John Quiggin

I’m reposting this piece from 2011, as a prebuttal of  arguments like this. I give a bit more detail here. One of the most striking successes of the Occupy Wall Street movement has been the “We are the 99 per cent” idea, and more specifically in the identification of the top 1 per cent as the primary source of economic problems. Thanks to #OWS, the fact that households the top 1 per cent of the income distribution now receive around 25 per cent of all income (up from 12 per cent a few...

A new sandpit for long side discussions, conspiracy theories, idees fixes and so on.

I’m back again with another Monday Message Board. Post comments on any topic. I’d be interested in suggestions for the blog, both in terms of substantive topics that readers might like me to discuss and in terms of layout, features and so on, now that I am managing all that for myself. Civil discussion and no coarse language please. Side discussions and idees fixes to the sandpits, please.

Hi everyone. As you can see, there have been a few changes. For many years, Jacques Chester has kindly hosted this site and other Australian blogs. He’s had to move on, and the site has been migrated to WordPress.com. In the process, the theme has been lost and some recent comments may also have gone. At the same time, I’ve had a lot of commitments that have slowed me down. I’ll be restoring as much as I can over the next week or so, and trying to resume normal posting. Mostly, I’d like to...

The blog has been pretty quiet lately. That’s partly because I’m trying really hard to focus on finishing my Two Lessons book, but also because so many of the debates that come up have been had many times before, and I don’t feel like repeating myself. So, I’m going to try reposting older material. The risk is that it will be out of date, but on an early sample, it’s surprising how little I would change if I were rewriting. I’m going to start with the current topic of hyperventilation in...

I’ve stopped doing instant reactions on Budgets. There’s always plenty available now, at places like Inside Story, as well as in the newspapers. But there’s often something of interest that gets overlooked a bit. In this case, it’s the government’s proposal to legislate tax cuts for the rich seven years in advance. This is an idea with a lengthy and inglorious history, taken to a new extreme. As far as I know, the first government to legislate future tax cuts was that of Paul Keating,...

I’ve stopped doing instant reactions on Budgets. There’s always plenty available now, at places like Inside Story, as well as in the newspapers. But there’s often something of interest that gets overlooked a bit. In this case, it’s the government’s proposal to legislate tax cuts for the rich seven years in advance. This is an idea with a lengthy and inglorious history, taken to a new extreme. As far as I know, the first government to legislate future tax cuts was that of Paul Keating,...

In a comment posted yesterday, I said I suppose this should be obvious, but the HC decision actually creates a perfect opportunity to generate divided loyalties where none previously existed. Suppose you want to run for Parliament but your parent came here as a 3-year old from some other country. A government official explains that the process of losing citizenship normally takes years, but for special friends of the country, it can be rushed through in time to nominate. After you have...

In a comment posted yesterday, I said I suppose this should be obvious, but the HC decision actually creates a perfect opportunity to generate divided loyalties where none previously existed. Suppose you want to run for Parliament but your parent came here as a 3-year old from some other country. A government official explains that the process of losing citizenship normally takes years, but for special friends of the country, it can be rushed through in time to nominate. After you have...

Thanks to everyone who commented on the first nine chapters of my book-in-progress, Economics in Two Lessons. Here’s a draft of Chapter 10: Market failure -Externalities and pollution. Comments, criticism and praise are welcome. The book so far is availableTable of ContentsIntroduction.Chapter 1: What is opportunity cost?Chapter 2: Markets, opportunity cost and equilibriumChapter 3:Time, information and uncertaintyChapter 4:Lesson 1: Applications.Chapter 5: Lesson 1 and economic...