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Alessina, Ichino and Karabarbounis arguing for gender based taxation, on VoxEU. This recent CEPR working paper has the details. Their modelling is very basic (one obvious extension to make this more realistic– probably requiring a lot of effort– should be to allow for frictions in the search & matching of agents on the marriage market), but still makes for super interesting research with (potential) serious policy implications. I guess female readers of this blog can only agree with their idea? :-).
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5 myths about ballot-box behaviour (works very well also beyond the USA, if you’re in any way worried about external validity :-)) from the author of the excellent “Myth of the Rational Voter…”, see also a related, older entry of mine.
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voor degene die Nederlands begrijpen, een heel interessant video-interview met CPB directeur Coen Teulings (ja ja, hij is ook mijn promotor…) op de BNR: deel 1, deel 2 en deel 3. Inter alia, het interview gaat over de eventuele effecten van de kredietcrisis, handelen met China en India, de situatie in het zorg sector, de arbeidsongeschiktheidswet voor jongeren, het onderwijs en nood hebben aan toptalent daarin– alle in de context van de Nederlandse economie.
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the exotic entrepreneurship edition today, again with a great example from one of my favourite reads last year (read here the previous entry on exotic business ideas): ‘mud spray to cover license plates’. Somewhat illegal this time :-), but seems to work:
“Many markets are designed to help people avoid or circumvent lawful regulations. One British entrepreneur sells squirt bottles of spray-on mud for license plates. It is ostensibly so the buyer’s vehicle can “look rugged”, but more realistically it is used so police cameras cannot record the license plates of speeding vehicles. The mud is from Shropshire, and it contains secret ingredients so that it sticks to the license plate longer”.
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an excellent article in the NYTimes on whether we ought to compensate the losers from free-trade (answer preview: NO), by Steven Landsburg (remember, he’s the author of a book I’ve previously recommended for those who do not necessarily have a formal training in economics, but are, more seriously than the average person, interested in the topic; I am currently reading his latest book, will inform you of my final assessment once I am done with it:-)). You’re my guests to offer counter-arguments; I couldn’t.
