EAL: Economics as an Alien Language

May 23, 2018

This year’s exam papers are a true mix of the good, the bad and the utterly confusing. Looking at the papers with a wide-angle lens, coverage/depth was excellent and there were no egregious examples of peripheral and non-core issues aimed at with the questions....

Shibumi

September 8, 2017

The heading refers to my favourite author, Trevanian (Rodney Whitaker) a writer and university professor. Although he had written several novels under this pseudonym and other books under other pseudonyms. (He took great pains to remain anonymous, something I...

Is anyone else alarmed?

May 24, 2017

The ‘tag line’ in my sent emails reads “There is nothing more economically damaging that a set of beliefs lacking any underpinning in data, empiricism or common sense – any opinion asserted without evidence can be summarily dismissed without...

“They’re rioting in Africa….”

May 12, 2017

I grew up in what might be termed an ‘old fashioned household’ – another way of saying that much of what I call my personal tastes are in fact hand-me-downs from my parents. One example is my taste in music, which ranges from Ramstein and Metallica...

Did I miss a memo? Let’s keep the ‘F-word’.

January 4, 2017

FAIL (intransitive verb); to fall short, to be unsuccessful Most of the people who know me have long since realised I don’t do transitional material. I’m also not great at light conversation. I’ve been told of my tendency to go of on a (ranting)...

In the long run, we’re all spread

February 15, 2016

President Harry Truman famously exclaimed, after dealing with a number of economists and economic predictions, that he needed a one-handed economist. Yes, we do have a tendency to opine back and forth, often cushioning our vagaries with “…on the one hand…on the other...