Monthly Archives: March 2011
Cars, control, and cost-benefit analysis
I was watching a TV documentary on the history of engineering car safety. It talked about the really good inventions like better brakes, steering, suspension, and tires, that help the driver avoid an accident. And things like safety glass, crumple zones, seat belts and air-bags that help you survive an accident you don't avoid. Then […]
A comment on comments
While we are happy to have people read our posts and to discuss the points raised therein, we would ask people to remember that personal attacks and abusive comments will not be tolerated. There's been a recent uptick in such occurrences, and I'd like to nip this in the bud. That is all.
Wikipedia is dominated by men. So what?
About 15 percent of contributors to Wikipedia are women. Sometimes this shows. The entry for employment equity as of March 5, 2011, ran as follows: Employment equity refers to Canadian policies that require or encourage preferential treatment in employment practices for certain designated groups: women, people with disabilities, Aboriginal peoples, and visible minorities.[1] Employment equity goes beyond mere non-discrimination […]
The sources of the federal deficit revisited
There were a couple of puzzling things in my recent post on the sources of the federal defict, and I think I've solved the puzzle. I made a mistake.
We learn, and then we forget
Every time the census is released, hopes are raised for the future of bilingualism in Canada. Although relatively few older Canadians can speak both official languages, bilingualism rates are higher for young Canadians. Here's a picture, based on 2006 Census data, showing the percentage of non-Francophones in each age group who are bilingual, that is, […]
The conflicting claims theory of inflation, and unemployment
The conflicting claims theory of inflation goes like this. Suppose we start in equilibrium with 10 people in an economy each earning 10% of total income. Then all of a sudden each decides he deserves 11% of total income, and raises his price accordingly. The total claims add up to 110% of total income. In […]
Toilet cleaning, department chairing, and the ratchet effect
One of my all-time favourite paper titles is Marc Bilodeau and Al Slivinski's "Toilet cleaning and department chairing: volunteering a public service." Like any great title, it conveys the gist of the authors' argument in just a few words. Chairing a university department is a public service. Like toilet cleaning, it is something that has […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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