Monthly Archives: November 2006
Shock: New baby not conducive to blogging
Apologies, but Sophia, in all her glorious 9 days on this earth, has occupied her parents completely. I’ve barely had time to catch up on other blogs, newspapers etc. We’re currently following the “when she sleeps, we sleep” rule, which … Continue reading
Throwing money to the poor
A nice voluntary wealth redistribution story. Can’t solve the whole problem but what I’m wondering is whether tourists now will be more or less inclined to toss a coin into the Trevi. I can see few scenarios: Neutral: most people … Continue reading
Baby Boot has arrived
Weighing in at 7lbs 1oz, Sophia was born at 0951 on 21 November. Parent economists are both fine, though Daddy is extremely tired. Despite he exhaustion of watching a loved one endure incalculable physical pain, there are a number of … Continue reading
Milton Keynes Boot??
Baby Boot is two days late. And we discovered last week that apparently my wife and I don’t agree on a middle name for a girl (and still have a disagreement of the ordering of the names should it be a boy). Perhaps … Continue reading
More on Milton
Update. From the BBC website, Chancellor Gordon Brown described Mr Friedman as “one of the great economic theorists” of the 20th century. He had a major influence on post-war economic policy not least in establishing the importance of credibility in … Continue reading
Milton Friedman
Economics is boring to many I think, because it lacks the narrative drive of history, or the unifying approach of the hard sciences. Both views are of course incorrect but in Friedman there was an individual whose own work and life … Continue reading
Power to the experts?
Why do sub-optimal policies arise through the political process? Why do misconceptions about, for example immigration, survive year after year? Bryan Caplan believes voter irrationality is to blame. The public hold not just weird but contrary beliefs to experts in … Continue reading
Be Green, be seen
The purchase of residential wind turbines is proving popular, but as this story highlights, this may not be the best way to be green. Except if all you’re interested in is looking green then it may be the right thing … Continue reading
Who says psychology and economics don’t pay off?
Certainly not this guy, a cognitive neuroscientist who used his knowledge of how memory works to win $500,000. When I’ve watched TV quiz shows and played along, I’ve either known the answer or used probabilistic reasoning, which goes something like … Continue reading
Why oh why can’t we have better science editing (with apologies to Brad DeLong)
So now The Lancet has got me really irked. Scientists, particularly epidemiologists, are fond of pointing out how the general public has such a poor understanding of statistics and science. And it’s a fair criticism; witness the hysteria over mad … Continue reading