economics toolbox

Naomi Klein’s Capitalism vs the Climate

John Powell — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 11:15:03 +0000

I only came across Naomi Klein’s article in The Nation yesterday, although it was published on November 9th. It offers a detailed examination of the (US) climate change denier perspective and identifies some of the substantial changes required in order to address climate change. The ideological battle that this entails does tend to suggest it will be difficult to get the magnitude of change necessary to have some chance of slowing climate change. Nonetheless, there is a challenge to economic orthodoxy that recognises the inherent conflict between industrialised growth and environment:

There is a growing body of economic research on the conflict between economic growth and sound climate policy, led by ecological economist Herman Daly at the University of Maryland, as well as Peter Victor at York University, Tim Jackson of the University of Surrey and environmental law and policy expert Gus Speth. All raise serious questions about the feasibility of industrialized countries meeting the deep emissions cuts demanded by science (at least 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050) while continuing to grow their economies at even today’s sluggish rates.

(Klein, 2011)

Tracing the influence of Prospect Theory

John Powell — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 19:42:25 +0000

As part of a review of Kahneman’s new book, Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Evan Goldstein in the Chronicle of Higher Education, there is a fantastic infographic tracing citations for Kahneman and Tversky’s 1979 paper (see below). What is interesting is just how broad the range of disciplines citing prospect theory is. Obviously, psychology and economics figure quite significantly, but the volume of business and management citations suggest a wider practical impact perhaps.

Digital currency

John Powell — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 09:59:44 +0000

Came across an interesting article by Benjamin Wallace on bitcoin, the attempt to create a digital currency, in Wired. The history of bitcoin reads as if it’s from a William Gibson or Neal Stephenson book. The practical and market aspects of the way bitcoin has developed (and perhaps failed) are quite interesting, and show some of the inherent difficulty in trying to replace our conception of ‘money’ with something a little different.

Peak oil

John Powell — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 12:37:53 +0000

Univ. of California physics prof Tom Murphy’s blog – Do the Math – has a lengthy and stimulating discussion about peak oil data (and the analysis of such). I’m grateful to Joss Winn for sharing the link via Twitter.

One of the aspects I found interesting about the analysis was the plot of oil production as a function of price:

On the left-hand side, we see a familiar correlation of price and production: if spare capacity exists, higher prices stimulate increased production. But something dramatic happens at about 84 Mbpd. Increasing the price by a factor of three is insufficient to budge production by more than a few percent. There appears to remain a slight positive slope (economics still works in the normal sense), but the thing is incredibly inelastic.

Essentially, given the finite nature of the resource and issues to do with extraction, the market reaches a point where higher prices are unable to drive greater production volume. Given our dependence on oil (and slow pace of change away from oil) , this might be seen as problematic, to say the least.

Murphy also links to a Mother Jones article about work by James Hamilton – Oil Prices, Exhaustible Resources, and Economic Growth [pdf]. I’ve not had a chance to read it yet, but it looks interesting.

Technological progress

John Powell — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 15:24:44 +0000

It occurs to me that were I having to restructure the site the ‘old’ way – ie manually in Dreamweaver, rather than in WordPress, it would have been a lot more painful. I think I was actually putting it off as I could only remember the pain of manually doing it (and had forgotten the ease of doing it in WordPress, even if it is in the browser).

Conclusion? WordPress is fab…

[that I've been able to post this from my iDevice whilst sitting on the sofa is simply icing on the WordPress cake]

Out with the old, in with the new

John Powell — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 14:14:32 +0000

Restructuring of the site content to reflect my current teaching responsibilities is under way. Look out for the Technology and Innovation Resources section – this reflects my past teaching in these areas, but will continue to have ongoing development as an open learning resource.

Watch for updates to reading lists

John Powell — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 10:23:18 +0000

In the weeks leading up to the exams, there are likely to be some new materials added to reading lists, to reflect recent publications or events – for instance, today’s publication of the Independent Commission for Banking’s interim report, which has some bearing on the CORP2135 exam.

You will need to keep checking relevant pages and look for the ‘new’ title.

Term 2 lecture handouts now available

John Powell — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 07:07:02 +0000

Pretty much all of the lecture handouts are now available as pdfs from the site, ordered by the lecture content. Note that for those modules with upcoming exams, over the next six weeks or so there will likely be updates to the suggested reading materials under lecture topics and case study seminars (to reflect any more recent useful materials that may inform your exam responses).

Lecture handouts for term 1 now available

John Powell — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 12:46:04 +0000

For those modules where pdfs of the lecture handouts were not available on the site, you will now find that they are (for the last term). Note that the handouts are essentially a framework for the lecture and not the total content – the handout is not a substitute for attendance. Moreover, you should be following up the guided reading in each case.

Emily Bell on The Times’ paywall… and what of other Murdoch property?

John Powell — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 17:14:08 +0000

Emily Bell, The Guardian’s erstwhile web editor, offers a reasoned perspective from NY on News International’s recent data on how The Times is faring behind its paywall: W(h)ither the Times?. There’s been quite a lot of comment about the numbers released by News International, but her key theme is that the paywall represents a change in the significance of The Times as a tool for political influence and that Murdoch’s intent is to pursue broadcast media (and use other newspapers, like the WSJ) as more effective ‘influencers’. It’s a useful and valid standpoint from which to assess his decision-making.

it also ties in with another News International property -myspace. From being seen as evidence of Rupe’s canny insight into the web, it’s now a deadweight around his neck. Facebook’s trouncing of myspace in the UK and globally is very evident. The re-design and re-focus of myspace on music is its last chance to stave off sale or being folded.