Labour market. The unemployment numbers yesterday were again remarkably good relative to what is happening elsewhere in the world. The headline u/e rate is up to 5.8%. Since July last year we’ve lost about 160,000 full time jobs, but part time jobs are up about 127,000. Of course we need to create jobs to stop the unemployment rate from rising,…
Posts By Me
Local Government first to 2.0. In Australia, Government 2.0 is being pursued at a national level. However, in the US, some big cities have moved first. Here is an article about New York City’s initiatives and here is another about Boston’s moves [HT: Darren Challis] Early days yet but very interesting. [Core Economics]
Inequality and Growth. Joshua Gans has a new paper out with Dan Andrews and Christopher Jencks, on the relationship between inequality and growth. We reach a finding that is pretty standard in this literature – when we restrict the sample to 1960-2000, more inequality seems to be good for growth. However, if the inequality arises from a transfer from the bottom…
Gov2.0 in the Age. Joshua Gans has an opinion piece in The Age today on Government 2.0. Taskforce needs to loosen grip on hidden public data Joshua Gans, The Age, 6th July 2009 (see also WA Today) The Government’s tight control of public information is outdated. UNLOCKING the information collection by governments — and deciding what information could be of social value —…
The Net Hubbert Curve: What Does It Mean?. Cutler Cleveland of Boston University has reported that the EROI of oil and gas extraction in the U.S. has decreased from 100:1 in the 1930Ŵ
Graduate school for unemployed college students Fewer college grads have jobs than at any other time in recent memory
Technology lesson one: teach the teachers. Leading technology academics have warned that the rollout of communication infrastructure in the education revolution will be wasted if teachers do not know how to use it. The Australian, 25 June 2009. [School Education Headlines]
Andrew Leigh says: Jeff Borland has a splendid article (gated, sorry) in the latest Australian Economic Review on what happens to the labour market in recessions. 4 Key points: The impact across industries differs greatly. In past recessions, employment tends to fall in agriculture, manufacturing and construction, but also tends to rise in ‘recreation and personal services’, and sometimes also in…
Not a plant to be seen, the desert ground is too dry. But the air contains water, and research scientists have found a way of obtaining drinking water from air humidity. The system is based completely on renewable energy and is therefore autonomous. Cracks permeate the dried-out desert ground, the landscape bears testimony to the lack of water. But even…