Author Archive
New Site @ www.tvhe.co.nz
Posted by: agnitio on: December 14, 2008
Dear avid TVHE readers, We’ve finally set up our own hosting and have a new site at www.tvhe.co.nz, if you could be so kind as to set your links/bookmarks/feeds to the new web address it would be much appreciated! We have lots of exciting things planned for the blog in the future (including some new [...]
Nats to bail out big business?
Posted by: agnitio on: November 27, 2008
I was slightly concerned when I saw the headline on stuff this morning “Nats eye bailout of big business” If the government is saying ex ante that they will bail out big businesses I would be concerned as this has the potential to cause a moral hazard problem. This is where firms know they will [...]
Fonterra auction to blame for low dairy prices??
Posted by: agnitio on: November 26, 2008
Apparently the Aussies are blaming Fonterra’s Global Dairytrade online auction platform for lowering the price of milk. Interesting. If the auction is simply reflecting the true value of milk then the I feel no sympathy. This quote from the manager of the auction system sums up it’s purpose Fonterra’s global trade managing director Kelvin Wickham [...]
PPPs? Yes, please…..maybe
Posted by: agnitio on: November 26, 2008
The Standard don’t see the point in them and Fletcher Building would rather have a standard construction contract that doesn’t transfer risk to them and doesn’t require them to incur costs setting the arrangement up. I’m FAR from an expert on the issue of PPPs, and there may be some valid concerns using them for [...]
Comments on new theme welcome
Posted by: agnitio on: November 21, 2008
- In: Other
- 11 Comments
Hello avid TVHE readers Given that we are currently constrained to use wordpress themes (we will get our own hosting eventually and go custom), we keep a watch on the new themes that get added to see if any are more functional/look cooler then our current one. One that appears to be a little more [...]
The myth of the rational voter
Posted by: agnitio on: November 10, 2008
I wish I had time at the moment to read Bryan Caplan’s new book or the piece he has written at Cato unbound on the myth of the rational voter. Having only done the briefest skim I can’t really comment on the conclusions he reaches. However, the title seams fairly self explanatory. This has really [...]
IQ and Voting: 2004 US election
Posted by: agnitio on: November 10, 2008
- In: Other | Politics | Uncategorized
- 28 Comments
Update: Thanks to the journalistic skills of Kimble and StephenR we know this chart is a hoax, it has however sparked some amusing comments on the IQ/party matches for NZ:) While procrastinating doing work on the weekend I found this little stunner Would be interesting to see a similar exercise for the 08 election Agnitio
Social vs Economic Issues: US vs NZ Elections
Posted by: agnitio on: November 6, 2008
Greg Mankiw has blogged about young voters abandoning the republican party in the recent Presidnetial election, citing this graph from Andrew Gelman When discussing why he thinks this happened he cites anecdotal evidence from talking to undergrads at Harvard that It was largely noneconomic issues. These particular students told me they preferred the lower tax, [...]
Com Com investigating mobile termination rates
Posted by: agnitio on: November 6, 2008
For those of you who don’t subscribe to the Commerce Commission’s media releases, they have just announced that they are investigating mobile termination rates. (Reasons here). In simple terms, the termination rate is what vodafone charges telecom every time a telecom customer calls a vodafone customer and vice-versa. The CC has decided that the rates [...]
Keeping it Kiwi/Asset sales
Posted by: agnitio on: November 5, 2008
I’m certainly glad we are keeping it Kiwi…. http://www.stuff.co.nz/4750128a13.html At the end of the day, I feel that people don’t analyse government asset purchases or sales properly. People get fired up about asset sales and make arguments like “National sold our state assets too cheap” to support the argument that asset sales in general are [...]
LEANZ Auckland November Seminar
Posted by: agnitio on: November 5, 2008
Next Law and Economics Association of New Zealand (LEANZ) seminar in Auckland: Using the law as a last resort in policy making: challenging the ‘Working for Families’ redistributive package (Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) v the Attorney General, 2008) Speakers: Dr Susan St John, University of Auckland Business School Date: Thursday 13 November 2008 Venue: [...]
Credit Crunch jokes
Posted by: agnitio on: November 4, 2008
- In: Humour | US economics
- 5 Comments
It’s good to know investment bankers still have a sense of humor. I just these jokes in an email from some friends in finance. From the Wall Street Journal apparently. Given that a major NZ investment bank has just had a large culling of its staff I guess they need something to lighten the mood [...]
LEANZ Seminar in Wellington: The New Zealand – China Free Trade Agreement
Posted by: agnitio on: November 3, 2008
The Law and Economics Association of New Zealand (LEANZ) is hosting an interesting seminar in Wellingotn next Monday on the free trade deal with China. It is being presented by some people in MFAT who were involved the behind the scenes economic and legal analysis of the deal. I (Agnitio) went to this seminar in [...]
Political Quiz Part Deux: Obama vs McCain
Posted by: agnitio on: October 30, 2008
So you’ve probabaly read with great interest Matt’s post on the NZ election political quiz. I also noticed that the same quiz has a verison for the US presidential election so I thought it might be fun for us to repeat the exercise. You may be surprised by the results:) Agnitio: Obama (79%), Nader (72%), [...]
Matt Nolan on Breakfast: Relive the magic, the hair and the hairy prediction about the property market!
Posted by: agnitio on: October 29, 2008
For those of you who missed the magic, before the credit crisis we were worried about a property crisis. In the midsts of this madness Matt Nolan was itnerveiwed by Paul Henry on breakfast. I was bored so I thought I would track down this video and relive the magic. At Matt’s gesturing I’m posting [...]
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