Monthly Archives: December 2003

Oxytoxic Times: Emotions Are Getting in the Way Of Economic Theory.

This entry was posted in History of Ideas, Methodology, Philosophy, Listener on by .

Listener 27 December, 2003.

Keywords: History of Ideas, Methodology & Philosophy;

There was much laughter over the economist who presented a paper that assumed people made optimal calculations when deciding on higher education. The paper plodded on for pages, but came to a grinding halt with a mathematical equation that the presenter could not solve –– without the wit to conclude that the study demonstrated that one needed a degree in mathematics in order to decide whether to go to university.

Three Short Book Reviews: for the 2003 listener Books Of the Year.

This entry was posted in Environment & Resources, Governance, Listener, Macroeconomics & Money on by .

Listener: 20 December 2003.

Keywords: Environment & Resources; Governance; Macroeconomics & Money;

TREASURY: The New Zealand Treasury 1840-2000, by Malcolm McKinnon (AUP, $50).

THE GREAT UNRAVELLING: Losing our way in the new century, by Paul Krugman (Viking, $35).

THE LOST WORLD OF THE MOA: Prehistoric life of New Zealand, by Trevor Worthy and Richard Holdaway (Canterbury University Press, $169.50).

Notes Towards the New Zealand Centre for Globalisation Studies

This entry was posted in Globalisation & Trade on by .

Keywords: Globalisation & Trade;

Introduction

The conditions for a Marsden Grant require some technology transfer above the publication of articles and teaching. My successful application for a contribution to my research program on globalisation proposed that I would establish a virtual New Zealand Centre for Globalisation Studies (NZCGS), since I am not in a position to supervise research students directly.

Stressful Fiscal Sums: Should the Government Spend More and Tax Less?

This entry was posted in Listener, Macroeconomics & Money on by .

Listener: 13 December, 2003.

Keywords: Macroeconomics & Money;

The history of the modern Treasury –– described in Malcolm McKinnon’s landmark Treasury –– is one of fiscal stress, extreme fiscal stress or intolerable fiscal stress. You might think from the government accounts that is not currently true, for the Treasury reported a “surplus” of $5.6 billion for the year ending June 2003 and promises another comparable one this year. (This surplus’s exact name is “operating balance excluding revaluations and accounting changes” or OBERAC.) For a detailed description of the OBERAC.

Notes on Oberac. the Cash Surplus and Other Measures in the Government Accounts:

This entry was posted in Macroeconomics & Money on by .

This note was written to accompany Stressful Fiscal Sums: Should the Government Spend More and Tax Less? I am grateful for assistance from an economist who for various reasons cannot be named.

Keywords: Macroeconomics & Money;

OBERAC (the operating balance of government excluding revaluations and accounting policy changes) can be looked at as to how it is made up. and what happens to the quantum. The following focuses on the what happens to it. My comments in italics.

Ending Fault in Accident Compensation:

This entry was posted in Social Policy on by .

Issues and Lessons from Medical Misadventure
Paper to The Future of Accident Compensation: New Directions and Visions, Faculty of Law, Victoria University of Wellington, 5-6 December, 2003.

Keywords: Social Policy;

Introduction: The Woodhouse Vision

There seems to be common agreement that the treatment of medical misadventure should conform to the Woodhouse Principles and therefore there should be no notion of fault in its coverage. I shall not to labour this point, but it is worthwhile to remind ourselves of the Principles and how the 1966 Commission rejected fault as relevant. Their primary principles were

The Marsden Globalisation Project

This entry was posted in Globalisation & Trade on by .

Paper for ‘New Zealand’s Role in World Affairs’ Conference, VUW, 5 December, 2003.

Keywords: Globalisation & Trade;

A few months ago I was awarded a three year Marden Grant to study globalisation and New Zealand’s role in it. It is a topic I have been long working upon, developing out of my earlier study of the New Zealand economy summarised in my book In Stormy Seas: The Post-War New Zealand Economy, whose theme can be summarised as ‘the fate of New Zealand will be largely a consequence of what happens overseas, together with our ability to seize the opportunities and manage the problems those events.’