Rich countries and happiness: the story of a bet.
Do countries that are already rich become even happier when they become yet richer? This was the essential question on which I entered a gentleman’s bet in 2004 with Andrew Leigh and which just...
View ArticleThe Xmas quiz answers and discussion
Last Monday I posted 4 questions to see who thought like a classic utilitarian and who adhered to a wider notion of ethics, suspecting that in the end we all subscribe to ‘more’ than classical...
View ArticlePredictions versus outcomes in 2013?
In the last 5 years, I have made a point of giving clear predictions on complex socio-economic issues. I give predictions partially to improve my own understanding of humanity: nothing sharpens the...
View ArticleHow to lie with statistics: the case of female hurricanes.
I came across an article in PNAS (the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) with the catchy title ‘Female Hurricanes are deadlier than male hurricanes’. It is doing the rounds in the...
View ArticleAn MYEFO mystery: what’s with the resource tax?
It’s the time of the mid-year Economic Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) and we’re told that we’re about 11 billion deeper in the red this financial year than we thought, with the treasurer blaming the dropping...
View ArticleDid the University of Queensland suppress a study?
Possibly and so I am putting the question out there in the hopes a journalist might investigate. But first some context. In 2013, Redzo Mujcic and Paul Frijters (a frequent blogger here) published a...
View ArticleBest practice governance of top academic departments
Over the last 15-20 years academic school meetings have gone from rambling and unstructured brawls to dull “executive infomercials”. The former led to marathon meetings. The current model has led to a...
View ArticleAdverse Action Lawyer wanted in Frijters versus UQ case
I am seeking a lawyer to run an Adverse Action case connected to the recent Fair Work Commission verdict that found systematic breaches of procedures and procedural fairness in the University of...
View ArticleEU plans for VAT taxation are doomed to fail. Again.
Taxation is the potential downfall of the EU as an institution. The reason is that within the EU, several member states are making money from the tax evasion in other member states, a situation akin to...
View ArticleEthical failures: Where they come from and how to address them
A review of Gentilin, Dennis. The Origins of Ethical Failures. Lessons for Leaders. A Gower Book. Routledge (2016). ISBN: 978-1-138-69051-6 Ethical failures were in the press big-time in 2017....
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