Monthly Archives: March 2004

Savings and Loan, Loan, Loan (review)

This entry was posted in Business & Finance, Listener on by .

SAVING THE SUN: Shinsei and the battle for Japan’s future by Gillian Tett
Listener: 27 March, 2004.

Keywords: Business & Finance;

One day in 1999, banker Takashi Uehara checked into a suburban hotel in 1999 and then hanged himself. His suicide note read, “I am so sorry.” It was a traditional hara-kiri, except that ritual disembowelment –– slashing one’s stomach open with four precise strokes of the sword –– was considered too selfish and messy, whereas the anonymous event in the hotel spared his family the shock. To this mixture of Japanese and Western values was added those of the finance sector, for the shame Uehara wished to expunge was that his bank was going bankrupt.

Some Comments About the Theory and New Zealand Economic Growth

This entry was posted in Growth & Innovation, History of Ideas, Methodology, Philosophy on by .

Formal contribution to the MED Panel on economic growth: 24 March, 2004.

Keywords: Growth & Innovation; History of Ideas, Methodology & Philosophy;

In the last three weeks we have had three interesting introductions to elements of growth theory. I do not see them as independent paradigms contesting with one another, but rather they are different facets of a more comprehensive growth theory. One thing which came through clearly, is that Solow’s neo-classical model of growth, now 45 odd years old, was both a powerful stimulus to growth theory, but very deficient. Much of the work of the last five decades has been trying to overcome those weaknesses. Many remain unresolved, and the empirical underpinnings of growth theory are still tenuous. Yet we tend to lapse back into a pure Solow model with its high degree of aggregation and vague notions of technology.

Culture Matters

This entry was posted in Health, Listener, Maori on by .

Don Brash says, “I can’t think of anything in health which is specifically Maori.” So why treat Maori differently?

Listener: 20 March, 2004.

Keywords: Health; Maori;

Sadly, the proportion of Maori who smoke, and as a consequence suffer the diseases from smoking and die early, is higher than that of Pakeha. Moreover, although there has been some success from the campaign to reduce smoking, it seems to have had little impact on Maori rates. So it makes sense to have a specifically Maori anti-smoking campaign, administered by Maori. One of its successes has been that most marae now ban smoking. No Pakeha-dominated organisation could have achieved such an outcome.

When GDP and GDE Are Not Equal

This entry was posted in Statistics on by .

Keywords: Statistics;

Introduction

It is an elementary truism of economics that Gross Domestic Product can be measured on the production side (that is in terms of the products of firms) and the expenditure side (that is in terms of the final purchases of the products) and the two aggregates are exactly equal to one another (although in practice there will be a measurement error, called the ‘statistical discrepancy’).

Measuring PPP-adjusted GDP (index)

This entry was posted in Statistics on by .

MEASURING PPP-ADJUSTED GDP (INDEX)
This is the index of a series of papers concerned with PPP measures. The papers are in varying presentational styles and also reflects my growing understanding of the issues involved, and my improving presentation of them.

Keywords: Statistics;

Your Friends and Neighbours

This entry was posted in Globalisation & Trade, Listener on by .

Who really benefits from the US/Australian Free Trade Agreement?
Listener: 6 March, 2004.

Keywords: Globalisation & Trade;

Free (or preferential) Trade Agreements (FTAs) may not always benefit the economies involved. Certainly, there will be sector beneficiaries, and their acolytes will loudly proclaim the benefits, but within an economy there will also be losers. Do the sector benefits outweigh others’ detriments? The economist’s answer is “not necessarily”.

What Was a Pound Worth?

This entry was posted in Statistics on by .

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand Inflation Calculator and earlier

Keywords: Statistics;

As a part of its statutory responsibility for price stability, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand has provided a web based ‘Inflation Calculator’. Historians will find it useful to convert an earlier price into a current one, thus giving readers a better sense of the significance of a historical value.