Thinking Out Aloud

I live within the boundaries of  Maribyrnong Council  in an area that fulfils my definition of "inner city" (it has back alleys ...

A perennial discussion in monetary policy is  rules versus discretion.  Should the central bank be constrained to follow a policy rule or...

What can the price of beer tell us? Quite a lot according to  this  amusing piece ( via ). Here is a chart of beer prices in various Euro...

Taboos are a major part of religious practice, across a very wide range of religious traditions. Taboos about what people can eat, wear, a...

A feature of the internet has been the growth of networked zealotry; where intensely held attitudes are expressed in overheated rhetoric a...

Over the years, various reforms have been introduced in attempts to make American politics be more democratic. For example, primary voting...

In the course of exploring the history and dynamics of bigotry, of moral exclusion, and the history of money (particularly  the similariti...

On  Murano, the glass island , they have glass sculptures. They tended to be rather starkly modern, but I was taken with this one (possi...

I have become deeply interested in the origins of money, which means reading the work of various historical anthropologists. As is often t...

Today (Tuesday 31st) is Milton Friedman's centenary.  It seems appropriate to link to some Milton Friedman quotes  here  and  here . ...

What do the goldzone Great Depression ( 1929-3? ) and the Eurozone Great Recession (2008-?) have in common? They were both created by Euro...

Time for some more food p0rn. Are your bites bloc-sized? It's always time for chocolate.

Venezia is not a wheelchair friendly city.  Almost all the bridges are stepped. But we were taken with this solution to the problem of w...

The slogan for this post is:  don't think debt, think safe assets . (This post is partly provoked by  this post  by Paul Krugman re...

What is the biggest difference in decision-making between buying equipment and hiring a person?  The characteristics of the equipment are m...