Meta tags:

Headings (most frequently used words):

august, 2011, the, gst, wednesday, tuesday, economists, and, case, against, dirty, of, 31, 30, monday, 29, saturday, 27, friday, 26, thursday, 25, 24, 23, your, correspondents, sample, non, representative, selection, search, me, recent, comments, twitter, interesting, feedburner, feedcount, subscribe, to, pageviews, last, month, blog, archive, fat, freedom, lies, we, tell, petty, aggrevation, blaming, press, further, fine, grained, results, younger, cohort, drives, it, updated, stealth, taxes, thinking, like, thoughts, about, light, rail, disease, lessons, from, childrens, literature, preventing, arbitrage, trusting, used, car, dealers, illusory, benefits, exclusions, some, basics, incentives, matter, conference, edition, french, folk, songs, rot, at, centre, new, zealand, economic, commentary, sports, science, journalism,

Text of the page (most frequently used words):
the (719), and (237), that (179), for (133), tax (82), but (77), this (74), are (68), with (68), year (65), from (63), gst (61), share (54), not (51), would (51), have (49), than (48), there (46), income (46), unemployment (40), their (39), olds (39), about (36), they (36), can (35), who (35), one (32), you (32), will (30), august (28), rate (28), new (27), people (27), what (27), price (26), all (26), taxes (25), #comments (25), his (25), more (25), june (24), goods (24), how (23), policy (23), adult (23), may (22), don (22), some (21), good (21), change (21), old (21), which (20), then (20), when (20), here (19), like (19), posted (19), out (19), those (19), just (19), has (19), march (18), september (18), december (18), january (18), conference (18), labels (18), pinterest (18), facebook (18), blogthis (18), email (18), system (18), way (18), rates (18), april (17), october (17), november (17), february (17), zealand (17), was (17), had (17), mill (17), taxation (17), poor (17), effects (17), july (16), against (16), eric (16), crampton (16), rather (16), get (16), other (16), much (16), any (16), used (15), make (15), things (15), whether (15), think (15), between (15), been (15), youth (14), costs (14), minimum (14), because (14), only (14), health (14), post (14), value (14), second (14), having (13), know (13), age (13), government (13), line (13), prior (13), labour (13), zero (13), capital (12), light (12), rail (12), 2011 (12), first (12), even (12), were (12), them (12), such (12), being (12), too (12), already (12), folks (12), case (11), cohort (11), wage (11), really (11), doesn (11), off (11), data (11), also (11), back (11), subject (11), should (11), want (11), now (11), paid (11), public (10), car (10), added (10), well (10), doing (10), work (10), john (10), morgan (10), let (10), less (10), does (10), current (10), rich (10), same (10), our (10), bread (10), employment (10), cost (9), economic (9), most (9), thing (9), see (9), over (9), favour (9), after (9), higher (9), while (9), every (9), consumers (9), flour (9), these (9), double (9), into (9), road (9), could (9), among (9), interaction (9), why (8), still (8), high (8), use (8), minutes (8), journalism (8), younger (8), results (8), posts (8), class (8), through (8), down (8), better (8), demand (8), since (8), world (8), before (8), clean (8), consumption (8), 2008 (8), exemption (8), rating (8), final (8), big (8), vehicles (8), right (8), bad (7), city (7), christchurch (7), economics (7), number (7), benefits (7), making (7), canterbury (7), points (7), bit (7), very (7), though (7), care (7), whole (7), problem (7), years (7), effect (7), average (7), another (7), analysis (7), note (7), its (7), without (7), particular (7), amount (7), done (7), means (7), lower (7), smaller (7), food (7), period (7), where (7), set (7), level (7), example (7), market (7), sales (7), miller (7), sandwiches (7), exempt (7), outcomes (7), likely (7), answer (7), imports (7), canada (7), transit (7), variable (7), indicator (7), incentives (6), matter (6), dirty (6), lies (6), tell (6), claim (6), papers (6), lot (6), group (6), time (6), anything (6), says (6), welfare (6), going (6), spending (6), absolute (6), relief (6), west (6), progressive (6), using (6), above (6), sure (6), full (6), equity (6), condition (6), 100 (6), compliance (6), best (6), break (6), pagani (6), fruit (6), two (6), consider (6), baker (6), three (6), pay (6), difference (6), turn (6), issues (6), future (6), project (6), something (6), cars (6), relative (6), google (6), alice (6), blame (6), term (6), part (5), take (5), updated (5), stats (5), turns (5), freedom (5), arbitrage (5), thinking (5), fat (5), blog (5), non (5), older (5), voters (5), read (5), did (5), looking (5), correlation (5), model (5), didn (5), assumption (5), fact (5), find (5), might (5), standard (5), thought (5), redistribution (5), desirable (5), wages (5), marginal (5), enough (5), school (5), yet (5), today (5), saving (5), greater (5), wealth (5), state (5), general (5), taxing (5), proportion (5), argument (5), nor (5), give (5), law (5), based (5), end (5), person (5), put (5), university (5), hit (5), fun (5), academics (5), hard (5), political (5), point (5), flat (5), total (5), consumer (5), works (5), each (5), café (5), rated (5), sells (5), small (5), gets (5), across (5), services (5), prices (5), said (5), magnitude (5), fleet (5), honda (5), discrimination (5), lrts (5), vote (5), running (5), regressions (5), significant (5), recession (5), reasonable (4), gains (4), hour (4), shocked (4), science (4), economists (4), further (4), press (4), politics (4), seamus (4), hogan (4), your (4), life (4), sell (4), spend (4), individual (4), must (4), important (4), instead (4), history (4), look (4), advocated (4), made (4), working (4), far (4), maybe (4), presented (4), check (4), portion (4), question (4), cuts (4), different (4), ones (4), incentive (4), classes (4), hold (4), quite (4), say (4), source (4), principle (4), both (4), taken (4), justice (4), harder (4), given (4), help (4), applied (4), takes (4), least (4), published (4), proceedings (4), held (4), key (4), come (4), removing (4), fresh (4), start (4), either (4), revenue (4), single (4), overall (4), depend (4), idea (4), intermediate (4), purchases (4), sellers (4), seller (4), purchase (4), category (4), affect (4), adding (4), regressive (4), nutritional (4), common (4), please (4), country (4), easy (4), free (4), happy (4), hand (4), recall (4), equilibrium (4), students (4), wrong (4), honours (4), sign (4), agnostic (4), become (4), substantially (4), supply (4), few (4), imported (4), import (4), relationship (4), guy (4), stupid (4), states (4), million (4), green (4), local (4), incidence (4), visible (4), deadweight (4), losses (4), onto (4), run (4), ols (4), newey (4), errors (4), surplus (4), simple (3), seems (3), counting (3), utility (3), powerful (3), alternative (3), education (3), king (3), sports (3), french (3), folk (3), songs (3), edition (3), illusory (3), trusting (3), preventing (3), lessons (3), stealth (3), atom (3), society (3), court (3), gap (3), social (3), top (3), home (3), newer (3), probably (3), stuff (3), real (3), side (3), lost (3), per (3), shows (3), sense (3), everyone (3), component (3), actually (3), coverage (3), under (3), larger (3), appears (3), several (3), applies (3), low (3), pressure (3), reasons (3), actual (3), exercise (3), news (3), suggests (3), research (3), useful (3), ask (3), questions (3), matt (3), problems (3), mostly (3), industry (3), self (3), workhouse (3), isn (3), modern (3), policies (3), favoured (3), mitigate (3), grad (3), debates (3), aren (3), support (3), ought (3), certainly (3), balance (3), encourage (3), incomes (3), wish (3), division (3), according (3), relatively (3), appear (3), upon (3), taxed (3), him (3), again (3), economy (3), previously (3), own (3), except (3), issue (3), particularly (3), plus (3), quality (3), perhaps (3), otherwise (3), comes (3), foods (3), international (3), vegetables (3), anyone (3), myself (3), eating (3), habits (3), subsequent (3), giving (3), equivalent (3), implies (3), interest (3), finally (3), short (3), identical (3), examine (3), increase (3), create (3), massive (3), adds (3), combines (3), produce (3), included (3), typically (3), buy (3), 000 (3), charge (3), paying (3), implicit (3), simply (3), enter (3), domestic (3), buyers (3), fraction (3), exclusions (3), wednesday (3), fixed (3), long (3), haven (3), healthy (3), financial (3), newly (3), show (3), house (3), veg (3), goes (3), looked (3), expensive (3), increased (3), volumes (3), hondas (3), slightly (3), access (3), rule (3), information (3), cheaper (3), absence (3), pharmacies (3), online (3), canadian (3), 500 (3), jurors (3), little (3), writing (3), slates (3), trial (3), she (3), third (3), population (3), waterloo (3), region (3), loss (3), auld (3), macro (3), frances (3), despite (3), longer (3), party (3), experienced (3), function (3), red (3), eighteen (3), specification (3), shift (3), fewer (3), rob (3), squared (3), horse (3), race (3), pablum (3), traffic (3), circle (3), estuary (3), diminishing (3), groups (3), nhs (3), doctors (3), blogger (2), 2010 (2), diatribe (2), mass (2), blogs (2), update (2), instrument (2), studies (2), constraint (2), continuing (2), recent (2), believe (2), offsetting (2), building (2), stupidity (2), trade (2), rot (2), centre (2), commentary (2), basics (2), dealers (2), childrens (2), literature (2), disease (2), thoughts (2), drives (2), fine (2), grained (2), blaming (2), petty (2), aggrevation (2), 2013 (2), 2015 (2), last (2), subscribe (2), interesting (2), search (2), assurance (2), contracts (2), defense (2), philosophers (2), curve (2), versus (2), voting (2), room (2), kiwi (2), somebody (2), else (2), eyeballs (2), front (2), affiliation (2), sensationalism (2), deserve (2), paper (2), range (2), reality (2), cut (2), researchers (2), took (2), increases (2), true (2), risk (2), reason (2), die (2), journal (2), story (2), article (2), however (2), release (2), putting (2), eventually (2), stuart (2), gareth (2), around (2), redistributive (2), writes (2), supported (2), starvation (2), worried (2), strikes (2), root (2), indoor (2), workhouses (2), preferred (2), inequality (2), initial (2), argues (2), expenditure (2), progressivity (2), hardly (2), words (2), half (2), ago (2), arguments (2), avoid (2), nothing (2), calls (2), face (2), place (2), favourable (2), compared (2), succession (2), mode (2), allow (2), advantage (2), acquired (2), diffusion (2), concentration (2), save (2), contrary (2), worst (2), makes (2), understand (2), force (2), upper (2), stated (2), owners (2), certain (2), draw (2), attention (2), next (2), wants (2), human (2), nature (2), savings (2), setting (2), degree (2), application (2), attempt (2), poorer (2), prudent (2), prodigal (2), inequalities (2), expense (2), clear (2), negative (2), partly (2), concern (2), percentage (2), lay (2), assistance (2), everybody (2), strong (2), beneficial (2), charity (2), himself (2), removed (2), act (2), persons (2), themselves (2), none (2), choice (2), economist (2), column (2), earthquake (2), tunes (2), went (2), called (2), death (2), usually (2), her (2), greatest (2), eaten (2), ran (2), tuesday (2), academia (2), fast (2), approaching (2), pbrf (2), assured (2), weighing (2), conferences (2), especially (2), lots (2), expected (2), auckland (2), won (2), refereed (2), love (2), accepted (2), review (2), committees (2), seem (2), favourite (2), call (2), feedings (2), venue (2), morning (2), lunch (2), dinner (2), welcome (2), many (2), raised (2), understood (2), cent (2), inhumane (2), unhealthy (2), changing (2), basic (2), humanity (2), misunderstanding (2), aspects (2), explain (2), imagine (2), replace (2), earn (2), impact (2), isolation (2), instance (2), needed (2), reduce (2), vertical (2), try (2), catch (2), add (2), subtracts (2), includes (2), worth (2), places (2), bill (2), implementation (2), anyway (2), effective (2), understanding (2), numbers (2), sufficient (2), purity (2), mis (2), supporting (2), exclude (2), exactly (2), argue (2), ways (2), excluding (2), achieve (2), etc (2), eliminate (2), differing (2), necessity (2), taking (2), spent (2), guess (2), subsidies (2), excise (2), apple (2), slices (2), served (2), american (2), readers (2), cause (2), produced (2), trivial (2), theory (2), reading (2), advocate (2), middle (2), exempting (2), necessary (2), ministry (2), transport (2), employed (2), never (2), trading (2), mean (2), rise (2), japanese (2), gone (2), relevant (2), keep (2), vehicle (2), scraps (2), scrapped (2), anybody (2), disequilibrium (2), individuals (2), importing (2), rises (2), daily (2), mot (2), vinsen (2), correct (2), requires (2), volume (2), beat (2), united (2), internet (2), protects (2), scheme (2), drugs (2), canadians (2), drug (2), companies (2), profits (2), wonder (2), department (2), violate (2), safety (2), advertising (2), controlled (2), prescription (2), wizard (2), spectacles (2), nominally (2), scarecrow (2), woodman (2), lion (2), humbug (2), whispered (2), gryphon (2), forget (2), talking (2), nice (2), fans (2), syndrome (2), quarters (2), budget (2), entirely (2), responsibility (2), taxpayers (2), edinburgh (2), ever (2), need (2), levels (2), wondering (2), earlier (2), outbreak (2), downtown (2), large (2), cities (2), young (2), include (2), saturday (2), gss (2), chris (2), bryan (2), views (2), consistent (2), found (2), microeconomic (2), controls (2), correlates (2), tyran (2), buchanan (2), woolley (2), framed (2), necessarily (2), specify (2), largely (2), hidden (2), opacity (2), weight (2), knowing (2), difficult (2), power (2), president (2), congress (2), burden (2), debt (2), bush (2), richest (2), americans (2), feel (2), aware (2), choices (2), payer (2), corporate (2), shifted (2), employees (2), disaggregated (2), residuals (2), regression (2), bigger (2), became (2), unemployed (2), dependent (2), periods (2), insignificant (2), stata (2), quarter (2), cohorts (2), statistically (2), era (2), drop (2), expect (2), carry (2), directly (2), employers (2), asks (2), decent (2), pool (2), coefficients (2), variables (2), excess (2), measures (2), action (2), neither (2), 1986 (2), recessions (2), jump (2), unemp (2), rosen (2), electorate (2), focus (2), status (2), complaining (2), season (2), trash (2), nicely (2), street (2), cones (2), barricades (2), watched (2), bus (2), wasn (2), gps (2), teaching (2), unlearn (2), often (2), econ (2), others (2), concepts (2), contexts (2), pareto (2), hicks (2), known (2), paternalism (2), male (2), created (2), beer (2), lincoln (2), creating (2), zealanders (2), disaster (2), asian (2), community (2), growing (2), money (2), harm (2), medical (2), interfere (2), expertise (2), theme, powered, 459, 2009, 604, weasel, whacking, nudge, critical, greens, seriously, doomsday, machines, redux, strippers, jacinda, test, lewd, moh, responds, stadium, rebuilding, explanations, prison, minimization, mendacious, horrible, bosses, smelters, baptists, damaged, destroying, itself, plans, paucity, intellectuals, omniscience, lucky, acquisitions, discriminating, ugly, snow, pro, tips, kiwis, beauty, thank, academy, agony, aunt, angel, investor, confound, beating, migrants, riding, codes, burns, barriers, econom, 534, 418, 2012, 385, 304, 2014, 336, 194, 2016, 177, 2017, 220, 2018, 191, 2019, 150, 2020, 154, 2021, 216, 2022, 136, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026, archive, pageviews, month, feedburner, feedcount, loading, tweets, ericcrampton, twitter, inuit, print, cigarette, packets, video, games, socialist, calculation, debate, investing, piracy, ownership, debunking, atlas, moment, dominant, sweatshops, gouging, ticket, scalping, trent, reznor, insuring, uninsurable, gnomes, gollum, psychoanalyzed, day, week, restaurant, sided, skepticism, alcohol, ignorance, activism, conscientious, transfusions, operating, ethics, maximisation, smoking, stalin, hpv, mcdonald, mcworld, preference, falsification, arthur, etiquette, sample, representative, selection, masthead, explained, correspondents, statistics, lazy, reporting, sciences, finger, journos, gulped, watching, expectancy, critiqued, mine, closely, notes, pleased, cares, pointless, exist, advertisers, squishy, grey, scientific, accuracy, strange, confidence, intervals, huge, uncertainty, seconds, causation, spends, evening, jogging, playing, golf, sky, subscription, participant, ausdiab, study, nearly, weakened, lose, described, authors, universal, factors, follow, pattern, ages, blood, happens, apply, attenuation, weakly, connected, previous, sedentary, lifestyles, sensational, indeed, blast, creative, angles, behavioral, impacts, grabbing, imagination, wire, service, told, wallabies, training, regimen, improve, game, fitter, faster, tougher, scrum, accurate, kicking, elbow, thomas, lumley, fed, nolan, tvhe, hits, piece, pulling, punches, professional, courtesy, academic, consultancy, smack, name, drops, definitely, alleviation, poverty, provision, attractive, always, preferable, favouring, heavily, alleviate, amoral, mathematization, leads, opposition, opposed, immediately, quotes, reads, hints, violence, quote, initially, fuller, context, italicized, forms, posed, testimony, parliament, cites, specifically, estate, proportional, minimal, threshold, generates, schedule, scholar, hell, bludging, century, british, laws, women, kids, wedlock, dbp, hundred, fifty, observe, strict, separation, sexes, malthusian, facing, dumbed, frustrated, sympathetic, towards, guaranteed, cite, kurer, hope, consideration, paramount, proportionate, duty, unobjectionable, confined, hereditary, retain, lives, deal, occasion, fair, twice, fairly, canon, employing, discouragement, emphasis, distinction, clearly, admirably, permanent, terminable, precarious, tenure, quantity, subsistence, comfort, adoption, aside, able, precise, frame, wealthier, punished, england, continent, graduated, property, avowed, ground, mitigating, desirous, diminish, relieve, impôt, progressif, moreover, select, committee, favor, separates, advocates, plan, objection, scale, objected, impose, penalty, worked, neighbours, admits, doctrine, maxim, manner, helped, succeeds, capable, calculated, mischievous, available, leaves, motive, 1834, receiving, eligible, labourer, supports, exertions, fully, acted, require, supplement, organized, compulsion, governing, cattle, influence, motives, beings, consistently, guaranteeing, legal, kept, considerably, consequences, arise, renders, impossible, insufficiency, during, industrial, revolution, grotesque, disparities, intensified, impoverishment, led, enlightenment, conclude, purpose, latest, herald, budgets, remind, learned, music, immersion, elementary, manitoba, sang, book, almost, invariably, lyrics, murder, cannibalism, pleasant, upbeat, mlle, parent, chose, sing, chorus, cannibal, lament, sung, mother, bird, whose, babies, flew, nest, early, fell, fox, times, volette, remembering, sailing, crew, straws, était, petit, navire, les, belles, chansons, deadline, outputs, counted, weighed, easier, turned, inbox, invitations, india, malaysia, looks, copy, details, needing, mid, date, subsequently, journals, within, six, months, report, editorial, guidelines, multiple, awards, insist, respond, attendees, enjoy, addition, getting, publication, rendezvous, hotel, arrival, noon, buffet, gatherings, countries, doubt, exceptions, applying, broadly, opposite, perspective, desire, belief, efficacy, signals, muddying, categories, word, sentence, convinced, differences, opinion, commonly, justifications, special, treatment, water, product, hence, equivalence, grow, grows, consumed, reduced, systems, possibilities, mistake, efficiency, considering, distortionary, depends, placed, substitute, similarly, implications, exists, 1999, maintain, respective, distinguish, integration, bureaucratic, inefficiencies, guessing, reflect, retail, subtract, production, chain, wherever, produces, bags, bakers, pays, inland, sends, claims, deduct, remits, therefore, differently, materially, businesses, turnover, choose, although, registering, buying, sandwich, unable, typical, completing, return, registered, calculate, filling, returns, separately, enchilada, tolerable, abandoning, brought, putative, tomorrow, motivated, yesterday, four, exculsion, promote, products, concpetion, shout, rooftops, steve, landsburg, duplicate, explaining, undesirable, compounded, inflation, furthermore, imply, kiwisaver, retirement, considers, becomes, lousy, illustrate, broad, extra, earned, returned, poll, implement, bringing, dole, superannuation, dpb, increasing, reducing, liability, distortions, implied, enforcement, receive, rebate, distortion, enhancing, seen, candidate, cigarettes, pigouvian, bring, behavioural, changes, nation, exemptions, assume, interventions, optimal, cease, mcdonalds, fires, meal, meals, peeled, caramel, dipping, sauce, betrays, definitional, designed, delay, worlds, undergraduate, trades, statement, bottom, examples, stepped, slippery, slope, step, kidding, meet, needs, canned, frozen, honest, cater, patterns, existing, houses, regulation, proposals, loyal, anonymous, reader, aggrieved, grading, challenge, computer, boot, reverse, order, trusted, bunch, switch, pushed, margin, elasticity, student, near, horizontal, soon, reckoning, comparative, statics, surely, export, castoffs, shipping, surprised, scrap, rarely, driven, remain, drivers, turning, mileage, adjusted, cited, commenter, interested, providing, roughly, supervise, regulatory, mentioned, magnitudes, estimate, undoubtedly, direction, hours, men, advice, halve, virtually, 2005, cpi, reports, accept, decision, head, stick, bloggers, mensa, graduates, perfect, following, comment, thursday, pharmaceuticals, medicare, characterized, adjusting, maintained, pricey, prevent, ouch, doj, disingenuous, prosecution, consequently, restrictions, forgo, policeman, regimes, policing, continue, accountable, bid, federal, deputy, attorney, cole, settlement, ensures, reform, improper, practices, regard, largest, forfeiture, penalties, engine, advertisements, targeted, illegally, forfeits, generated, ads, immediate, office, affairs, crap, trips, everything, listening, wonderland, commute, dodgson, portrayal, judge, fare, chapter, bedtime, lately, patiently, explains, magical, powers, ability, grant, courage, hearts, brains, nevertheless, demanded, supplies, placebos, greatly, satisfy, wear, tinted, protect, sparkling, emerald, radiance, normal, great, classics, pick, left, smiled, success, tin, wanted, knows, imagined, wonderful, twelve, busily, begun, names, reply, fear, began, loud, indignant, voice, stopped, hastily, white, rabbit, cried, silence, anxiously, round, shoulders, spell, neighbour, muddle, complimentary, audiobook, friday, urban, disclaimer, happen, infrastructure, overruns

Text of the page (random words):
n the comments some degree of visibility in taxation is desirable without information how the tax system works and who bears the burden of taxation it is difficult to make good policy decisions this is a fun one to think through specify that voters are largely ignorant but will vote against anybody they think is to blame for bad outcomes and specify a westminsterian system so they know who s to blame for bad outcomes in that world i m not sure whether it matters a lot whether the taxes are hidden or visible if taxes with too high of deadweight losses are used to fund services of too little value incumbents get turfed maybe it takes slightly longer if policy has lagged effects retrospective economic voting then saves things if there s no opacity the ruling party has to balance losses from bad effects of policy against loss in popularity from running works but unpopular policy at least there s weight on the effects of policy despite voters not knowing a damned thing except what they see out the window in a political system where responsibility attribution is more difficult either parliamentary with pr and powerful committees or a presidential system with strong division of power and a federalist structure things are harder to work out and could then persist longer then there s rather less incentive to weigh the effects of policy rather you blame the president if you re congress blame the other party in congress if you re the president blame the state if you re local government blame gets spread and incentives for good policy are flattened i m also not sure that complete opacity is as good an idea in a brennan buchanan leviathan taxation world than in a musgrove benevolent despot one posted by eric crampton at 09 39 00 3 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels frances woolley james buchanan tax incidence taxation tyran voters thinking like economists and thoughts about economists chris auld finds that people without a high school education are most likely to think that economists are know nothings the proportion of gss respondents having such views is mostly declining in education from auld this is consistent with what i d found on correlates of economic thinking in new zealand the more educated are more likely to agree with what i d taken as consensus economist views and with what bryan found in the states but i don t recall seeing anything like that uptick among grad school folks though i d have to double check the questions i d used as indicating economic thinking all touched on microeconomic rather than macro issues whether wage and price controls are a good idea whether high income taxes make people less willing to work hard whether we should have import controls perhaps folks who ve gone to grad school encounter too many folks who ve done too much macro posted by eric crampton at 07 00 00 5 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels bryan caplan chris auld economic thinking gss saturday 27 august 2011 light rail disease christchurch isn t the only victim forget aids or sars there s a new billion dollar contagion popping up across the country symptoms include visions of grandeur severe loss of reality and a propensity to enact massive tax hikes it s called lrts light rail transit syndrome and while the surest cure for this new ailment is a large application of public input and a quick dose of common sense the antidote appears in extreme short supply patient zero in the current canadian outbreak of lrts is southwestern ontario s region of waterloo a high tech hub as home to blackberry maker research in motion and the university of waterloo the diagnosis was confirmed this june when the region population 500 000 approved an 818 million light rail transit project light rail transit is beloved by bureaucrats and planners for its sleek and modern look that provides the aura of a big city amenity those susceptible to lrts claim it can transform modest cities into booming metropolises by instantly boosting transit usage curbing congestion spurring rapid downtown development and attracting young mobile workers of the richard florida ilk but like any fixed track mass transit system light rail is best suited to moving high volumes of commuters to and from dense downtown employment cores as is the case in calgary it requires specific densities and geographies to work effectively and even large cities such as baltimore and buffalo have struggled with light rail and it s expensive for anyone wondering about palliative care for terminal cases of lrts consider an earlier outbreak on the other side of the atlantic edinburgh scotland population 490 000 was infected by lrts a few years before waterloo region its 870 million light rail transit project was also presented to local taxpayers as the means by which their city would boldly march into the future and it would be free paid for by higher levels of government today three quarters of the budget has been spent but less than a third of the infrastructure is in place with cost overruns entirely the responsibility of local taxpayers this summer edinburgh city council after rejecting calls for a referendum debated tearing up the whole thing and forgetting it ever happened in the end they decided to shorten the route substantially and they still need to come up with 438 million don t let light rail transit syndrome happen to you christchurch light rail fans may wish to read the whole thing the same disclaimer applies to this post as applied to my prior post on light rail posted by eric crampton at 15 57 00 17 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels canada christchurch light rail urban economics friday 26 august 2011 lessons from childrens literature we ve been listening to an audiobook of alice in wonderland among other things on our daily commute dodgson s portrayal of jurors is a little less than complimentary the twelve jurors were all writing very busily on slates what are they doing alice whispered to the gryphon they can t have anything to put down yet before the trial s begun they re putting down their names the gryphon whispered in reply for fear they should forget them before the end of the trial stupid things alice began in a loud indignant voice but she stopped hastily for the white rabbit cried out silence in the court and the king put on his spectacles and looked anxiously round to make out who was talking alice could see as well as if she were looking over their shoulders that all the jurors were writing down stupid things on their slates and she could even make out that one of them didn t know how to spell stupid and that he had to ask his neighbour to tell him a nice muddle their slates ll be in before the trial s over thought alice the judge doesn t fare much better re read alice chapter 11 if it s been too long our bedtime reading lately has included the wizard of oz which has this wonderful bit on the demand for humbug after the wizard patiently explains that he has no magical powers and no ability to grant courage hearts or brains they re nevertheless demanded from him so he supplies placebos which greatly satisfy oz left to himself smiled to think of his success in giving the scarecrow and the tin woodman and the lion exactly what they thought they wanted how can i help being a humbug he said when all these people make me do things that everybody knows can t be done it was easy to make the scarecrow and the lion and the woodman happy because they imagined i could do anything and so too went his rule of the city of oz where all needed to wear green tinted spectacles nominally to protect them from the sparkling emerald radiance but really to make an otherwise normal city appear green there are some great lessons to be had in the classics i wonder how much of it the three year old will pick up posted by eric crampton at 10 36 00 0 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels fun preventing arbitrage pharmaceuticals are cheaper in canada than in the states even in the absence of medicare this would likely be the case income based price discrimination would have cheaper prices in canada for goods characterized by very very high fixed costs and trivial marginal cost adjusting for that the price of everything is higher in canada but price discrimination can only be maintained if you make it hard to arbitrage car trips to canada are relatively pricey but internet sales aren t how to prevent re import this way beat the crap out of google department of justice office of public affairs for immediate release wednesday august 24 2011 google forfeits 500 million generated by online ads prescription drug sales by canadian online pharmacies internet search engine accepted advertisements from online canadian pharmacies that targeted u s consumers and illegally imported controlled and non controlled prescription drugs into the united states ouch the doj s argument is disingenuous though the department of justice will continue to hold accountable companies who in their bid for profits violate federal law and put at risk the health and safety of american consumers said deputy attorney general cole this settlement ensures that google will reform its improper advertising practices with regard to these pharmacies while paying one of the largest financial forfeiture penalties in history i call bs prosecution protects a price discrimination scheme and consequently works to keep drugs cheaper for canadians in the absence of restrictions on arbitrage drug companies would have to charge canadians us prices and would forgo profits in doing so if google is to be policeman for international price discrimination regimes i wonder what google s policing costs are posted by eric crampton at 08 39 00 0 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels arbitrage canada free trade google health price discrimination united states thursday 25 august 2011 trusting used car dealers a loyal anonymous reader likely employed at the ministry of transport seems aggrieved by my prior post here s his comment and my attempt at an answer i ll let y all do the grading of the question and the answer ok i think we can accept that the government decision is beat you over the head with a stick stupid and that all bloggers are mensa graduates with perfect information so answer me the following please 1 if mot data shows no correlation between the volume of used vehicles being imported and the volume of vehicles being scrapped why does this change on 1 january 2 if stats nz cpi reports that the average used car price shows no correlation with used vehicle import volumes why does this relationship change on 1 january 3 if mr vinsen has said that imports will halve and prices double virtually every year since 2005 and they have not why is he right this time 4 if the new rule only requires imports of newer vehicles how much more expensive does that make the vehicles already in the fleet 5 if the average age of the fleet is 13 years how much younger does it get from importing yet more 12 year old vehicles 6 when did you start trusting used car sales men for advice on anything you have three hours i lost the first 90 minutes of the challenge as my computer doesn t boot up before 9 am but here goes anyway in reverse order 6 i never said that i trusted his numbers just the sign of the number i said i was agnostic about magnitude it s not something i ve looked into from the initial post i have no sense of whether vinsen s estimate of the price effects are correct he is undoubtedly correct about the direction of the change i m agnostic about magnitude 5 that ll depend on how much more expensive relatively newer vehicles get if a bunch of folks with 18 year old cars become less likely to switch up to 15 year old cars because the folks with 15 year old cars aren t trading up to 12 year old cars the mean gets pushed back right if the price rise for 12 year old vehicles is big enough then the fleet can age substantially if the price rise is small so too will be the effect on fleet age 4 it can have big effects at the margin but will depend on relative elasticity of supply and demand it s easy for the effects to work their way all the way down the line though right if the cohort who d usually purchase 10 year old japanese imports and sell off their 15 year old japanese imports hold off trading in for a few years because the price of newly imported used vehicles has gone up then the supply of domestic older used cars goes up etc as for magnitude that s something i could set up as an honours project for a student but not something i m going to try doing now especially not under a time constraint 3 again i m agnostic on magnitude but not on sign see above 2 my first cut answer would be that the supply curve is near horizontal over the relevant range nz demand is a small part of the overall market as soon as there s any price pressure here increased imports keep things in line we d then see no correlation between domestic price and used vehicle import volumes 1 i m having a hard time reckoning how there s no relationship between imports and scraps prior to 1 january i d have to understand that prior to working through the comparative statics surely every car that is imported eventually is scrapped we don t export our low value castoffs to anybody else given shipping costs or at least i d be really surprised if we did the only way there s no correlation then between imports and scrap is if we re still in disequilibrium that there are lots of individuals who want to have a second car where the price is low enough but haven t yet acquired that second car in equilibrium the guy importing the 10 year old honda sells his 15 year old honda to a guy who sells his 20 year old honda to a guy who sells his 25 year old honda to a guy who scraps his 30 year old honda in disequilibrium there s a market for those 25 year old hondas as second cars that are rarely driven if that s the world and the price of the 10 year old hondas rises a lot of those 25 year old hondas remain the daily drivers for poorer folks rather than turning into the second car for slightly less poor people mileage adjusted fleet age rises i haven t access to the mot data cited but if the commenter does and is interested in providing some of it for an honours project two years from now roughly long enough for effects to start working their way though i d be more than happy to supervise an honours project using that data to examine the effects of the regulatory change as mentioned i m agnostic on magnitudes but i d love to find out posted by eric crampton at 10 01 00 30 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels future honours project proposals ministry of transport new zealand regulation the case against a dirty gst illusory benefits of ex...