamacare, restore and expand the Bush tax cuts for the rich, stop MAY 2003 – JOHN QUIGGIN Economists v philosophers Round V. May 29, 2003 John Quiggin 16 Comments. Matt Yglesias accepts my invitation to demonstrate the naivety of economic thinking about consequentialism. He proposes the following example. John is at the casino and he puts $100 on the number 12 spot at the roulette table. While the wheel is spinning,John dies suddenly.
JOHN QUIGGIN
Unsurprisingly, the forced grounding of an airliner flying over Belarus, and the arrest of a critical journalist on board has provoked a burst of whataboutery from Russia and a reciprocal round of ‘false equivalence’ from the West.. The parallel case is that of the forced landing of the Bolivian presidential plane, with President Evo Morales on board, on the basis of the false suspicionJOHN QUIGGIN
Sandpit. May 3, 2021 John Quiggin 21 Comments. A new sandpit for long side discussions, conspiracy theories, idees fixes and so on. To be clear, the sandpit is for regular commenters to pursue points that distract from regular discussion, including conspiracy-theoretic takes on the issues at hand.WORLD EVENTS
February 2, 2021. February 2, 2021. John Quiggin 8 Comments. Reading about the recent military coup in Myanmar, I’ve seen the view that Biden’s criticism of the coup is undermined by the fact that the pretext for the coup, a supposedly stolen election, was exactly the same as that raised by Trump and the Republican Party in response toPOLITICS (GENERAL)
A commenter at Crooked Timber just made the often-repeated claim ““Forty years ago (1970’s) global cooling was all the rage!””. As it happens, just before reading this comment, I received a link to some files from the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum.It’s a daily log or similar, and starts with a response to someone named Frank Press who had written to Carterraising
BONEHEADED STUPIDITY For decades, they advanced a conspiracy theory in which all the governments in the world, backed up by every major scientific institution, were advancing a fraudulent theory of global warming. Here’s a pretty typical example from Pat Michaels, then the lead climate authority at Cato, being interviewed on Fox. CCS VS HAZELWOOD (UPDATED) CCS vs Hazelwood (updated) September 7, 2015 John Quiggin 33 Comments. It’s often hard to get an idea of the scale at which different technologies are operating. For example, there’s a lot of discussion about Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS or ‘clean coal’), though less than there used to be. To get an idea of current and nearDISCUSSION POLICY
Discussion policy – please read before commenting. 1. This is a forum for discussion. I publish it at my own expense and in my own time. It is not a public place. There is no automatic right to comment here. 2. The purpose of the comments section is to allow constructiveCOGNITIVE BIASES
Ross Gittins cites some interesting questions used by some of my QUT colleagues to assess cognitive biases before undertaking a study of investment behavior. Here you go: Try to answer before reading on or checking comments: Give me high and low estimates for the average weight of an adult male sperm whale (the largest of IS THERE A SOLUTION TO THE REFUGEE PROBLEM? Is there a solution to the refugee problem? The announcement by Kevin Rudd and PNG PM O’Neill that asylum seekers arriving by boat would, from now on, be settled in PNG came as a shock to most of us. I’ve waited a while to respond, because I’m neither happy with the policy nor satisfied with the critical responses from the Left. ISLAMISM AND TERRORISM Islamism and terrorism. September 7, 2004 John Quiggin 19 Comments. As Ken Parish observes, in my recent post about Chechnya, I discussed the issue of terrorism and its causes in generic terms and didn’t have anything specific to say about Islamism. So, I’ll start by observing that most of what has been written on this topic is, in myJOHN QUIGGIN
Unsurprisingly, the forced grounding of an airliner flying over Belarus, and the arrest of a critical journalist on board has provoked a burst of whataboutery from Russia and a reciprocal round of ‘false equivalence’ from the West.. The parallel case is that of the forced landing of the Bolivian presidential plane, with President Evo Morales on board, on the basis of the false suspicionJOHN QUIGGIN
Sandpit. May 3, 2021 John Quiggin 21 Comments. A new sandpit for long side discussions, conspiracy theories, idees fixes and so on. To be clear, the sandpit is for regular commenters to pursue points that distract from regular discussion, including conspiracy-theoretic takes on the issues at hand.WORLD EVENTS
February 2, 2021. February 2, 2021. John Quiggin 8 Comments. Reading about the recent military coup in Myanmar, I’ve seen the view that Biden’s criticism of the coup is undermined by the fact that the pretext for the coup, a supposedly stolen election, was exactly the same as that raised by Trump and the Republican Party in response toPOLITICS (GENERAL)
A commenter at Crooked Timber just made the often-repeated claim ““Forty years ago (1970’s) global cooling was all the rage!””. As it happens, just before reading this comment, I received a link to some files from the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum.It’s a daily log or similar, and starts with a response to someone named Frank Press who had written to Carterraising
BONEHEADED STUPIDITY For decades, they advanced a conspiracy theory in which all the governments in the world, backed up by every major scientific institution, were advancing a fraudulent theory of global warming. Here’s a pretty typical example from Pat Michaels, then the lead climate authority at Cato, being interviewed on Fox. CCS VS HAZELWOOD (UPDATED) CCS vs Hazelwood (updated) September 7, 2015 John Quiggin 33 Comments. It’s often hard to get an idea of the scale at which different technologies are operating. For example, there’s a lot of discussion about Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS or ‘clean coal’), though less than there used to be. To get an idea of current and nearDISCUSSION POLICY
Discussion policy – please read before commenting. 1. This is a forum for discussion. I publish it at my own expense and in my own time. It is not a public place. There is no automatic right to comment here. 2. The purpose of the comments section is to allow constructiveCOGNITIVE BIASES
Ross Gittins cites some interesting questions used by some of my QUT colleagues to assess cognitive biases before undertaking a study of investment behavior. Here you go: Try to answer before reading on or checking comments: Give me high and low estimates for the average weight of an adult male sperm whale (the largest of IS THERE A SOLUTION TO THE REFUGEE PROBLEM? Is there a solution to the refugee problem? The announcement by Kevin Rudd and PNG PM O’Neill that asylum seekers arriving by boat would, from now on, be settled in PNG came as a shock to most of us. I’ve waited a while to respond, because I’m neither happy with the policy nor satisfied with the critical responses from the Left. ISLAMISM AND TERRORISM Islamism and terrorism. September 7, 2004 John Quiggin 19 Comments. As Ken Parish observes, in my recent post about Chechnya, I discussed the issue of terrorism and its causes in generic terms and didn’t have anything specific to say about Islamism. So, I’ll start by observing that most of what has been written on this topic is, in myLIFE IN GENERAL
The basic physics is simple. (1) weight loss = (kilojoules burnt – kilojoules consumed)*k, (2) kilojoules burnt = base metabolism + work done. where k ≃ 0.025 is a constant reflecting the rate at which your body converts kilojoules of food energy into kilograms of fat. ECONOMICS – GENERAL – JOHN QUIGGIN As a starting point, I assume that we want to consider energy separately from market goods in general. Producing new energy requires inputs of both energy and market goods (including labour and capital). Think about this example. Technology A uses 1 Mwh of energy input and $180 of market inputs to produce 10 MWh of energy output.A PODIUM FINISH
1 day ago · An extraordinary run. 2nd John Quiggin Time 04:19:46 Net Time 04:18:20. For comparison, I ran about 20 miles in 3 hrs. as a 16 year old, in a training run “to see if I could do it (20 miles) “. SANDPIT – JOHN QUIGGIN 1 day ago · A new sandpit for long side discussions, conspiracy theories, idees fixes and so on. To be clear, the sandpit is for regular commenters to pursue points that distract from regular discussion, including conspiracy-theoretic takes on the issues at hand. It’s not meant as a forum for visiting conspiracy theorists, or trolls posing as such. BONEHEADED STUPIDITY At Five Thirty Eight, Maggie Koerth-Baker has yet another article bemoaning the way partisanship biases our views.Apparently, one side, based on eyeballing, thinks the earth is flat, while the other, relying on the views of so-called scientists, or the experience of international air travel, regards it as spherical, or nearly so.A PODIUM FINISH
1 day ago · 2nd out of 7 in my age group in the Brisbane Marathon. While I often get 1/1, genuine podiums are a rarity for me. Thanks to Nancy for Bike support on lots of training runs I’m raising money MONDAY MESSAGE BOARD 1 day ago · Back again with another Monday Message Board. Post comments on any topic. Civil discussion and no coarse language please. Side discussions and idees fixes to the sandpits, please. If you would like to receive my (hopefully) regular email news, please sign up using the following link LABOR AND ITS IMAGINARY FRIENDS: WHY THE PARTY’S That's the headline for my latest piece in Crikey reproduced over the fold. Labor’s poor performance in the by-election seat of Upper Hunter, held by the National Party since 1931 has provoked a new round of soul-searching about the party’s failure to maintain the support of its traditional ‘base’. Implicitly or explicitly, the‘base’ is
THERE’S A LOT OF RUIN IN A COUNTRY There’s a lot of ruin in a country. So said Adam Smith a couple of centuries ago, and he will, I hope, be proved right, in the US, and elsewhere in the world. Trump and the Republican majority in Congress and (imminently) in the Supreme Court will, in all probability, repeal Obamacare, restore and expand the Bush tax cuts for the rich, stop MAY 2003 – JOHN QUIGGIN Economists v philosophers Round V. May 29, 2003 John Quiggin 16 Comments. Matt Yglesias accepts my invitation to demonstrate the naivety of economic thinking about consequentialism. He proposes the following example. John is at the casino and he puts $100 on the number 12 spot at the roulette table. While the wheel is spinning,John dies suddenly.
JOHN QUIGGIN
Unsurprisingly, the forced grounding of an airliner flying over Belarus, and the arrest of a critical journalist on board has provoked a burst of whataboutery from Russia and a reciprocal round of ‘false equivalence’ from the West.. The parallel case is that of the forced landing of the Bolivian presidential plane, with President Evo Morales on board, on the basis of the false suspicionJOHN QUIGGIN
Sandpit. May 3, 2021 John Quiggin 21 Comments. A new sandpit for long side discussions, conspiracy theories, idees fixes and so on. To be clear, the sandpit is for regular commenters to pursue points that distract from regular discussion, including conspiracy-theoretic takes on the issues at hand.WORLD EVENTS
February 2, 2021. February 2, 2021. John Quiggin 8 Comments. Reading about the recent military coup in Myanmar, I’ve seen the view that Biden’s criticism of the coup is undermined by the fact that the pretext for the coup, a supposedly stolen election, was exactly the same as that raised by Trump and the Republican Party in response toPOLITICS (GENERAL)
A commenter at Crooked Timber just made the often-repeated claim ““Forty years ago (1970’s) global cooling was all the rage!””. As it happens, just before reading this comment, I received a link to some files from the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum.It’s a daily log or similar, and starts with a response to someone named Frank Press who had written to Carterraising
BONEHEADED STUPIDITY For decades, they advanced a conspiracy theory in which all the governments in the world, backed up by every major scientific institution, were advancing a fraudulent theory of global warming. Here’s a pretty typical example from Pat Michaels, then the lead climate authority at Cato, being interviewed on Fox. CCS VS HAZELWOOD (UPDATED) CCS vs Hazelwood (updated) September 7, 2015 John Quiggin 33 Comments. It’s often hard to get an idea of the scale at which different technologies are operating. For example, there’s a lot of discussion about Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS or ‘clean coal’), though less than there used to be. To get an idea of current and nearDISCUSSION POLICY
Discussion policy – please read before commenting. 1. This is a forum for discussion. I publish it at my own expense and in my own time. It is not a public place. There is no automatic right to comment here. 2. The purpose of the comments section is to allow constructiveCOGNITIVE BIASES
Ross Gittins cites some interesting questions used by some of my QUT colleagues to assess cognitive biases before undertaking a study of investment behavior. Here you go: Try to answer before reading on or checking comments: Give me high and low estimates for the average weight of an adult male sperm whale (the largest of IS THERE A SOLUTION TO THE REFUGEE PROBLEM? Is there a solution to the refugee problem? The announcement by Kevin Rudd and PNG PM O’Neill that asylum seekers arriving by boat would, from now on, be settled in PNG came as a shock to most of us. I’ve waited a while to respond, because I’m neither happy with the policy nor satisfied with the critical responses from the Left. ISLAMISM AND TERRORISM Islamism and terrorism. September 7, 2004 John Quiggin 19 Comments. As Ken Parish observes, in my recent post about Chechnya, I discussed the issue of terrorism and its causes in generic terms and didn’t have anything specific to say about Islamism. So, I’ll start by observing that most of what has been written on this topic is, in myJOHN QUIGGIN
Unsurprisingly, the forced grounding of an airliner flying over Belarus, and the arrest of a critical journalist on board has provoked a burst of whataboutery from Russia and a reciprocal round of ‘false equivalence’ from the West.. The parallel case is that of the forced landing of the Bolivian presidential plane, with President Evo Morales on board, on the basis of the false suspicionJOHN QUIGGIN
Sandpit. May 3, 2021 John Quiggin 21 Comments. A new sandpit for long side discussions, conspiracy theories, idees fixes and so on. To be clear, the sandpit is for regular commenters to pursue points that distract from regular discussion, including conspiracy-theoretic takes on the issues at hand.WORLD EVENTS
February 2, 2021. February 2, 2021. John Quiggin 8 Comments. Reading about the recent military coup in Myanmar, I’ve seen the view that Biden’s criticism of the coup is undermined by the fact that the pretext for the coup, a supposedly stolen election, was exactly the same as that raised by Trump and the Republican Party in response toPOLITICS (GENERAL)
A commenter at Crooked Timber just made the often-repeated claim ““Forty years ago (1970’s) global cooling was all the rage!””. As it happens, just before reading this comment, I received a link to some files from the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum.It’s a daily log or similar, and starts with a response to someone named Frank Press who had written to Carterraising
BONEHEADED STUPIDITY For decades, they advanced a conspiracy theory in which all the governments in the world, backed up by every major scientific institution, were advancing a fraudulent theory of global warming. Here’s a pretty typical example from Pat Michaels, then the lead climate authority at Cato, being interviewed on Fox. CCS VS HAZELWOOD (UPDATED) CCS vs Hazelwood (updated) September 7, 2015 John Quiggin 33 Comments. It’s often hard to get an idea of the scale at which different technologies are operating. For example, there’s a lot of discussion about Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS or ‘clean coal’), though less than there used to be. To get an idea of current and nearDISCUSSION POLICY
Discussion policy – please read before commenting. 1. This is a forum for discussion. I publish it at my own expense and in my own time. It is not a public place. There is no automatic right to comment here. 2. The purpose of the comments section is to allow constructiveCOGNITIVE BIASES
Ross Gittins cites some interesting questions used by some of my QUT colleagues to assess cognitive biases before undertaking a study of investment behavior. Here you go: Try to answer before reading on or checking comments: Give me high and low estimates for the average weight of an adult male sperm whale (the largest of IS THERE A SOLUTION TO THE REFUGEE PROBLEM? Is there a solution to the refugee problem? The announcement by Kevin Rudd and PNG PM O’Neill that asylum seekers arriving by boat would, from now on, be settled in PNG came as a shock to most of us. I’ve waited a while to respond, because I’m neither happy with the policy nor satisfied with the critical responses from the Left. ISLAMISM AND TERRORISM Islamism and terrorism. September 7, 2004 John Quiggin 19 Comments. As Ken Parish observes, in my recent post about Chechnya, I discussed the issue of terrorism and its causes in generic terms and didn’t have anything specific to say about Islamism. So, I’ll start by observing that most of what has been written on this topic is, in myLIFE IN GENERAL
The basic physics is simple. (1) weight loss = (kilojoules burnt – kilojoules consumed)*k, (2) kilojoules burnt = base metabolism + work done. where k ≃ 0.025 is a constant reflecting the rate at which your body converts kilojoules of food energy into kilograms of fat. ECONOMICS – GENERAL – JOHN QUIGGIN As a starting point, I assume that we want to consider energy separately from market goods in general. Producing new energy requires inputs of both energy and market goods (including labour and capital). Think about this example. Technology A uses 1 Mwh of energy input and $180 of market inputs to produce 10 MWh of energy output.A PODIUM FINISH
1 day ago · An extraordinary run. 2nd John Quiggin Time 04:19:46 Net Time 04:18:20. For comparison, I ran about 20 miles in 3 hrs. as a 16 year old, in a training run “to see if I could do it (20 miles) “. SANDPIT – JOHN QUIGGIN 1 day ago · A new sandpit for long side discussions, conspiracy theories, idees fixes and so on. To be clear, the sandpit is for regular commenters to pursue points that distract from regular discussion, including conspiracy-theoretic takes on the issues at hand. It’s not meant as a forum for visiting conspiracy theorists, or trolls posing as such. BONEHEADED STUPIDITY At Five Thirty Eight, Maggie Koerth-Baker has yet another article bemoaning the way partisanship biases our views.Apparently, one side, based on eyeballing, thinks the earth is flat, while the other, relying on the views of so-called scientists, or the experience of international air travel, regards it as spherical, or nearly so.A PODIUM FINISH
1 day ago · 2nd out of 7 in my age group in the Brisbane Marathon. While I often get 1/1, genuine podiums are a rarity for me. Thanks to Nancy for Bike support on lots of training runs I’m raising money MONDAY MESSAGE BOARD 1 day ago · Back again with another Monday Message Board. Post comments on any topic. Civil discussion and no coarse language please. Side discussions and idees fixes to the sandpits, please. If you would like to receive my (hopefully) regular email news, please sign up using the following link LABOR AND ITS IMAGINARY FRIENDS: WHY THE PARTY’S That's the headline for my latest piece in Crikey reproduced over the fold. Labor’s poor performance in the by-election seat of Upper Hunter, held by the National Party since 1931 has provoked a new round of soul-searching about the party’s failure to maintain the support of its traditional ‘base’. Implicitly or explicitly, the‘base’ is
THERE’S A LOT OF RUIN IN A COUNTRY There’s a lot of ruin in a country. So said Adam Smith a couple of centuries ago, and he will, I hope, be proved right, in the US, and elsewhere in the world. Trump and the Republican majority in Congress and (imminently) in the Supreme Court will, in all probability, repeal Obamacare, restore and expand the Bush tax cuts for the rich, stop MAY 2003 – JOHN QUIGGIN Economists v philosophers Round V. May 29, 2003 John Quiggin 16 Comments. Matt Yglesias accepts my invitation to demonstrate the naivety of economic thinking about consequentialism. He proposes the following example. John is at the casino and he puts $100 on the number 12 spot at the roulette table. While the wheel is spinning,John dies suddenly.
JOHN QUIGGIN
Unsurprisingly, the forced grounding of an airliner flying over Belarus, and the arrest of a critical journalist on board has provoked a burst of whataboutery from Russia and a reciprocal round of ‘false equivalence’ from the West.. The parallel case is that of the forced landing of the Bolivian presidential plane, with President Evo Morales on board, on the basis of the false suspicionJOHN QUIGGIN
Sandpit. May 3, 2021 John Quiggin 21 Comments. A new sandpit for long side discussions, conspiracy theories, idees fixes and so on. To be clear, the sandpit is for regular commenters to pursue points that distract from regular discussion, including conspiracy-theoretic takes on the issues at hand.WORLD EVENTS
February 2, 2021. February 2, 2021. John Quiggin 8 Comments. Reading about the recent military coup in Myanmar, I’ve seen the view that Biden’s criticism of the coup is undermined by the fact that the pretext for the coup, a supposedly stolen election, was exactly the same as that raised by Trump and the Republican Party in response toPOLITICS (GENERAL)
A commenter at Crooked Timber just made the often-repeated claim ““Forty years ago (1970’s) global cooling was all the rage!””. As it happens, just before reading this comment, I received a link to some files from the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum.It’s a daily log or similar, and starts with a response to someone named Frank Press who had written to Carterraising
BONEHEADED STUPIDITY For decades, they advanced a conspiracy theory in which all the governments in the world, backed up by every major scientific institution, were advancing a fraudulent theory of global warming. Here’s a pretty typical example from Pat Michaels, then the lead climate authority at Cato, being interviewed on Fox. CCS VS HAZELWOOD (UPDATED) CCS vs Hazelwood (updated) September 7, 2015 John Quiggin 33 Comments. It’s often hard to get an idea of the scale at which different technologies are operating. For example, there’s a lot of discussion about Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS or ‘clean coal’), though less than there used to be. To get an idea of current and nearDISCUSSION POLICY
Discussion policy – please read before commenting. 1. This is a forum for discussion. I publish it at my own expense and in my own time. It is not a public place. There is no automatic right to comment here. 2. The purpose of the comments section is to allow constructiveCOGNITIVE BIASES
Ross Gittins cites some interesting questions used by some of my QUT colleagues to assess cognitive biases before undertaking a study of investment behavior. Here you go: Try to answer before reading on or checking comments: Give me high and low estimates for the average weight of an adult male sperm whale (the largest of IS THERE A SOLUTION TO THE REFUGEE PROBLEM? Is there a solution to the refugee problem? The announcement by Kevin Rudd and PNG PM O’Neill that asylum seekers arriving by boat would, from now on, be settled in PNG came as a shock to most of us. I’ve waited a while to respond, because I’m neither happy with the policy nor satisfied with the critical responses from the Left. ISLAMISM AND TERRORISM Islamism and terrorism. September 7, 2004 John Quiggin 19 Comments. As Ken Parish observes, in my recent post about Chechnya, I discussed the issue of terrorism and its causes in generic terms and didn’t have anything specific to say about Islamism. So, I’ll start by observing that most of what has been written on this topic is, in myJOHN QUIGGIN
Unsurprisingly, the forced grounding of an airliner flying over Belarus, and the arrest of a critical journalist on board has provoked a burst of whataboutery from Russia and a reciprocal round of ‘false equivalence’ from the West.. The parallel case is that of the forced landing of the Bolivian presidential plane, with President Evo Morales on board, on the basis of the false suspicionJOHN QUIGGIN
Sandpit. May 3, 2021 John Quiggin 21 Comments. A new sandpit for long side discussions, conspiracy theories, idees fixes and so on. To be clear, the sandpit is for regular commenters to pursue points that distract from regular discussion, including conspiracy-theoretic takes on the issues at hand.WORLD EVENTS
February 2, 2021. February 2, 2021. John Quiggin 8 Comments. Reading about the recent military coup in Myanmar, I’ve seen the view that Biden’s criticism of the coup is undermined by the fact that the pretext for the coup, a supposedly stolen election, was exactly the same as that raised by Trump and the Republican Party in response toPOLITICS (GENERAL)
A commenter at Crooked Timber just made the often-repeated claim ““Forty years ago (1970’s) global cooling was all the rage!””. As it happens, just before reading this comment, I received a link to some files from the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum.It’s a daily log or similar, and starts with a response to someone named Frank Press who had written to Carterraising
BONEHEADED STUPIDITY For decades, they advanced a conspiracy theory in which all the governments in the world, backed up by every major scientific institution, were advancing a fraudulent theory of global warming. Here’s a pretty typical example from Pat Michaels, then the lead climate authority at Cato, being interviewed on Fox. CCS VS HAZELWOOD (UPDATED) CCS vs Hazelwood (updated) September 7, 2015 John Quiggin 33 Comments. It’s often hard to get an idea of the scale at which different technologies are operating. For example, there’s a lot of discussion about Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS or ‘clean coal’), though less than there used to be. To get an idea of current and nearDISCUSSION POLICY
Discussion policy – please read before commenting. 1. This is a forum for discussion. I publish it at my own expense and in my own time. It is not a public place. There is no automatic right to comment here. 2. The purpose of the comments section is to allow constructiveCOGNITIVE BIASES
Ross Gittins cites some interesting questions used by some of my QUT colleagues to assess cognitive biases before undertaking a study of investment behavior. Here you go: Try to answer before reading on or checking comments: Give me high and low estimates for the average weight of an adult male sperm whale (the largest of IS THERE A SOLUTION TO THE REFUGEE PROBLEM? Is there a solution to the refugee problem? The announcement by Kevin Rudd and PNG PM O’Neill that asylum seekers arriving by boat would, from now on, be settled in PNG came as a shock to most of us. I’ve waited a while to respond, because I’m neither happy with the policy nor satisfied with the critical responses from the Left. ISLAMISM AND TERRORISM Islamism and terrorism. September 7, 2004 John Quiggin 19 Comments. As Ken Parish observes, in my recent post about Chechnya, I discussed the issue of terrorism and its causes in generic terms and didn’t have anything specific to say about Islamism. So, I’ll start by observing that most of what has been written on this topic is, in myLIFE IN GENERAL
The basic physics is simple. (1) weight loss = (kilojoules burnt – kilojoules consumed)*k, (2) kilojoules burnt = base metabolism + work done. where k ≃ 0.025 is a constant reflecting the rate at which your body converts kilojoules of food energy into kilograms of fat. ECONOMICS – GENERAL – JOHN QUIGGIN As a starting point, I assume that we want to consider energy separately from market goods in general. Producing new energy requires inputs of both energy and market goods (including labour and capital). Think about this example. Technology A uses 1 Mwh of energy input and $180 of market inputs to produce 10 MWh of energy output.A PODIUM FINISH
1 day ago · An extraordinary run. 2nd John Quiggin Time 04:19:46 Net Time 04:18:20. For comparison, I ran about 20 miles in 3 hrs. as a 16 year old, in a training run “to see if I could do it (20 miles) “. SANDPIT – JOHN QUIGGIN 1 day ago · A new sandpit for long side discussions, conspiracy theories, idees fixes and so on. To be clear, the sandpit is for regular commenters to pursue points that distract from regular discussion, including conspiracy-theoretic takes on the issues at hand. It’s not meant as a forum for visiting conspiracy theorists, or trolls posing as such. BONEHEADED STUPIDITY At Five Thirty Eight, Maggie Koerth-Baker has yet another article bemoaning the way partisanship biases our views.Apparently, one side, based on eyeballing, thinks the earth is flat, while the other, relying on the views of so-called scientists, or the experience of international air travel, regards it as spherical, or nearly so.A PODIUM FINISH
1 day ago · 2nd out of 7 in my age group in the Brisbane Marathon. While I often get 1/1, genuine podiums are a rarity for me. Thanks to Nancy for Bike support on lots of training runs I’m raising money MONDAY MESSAGE BOARD 1 day ago · Back again with another Monday Message Board. Post comments on any topic. Civil discussion and no coarse language please. Side discussions and idees fixes to the sandpits, please. If you would like to receive my (hopefully) regular email news, please sign up using the following link LABOR AND ITS IMAGINARY FRIENDS: WHY THE PARTY’S That's the headline for my latest piece in Crikey reproduced over the fold. Labor’s poor performance in the by-election seat of Upper Hunter, held by the National Party since 1931 has provoked a new round of soul-searching about the party’s failure to maintain the support of its traditional ‘base’. Implicitly or explicitly, the‘base’ is
THERE’S A LOT OF RUIN IN A COUNTRY There’s a lot of ruin in a country. So said Adam Smith a couple of centuries ago, and he will, I hope, be proved right, in the US, and elsewhere in the world. Trump and the Republican majority in Congress and (imminently) in the Supreme Court will, in all probability, repeal Obamacare, restore and expand the Bush tax cuts for the rich, stop MAY 2003 – JOHN QUIGGIN Economists v philosophers Round V. May 29, 2003 John Quiggin 16 Comments. Matt Yglesias accepts my invitation to demonstrate the naivety of economic thinking about consequentialism. He proposes the following example. John is at the casino and he puts $100 on the number 12 spot at the roulette table. While the wheel is spinning,John dies suddenly.
JOHN QUIGGIN
Unsurprisingly, the forced grounding of an airliner flying over Belarus, and the arrest of a critical journalist on board has provoked a burst of whataboutery from Russia and a reciprocal round of ‘false equivalence’ from the West.. The parallel case is that of the forced landing of the Bolivian presidential plane, with President Evo Morales on board, on the basis of the false suspicionJOHN QUIGGIN
Sandpit. May 3, 2021 John Quiggin 21 Comments. A new sandpit for long side discussions, conspiracy theories, idees fixes and so on. To be clear, the sandpit is for regular commenters to pursue points that distract from regular discussion, including conspiracy-theoretic takes on the issues at hand.WORLD EVENTS
February 2, 2021. February 2, 2021. John Quiggin 8 Comments. Reading about the recent military coup in Myanmar, I’ve seen the view that Biden’s criticism of the coup is undermined by the fact that the pretext for the coup, a supposedly stolen election, was exactly the same as that raised by Trump and the Republican Party in response toPOLITICS (GENERAL)
A commenter at Crooked Timber just made the often-repeated claim ““Forty years ago (1970’s) global cooling was all the rage!””. As it happens, just before reading this comment, I received a link to some files from the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum.It’s a daily log or similar, and starts with a response to someone named Frank Press who had written to Carterraising
BONEHEADED STUPIDITY For decades, they advanced a conspiracy theory in which all the governments in the world, backed up by every major scientific institution, were advancing a fraudulent theory of global warming. Here’s a pretty typical example from Pat Michaels, then the lead climate authority at Cato, being interviewed on Fox. CCS VS HAZELWOOD (UPDATED) CCS vs Hazelwood (updated) September 7, 2015 John Quiggin 33 Comments. It’s often hard to get an idea of the scale at which different technologies are operating. For example, there’s a lot of discussion about Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS or ‘clean coal’), though less than there used to be. To get an idea of current and nearDISCUSSION POLICY
Discussion policy – please read before commenting. 1. This is a forum for discussion. I publish it at my own expense and in my own time. It is not a public place. There is no automatic right to comment here. 2. The purpose of the comments section is to allow constructiveCOGNITIVE BIASES
Ross Gittins cites some interesting questions used by some of my QUT colleagues to assess cognitive biases before undertaking a study of investment behavior. Here you go: Try to answer before reading on or checking comments: Give me high and low estimates for the average weight of an adult male sperm whale (the largest of IS THERE A SOLUTION TO THE REFUGEE PROBLEM? Is there a solution to the refugee problem? The announcement by Kevin Rudd and PNG PM O’Neill that asylum seekers arriving by boat would, from now on, be settled in PNG came as a shock to most of us. I’ve waited a while to respond, because I’m neither happy with the policy nor satisfied with the critical responses from the Left. ISLAMISM AND TERRORISM Islamism and terrorism. September 7, 2004 John Quiggin 19 Comments. As Ken Parish observes, in my recent post about Chechnya, I discussed the issue of terrorism and its causes in generic terms and didn’t have anything specific to say about Islamism. So, I’ll start by observing that most of what has been written on this topic is, in myJOHN QUIGGIN
Unsurprisingly, the forced grounding of an airliner flying over Belarus, and the arrest of a critical journalist on board has provoked a burst of whataboutery from Russia and a reciprocal round of ‘false equivalence’ from the West.. The parallel case is that of the forced landing of the Bolivian presidential plane, with President Evo Morales on board, on the basis of the false suspicionJOHN QUIGGIN
Sandpit. May 3, 2021 John Quiggin 21 Comments. A new sandpit for long side discussions, conspiracy theories, idees fixes and so on. To be clear, the sandpit is for regular commenters to pursue points that distract from regular discussion, including conspiracy-theoretic takes on the issues at hand.WORLD EVENTS
February 2, 2021. February 2, 2021. John Quiggin 8 Comments. Reading about the recent military coup in Myanmar, I’ve seen the view that Biden’s criticism of the coup is undermined by the fact that the pretext for the coup, a supposedly stolen election, was exactly the same as that raised by Trump and the Republican Party in response toPOLITICS (GENERAL)
A commenter at Crooked Timber just made the often-repeated claim ““Forty years ago (1970’s) global cooling was all the rage!””. As it happens, just before reading this comment, I received a link to some files from the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum.It’s a daily log or similar, and starts with a response to someone named Frank Press who had written to Carterraising
BONEHEADED STUPIDITY For decades, they advanced a conspiracy theory in which all the governments in the world, backed up by every major scientific institution, were advancing a fraudulent theory of global warming. Here’s a pretty typical example from Pat Michaels, then the lead climate authority at Cato, being interviewed on Fox. CCS VS HAZELWOOD (UPDATED) CCS vs Hazelwood (updated) September 7, 2015 John Quiggin 33 Comments. It’s often hard to get an idea of the scale at which different technologies are operating. For example, there’s a lot of discussion about Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS or ‘clean coal’), though less than there used to be. To get an idea of current and nearDISCUSSION POLICY
Discussion policy – please read before commenting. 1. This is a forum for discussion. I publish it at my own expense and in my own time. It is not a public place. There is no automatic right to comment here. 2. The purpose of the comments section is to allow constructiveCOGNITIVE BIASES
Ross Gittins cites some interesting questions used by some of my QUT colleagues to assess cognitive biases before undertaking a study of investment behavior. Here you go: Try to answer before reading on or checking comments: Give me high and low estimates for the average weight of an adult male sperm whale (the largest of IS THERE A SOLUTION TO THE REFUGEE PROBLEM? Is there a solution to the refugee problem? The announcement by Kevin Rudd and PNG PM O’Neill that asylum seekers arriving by boat would, from now on, be settled in PNG came as a shock to most of us. I’ve waited a while to respond, because I’m neither happy with the policy nor satisfied with the critical responses from the Left. ISLAMISM AND TERRORISM Islamism and terrorism. September 7, 2004 John Quiggin 19 Comments. As Ken Parish observes, in my recent post about Chechnya, I discussed the issue of terrorism and its causes in generic terms and didn’t have anything specific to say about Islamism. So, I’ll start by observing that most of what has been written on this topic is, in myLIFE IN GENERAL
The basic physics is simple. (1) weight loss = (kilojoules burnt – kilojoules consumed)*k, (2) kilojoules burnt = base metabolism + work done. where k ≃ 0.025 is a constant reflecting the rate at which your body converts kilojoules of food energy into kilograms of fat. ECONOMICS – GENERAL – JOHN QUIGGIN As a starting point, I assume that we want to consider energy separately from market goods in general. Producing new energy requires inputs of both energy and market goods (including labour and capital). Think about this example. Technology A uses 1 Mwh of energy input and $180 of market inputs to produce 10 MWh of energy output.A PODIUM FINISH
1 day ago · An extraordinary run. 2nd John Quiggin Time 04:19:46 Net Time 04:18:20. For comparison, I ran about 20 miles in 3 hrs. as a 16 year old, in a training run “to see if I could do it (20 miles) “. SANDPIT – JOHN QUIGGIN 1 day ago · A new sandpit for long side discussions, conspiracy theories, idees fixes and so on. To be clear, the sandpit is for regular commenters to pursue points that distract from regular discussion, including conspiracy-theoretic takes on the issues at hand. It’s not meant as a forum for visiting conspiracy theorists, or trolls posing as such. BONEHEADED STUPIDITY At Five Thirty Eight, Maggie Koerth-Baker has yet another article bemoaning the way partisanship biases our views.Apparently, one side, based on eyeballing, thinks the earth is flat, while the other, relying on the views of so-called scientists, or the experience of international air travel, regards it as spherical, or nearly so. MONDAY MESSAGE BOARD 1 day ago · Back again with another Monday Message Board. Post comments on any topic. Civil discussion and no coarse language please. Side discussions and idees fixes to the sandpits, please. If you would like to receive my (hopefully) regular email news, please sign up using the following linkA PODIUM FINISH
1 day ago · 2nd out of 7 in my age group in the Brisbane Marathon. While I often get 1/1, genuine podiums are a rarity for me. Thanks to Nancy for Bike support on lots of training runs I’m raising money LABOR AND ITS IMAGINARY FRIENDS: WHY THE PARTY’S That's the headline for my latest piece in Crikey reproduced over the fold. Labor’s poor performance in the by-election seat of Upper Hunter, held by the National Party since 1931 has provoked a new round of soul-searching about the party’s failure to maintain the support of its traditional ‘base’. Implicitly or explicitly, the‘base’ is
THERE’S A LOT OF RUIN IN A COUNTRY There’s a lot of ruin in a country. So said Adam Smith a couple of centuries ago, and he will, I hope, be proved right, in the US, and elsewhere in the world. Trump and the Republican majority in Congress and (imminently) in the Supreme Court will, in all probability, repeal Obamacare, restore and expand the Bush tax cuts for the rich, stop MAY 2003 – JOHN QUIGGIN Economists v philosophers Round V. May 29, 2003 John Quiggin 16 Comments. Matt Yglesias accepts my invitation to demonstrate the naivety of economic thinking about consequentialism. He proposes the following example. John is at the casino and he puts $100 on the number 12 spot at the roulette table. While the wheel is spinning,John dies suddenly.
Skip to content
__Open Menu
* __Home
* Discussion policy – please read before commenting* Slow Burn
_Search_
Search for: __Close
JOHN QUIGGIN
COMMENTARY ON AUSTRALIAN AND WORLD EVENTS FROM A SOCIALIST AND DEMOCRATIC VIEWPOINT A PRE-PANDEMIC ENERGY POLICY__May 21, 2020
__John Quiggin __4 Comments The government has released a report on energy policy it commissioned from former Origin Energy boss Grant King. I prepared a brief response for the Australian media science centre > The government’s thinking remains five to ten years behind the > times. Although the idea of new coal-fired power stations seems > finally to have been abandoned, the report focuses heavily on > technology options that seemed promising in the past but have now > been abandoned everywhere in the developed world, such as nuclear > power and carbon capture and sequestration. More important is the > failure to recognise that gas-fired electricity generation is > increasingly being supplanted by the combination of renewables and > battery storage. The policy remains fixated on extractible resources > such as coal and gas, ignoring our massive endowment of solar and> wind resources.
The more fundamental problem is that the approach to climate policy that underlies all of this is the same as the denialist approach to the pandemic, exemplified by Trump – since dealing with impending disaster will be inconvenient, let’s just keep ignoring it. After all, it might never happen. RETURN OF THE ZOMBIES – PRIVATISATION__May 21, 2020
__John Quiggin __3 Comments In a series of articles for Independent Australia, I’ve been looking at how the pandemic has exposed, even more sharply, the zombie ideas that survived the GFC, and gave rise to my book _Zombie Economics_. The latest instalment is on privatisation.
The next will be on austerity.SANDPIT
__May 18, 2020
__John Quiggin __90 Comments A new sandpit for long side discussions, conspiracy theories, _idees fixes_ and so on. The last got clogged with random conspiracytheories.
To be clear, the sandpit is for regular commenters to pursue points that distract from regular discussion, including conspiracy-theoretic takes on the issues at hand. It’s not meant as a forum for visiting conspiracy theorists, or trolls posing as such. SERVANTS OF THREE MASTERS__May 18, 2020
__John
Quiggin __9 Comments Universities are the servants of three masters: the state governments that provide the statutory basis, the federal government which provides most of the funding for research and domestic students and the international market. * The Australian public are not among those to whom the universities see themselves as owing a duty * These multiple allegiances create great opportunities for the managers of the university to pursue their own interests, playing off the various masters against each other * It all goes bad when the international market fails All of this can be seen at work with the refusal of the University of Melbourne to enter into an agreement with the NTEU, saying that its statutory obligations (presumably to the state government) prohibit any element of joint management. The need for action results from the collapse of the international market, and the refusal of the third master (the Morrison government) to accept its obligation to educate Australians. Instead, they offered a “rescue” package, consisting of a promise not to impose even further cuts this year, if domestic enrolments fell. WHATABOUTERY AND THE PANDEMIC (CROSSPOST FROM CROOKED TIMBER)__May 15, 2020
__John Quiggin __46 Comments Among the many consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the measures taken to control it, there has been an epidemic of whataboutery. The starting point is the claim “we have locked down the entire economy to reduce the number of deaths from Covid-19, but we tolerate comparably large numbers of deaths from X”. Popular candidates for X include smoking, road crashes and influenza. In most, though not all, cases, the inference is that we should accept more deaths from the pandemic. Indeed, the majority of those using this argument are also opposed to any proposal to do more about the various examples of Xthey cite
I’m going to take the contrapositive, and argue that the inconsistency pointed out here should be resolved by taking stronger action to reduce avoidable deaths from a wide range of causes, with the primary examples being road deaths and smoking. While whataboutery on these topics typically suggests that society has made a decision to tolerate deaths from these causes, the reality is that there have been increasingly stringent measures to reduce them, adopted over many years, and that in both cases, the ultimate objective (explicit in some jurisdictions, implicit in others) is to reduce deaths to zero. In the case of roads, this aim is expressed in Vision Zero , adopted initially in Sweden and subsequently in a variety of other places. The UK government aims to end smoking by 2030 , and most governments have interim targets which imply ultimate elimination of smoking. With or without explicit targets, the policy approach everywhere has been much the same. Restrictions aimed at reducing the risk in question have been introduced gradually over many years, with each new restriction providing a starting point for the next. In Australia’, for example, partial bans on tobacco advertising were introduced in the late 1980s. These were followed by complete ad bans, then by compulsory health warnings in small print, and finally by a requirement that cigarette packets should display gruesome photos of the consequences of smoking. At the same time, from an initial situation where smoking was universal, it has been progressively restricted in all public spaces, and where children may be exposed (asin private cars).
There is indeed an inconsistency here. If the restrictions in place now are justified in terms of a balance between health costs, damage to non-smokers and the restrictions on the rights of smokers, they would have been even more justifed 30 or 50 years ago, when the damage done by smoking was much greater. Coming back to Covid whataboutery, the inconsistency is not between accepting deaths from one source and not another, it’s between the urgent action necessitated by the pandemic and the slow pace adopted in other cases. The slowness with which policies aimed at ending smoking, or road deaths, is easily explained. Governments have introduced them at a pace that avoids substantial political costs, and the risk of sustained non-compliance. In the case of smoking, for example, it is necessary to deal both with powerful and unscrupulous tobacco companies, using every available tool to resist controls, and with a large addicted population, some (though not all) of whom have nodesire to quit.
The success (so far) of lockdowns in controlling Covid, and their general acceptance outside the US, suggests that we should move more rapidly to eliminate public health risks, even where this involves coercive measures to stop people endangering others, and to prevent young people from endangering themselves. For example, partial bans on smoking in public places, or in the presence of children, should be made total. A more ambitious proposal of this kind would be to raise the smoking age, one year at a time, so that young people currently under the legal age would not be allowed to smoke until they were, say, 25 (hardly anyone begins smoking as a mature age adult, which is in itself an indication that it is not a choice open to a rationaldefence).
In the case of road deaths, the most obvious measures are lower speed limits in urban ares, and a greater willingness to take dangerous drivers off the road permanently. These measures will be adopted eventually – the only question is how many innocent lives will be lost before they are. fn1. The tobacco companies not only lobbied directly, and funded a variety of front groups (astroturf smokers rights groups and free-market think tanks), but fought Australia’s packaging laws through international trade actions, ginned up by bribing governments or exploiting the Investor-State Dispute Settlement clauses of trade agreements. They were defeated, but almost certainly succeeded in deterring poorer countries, which could not afford such fights, from following Australia’s lead. UNIVERSITIES AND THE PANDEMIC __May 14, 2020May 14, 2020 __John Quiggin __30 Comments As I foreshadowed a while ago, the financial effects of the pandemic have been reflected in an agreement for university staff to take temporary pay cuts in order to save the jobs of casual workers. Lots of people are unhappy about this, but it’s hard to see an alternative, and the deal seems to be the best that can be reached, with the requirement that senior management take the biggest cuts and (I think) the cuts for academic staff being scaled to protect thelowest paid.
The primary cause of all this is the big reduction in overseas student numbers arising from travel restrictions and the pandemic. But the more immediate cause is the federal governments decision to exclude universities from the JobKeeper scheme, even though they would qualify under the loss of revenue . This decision is due in large measure to the government’s culture war hostility to the university sector. It’s disappointing to see them pursue this kind of vendetta at a time when we ought to be looking for national unity. But given that this is the case, there is no serious alternative for universities but to share the pain asevenly as possible.
The fundamental problem is the quasi-NGO (quango) status of universities. Even though they are mostly funded by the federal government, universities are (mostly) organized as independent statutory bodies under state legislation. As a result, they engage in wasteful competition among themselves. Indeed, the ACCC watches for signs of anti-competitive behavior, a concept that would immediately be recognised as nonsensical in the case of schools and universities. Education is a fundamental responsibility of government, and universities ought to be organized as a unified national system, with the responsibility of providing education to all students who can benefit from it. If that were the case, the government would have had to meet the gap in funding just as has happened in public transport and other services where revenue has fallen. Coming back to the cuts, the NTEU-universities deal ought to be a model for the economy as a whole in important respects. Dealing with the pandemic is going to be hugely costly, and those at the top of the income distribution, in both private and public sectors, should bearmost of that cost.
SUPPORTING A LIVABLE INCOME GUARANTEE__May 13, 2020
__John Quiggin __6 Comments Some responses I gave to a student journalist asking about universalbasic income.
There are two main approaches to implementing a universal basicincome.
One is to introduce a universal payment to everyone in the community, funded by taxation, and gradually increase this to a “livable income”, that is, one sufficient for people to meet their basic needs on a sustainable basis. The second is to focus on those who currently don’t receive a basic income and provide it to them. This can be done by first increasing existing benefits, such as NewStart to a livable level and then expanding access to those benefits by removing punitive work tests. This would lead to a “participation income”, where everyone who contributed to society through paid work, volunteering, study or child-rearing received a livable income. I favour the second approach, for reasons set out here. https://johnquiggin.com/2017/02/08/why-we-should-put-basic-before-universal-in-the-pursuit-of-income-equality/ The government’s response to the pandemic has moved us much closer to a livable income guarantee, at least temporarily. The JobSeeker allowance is twice the amount of NewStart, and compliance testing such as the requirement to make 20 job applications per month has been dropped (at least officially – some case managers haven’t got the message on this). And JobKeeper implies a willingness to intervene to prevent involuntary mass unemployment. Since this is very much at odds with the government’s policy position before the pandemic, it is unsurprising that they are seeking to ’snap back’ once the immediate crisis is over. But this neither feasible (because the economy will take a long time to recover) nor desirable (because of the benefits of a livable income guarantee).POSTS NAVIGATION
__Older Posts
RECENT COMMENTS
Hugo on Sandpit
J-D on Sandpit
Hugo on Sandpit
KT2 on Sandpit
KT2 on Sandpit
* RSS - Posts
* RSS - Comments
* General
* Regular Features
* Economics – General* Oz Politics
* Environment
* Economic policy
* World Events
* Life in General
* Metablogging
* Books and culture
* Politics (general) * Boneheaded stupidity* Science
* Media
* Philosophy
* Economics in Two Lessons* Dead Ideas book
* Sport
* Tax and public expenditureARCHIVES
* May 2020
* April 2020
* March 2020
* February 2020
* January 2020
* December 2019
* November 2019
* October 2019
* September 2019
* August 2019
* July 2019
* June 2019
* May 2019
* April 2019
* March 2019
* February 2019
* January 2019
* December 2018
* November 2018
* October 2018
* September 2018
* August 2018
* July 2018
* June 2018
* May 2018
* April 2018
* March 2018
* February 2018
* January 2018
* December 2017
* November 2017
* October 2017
* September 2017
* August 2017
* July 2017
* June 2017
* May 2017
* April 2017
* March 2017
* February 2017
* January 2017
* December 2016
* November 2016
* October 2016
* September 2016
* August 2016
* July 2016
* June 2016
* May 2016
* April 2016
* March 2016
* February 2016
* January 2016
* December 2015
* November 2015
* October 2015
* September 2015
* August 2015
* July 2015
* June 2015
* May 2015
* April 2015
* March 2015
* February 2015
* January 2015
* December 2014
* November 2014
* October 2014
* September 2014
* August 2014
* July 2014
* June 2014
* May 2014
* April 2014
* March 2014
* February 2014
* January 2014
* December 2013
* November 2013
* October 2013
* September 2013
* August 2013
* July 2013
* June 2013
* May 2013
* April 2013
* March 2013
* February 2013
* January 2013
* December 2012
* November 2012
* October 2012
* September 2012
* August 2012
* July 2012
* June 2012
* May 2012
* April 2012
* March 2012
* February 2012
* January 2012
* December 2011
* November 2011
* October 2011
* September 2011
* August 2011
* July 2011
* June 2011
* May 2011
* April 2011
* March 2011
* February 2011
* January 2011
* December 2010
* November 2010
* October 2010
* September 2010
* August 2010
* July 2010
* June 2010
* May 2010
* April 2010
* March 2010
* February 2010
* January 2010
* December 2009
* November 2009
* October 2009
* September 2009
* August 2009
* July 2009
* June 2009
* May 2009
* April 2009
* March 2009
* February 2009
* January 2009
* December 2008
* November 2008
* October 2008
* September 2008
* August 2008
* July 2008
* June 2008
* May 2008
* April 2008
* March 2008
* February 2008
* January 2008
* December 2007
* November 2007
* October 2007
* September 2007
* August 2007
* July 2007
* June 2007
* May 2007
* April 2007
* March 2007
* February 2007
* January 2007
* December 2006
* November 2006
* October 2006
* September 2006
* August 2006
* July 2006
* June 2006
* May 2006
* April 2006
* March 2006
* February 2006
* January 2006
* December 2005
* November 2005
* October 2005
* September 2005
* August 2005
* July 2005
* June 2005
* May 2005
* April 2005
* March 2005
* February 2005
* January 2005
* December 2004
* November 2004
* October 2004
* September 2004
* August 2004
* July 2004
* June 2004
* May 2004
* April 2004
* March 2004
* February 2004
* January 2004
* December 2003
* November 2003
* October 2003
* September 2003
* August 2003
* July 2003
* June 2003
* May 2003
* April 2003
* March 2003
* February 2003
* January 2003
* December 2002
* November 2002
* October 2002
* September 2002
* August 2002
* July 2002
* June 2002
SEARCH
Search for:
Blog at WordPress.com. _Backto top_
John Quiggin
Blog at WordPress.com.Post to
Cancel
* Follow
*
* John Quiggin
* Customize
* Follow
* Sign up
* Log in
* Report this content * Manage subscriptions* Collapse this bar
Details
Copyright © 2024 ArchiveBay.com. All rights reserved. Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | DMCA | 2021 | Feedback | Advertising | RSS 2.0