Blogotariat

Part II: The Neoclassical Response to the Classical Theories of Inequality and Growth by Polly Cleveland, cross-posted from Dollars & Sense Mason Gaffney has shown how many individuals helped construct neoclassical economics, often with financial support from the robber barons and their successors. I will focus on two: in the United States, John Bates Clark […]

In the everyday context of reading and interpreting the written word. Does grammar matter? Should those who have good grammatical skills refrain from criticism?

Should those lacking good English desist from airing a view even though the value of their contribution is unquestioned? Or in the broader context should those of little formal educational merit abstain from expressing an opinion?

From Bank of America Merrill-Lynch comes a short note on what it believes is the real driver behind the Chinese housing market: interbank rates. The market generally believes that banks are now doing the government’s bidding to support the housing market; we are not so sure. While government’s moral suasion might have played a role, […]

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By Leith van Onselen It looks as if Melbourne will soon implement new rules that will mandate minimum sizes on new apartments, as well other design rules, in order to prevent high rise from becoming “future slums”. From The Age: Among the mandated rules for developers proposed under the Office of the Victorian Government Architect’s […]

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This is a link to me going head to head with David Oldfield on radio station 2UE 2 and a half years ago in defence of flag burning.

It was prompted by a young Aboriginal girl burning the Australian flag on the stairs of Old Parliament House on Invasion Day in 2012. It is the second audio down on the page.

By Leith van Onselen The fallout from Treasurer Joe Hockey’s new authorised biography – Hockey: Not Your Average Joe – continues, with The AFR’s Laura Tingle slamming the book’s poor timing and the portrayal of Hockey as a “very hollow vessel”: Unfortunately the book has emerged at perhaps the worst possible time: the budget sales pitch […]

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Nuclear bombs are seen as weapons of mass destruction, but some scientists imagined their use for good. Controlled explosions could be used to divert rivers, dig reservoirs, drill for oil and even create natural harbours. Located in Kazakhstan, Lake Chagan was one of these tests, performed by the Soviet Union in 1965. A 408m wide, 100m deep crater created with a 140 kiloton nuclear explosion. But would you really want to swim in it?

By Leith van Onselen Stephen Kirchner from the Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) has posted a convoluted article in Business Spectator lobbying against macro-prudential controls on higher risk mortgage lending: …monetary policy is a blunt instrument, making it unsuitable for addressing what are seen to be excesses in credit growth tied to specific asset classes. […]

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So DARPA wants a reusable spaceplane. I mean, who doesn't? For decades, space experts have tried to design quick-turnover, reusable launch systems. So far, however, no one has made one that works. "There really isn't any kind of vehicle today that does exactly what they're asking people to do," Micah Walter-Range, director of research and analysis at the Space Foundation, tells Popular Science. "You can certainly compare it to existing vehicles, but it seems to be a new class." 

No human would be inclined to think favorably of leishmaniasis, caused by a parasite spread by sand flies, which infects about 12 million people worldwide and kills 20,000 to 30,000 per year. 

APRA’s new chairman, Wayne Byers, appeared at a CEDA event yesterday: Australia’s big four banks are now offering “guarantor loans” at up to 100 per cent of the purchase price of houses and apartments. This means people can borrow without a deposit if they have a family member as a ­guarantor. Asked if this was too risky, […]

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