Reading

Created
Wed, 27/11/2024 - 04:54
My recent review of the book, Australia’s Pandemic Exceptionalism, by Steven Hamilton and Richard Holden (H&H) highlighted its ‘convincing, frank and honest account’ in just over 200 pages, and encouraged the Health Department in particular to listen to its lessons. The official COVID-19 Response Inquiry Report by Robyn Kruk, Catherine Bennett and Angela Jackson ( Continue reading »
Created
Wed, 27/11/2024 - 04:53
At least one group of experts is asking why proposed online porn regulation lacks natural justice, damages sexual expression and promotes risky technology. Regulating the content most people describe as ‘pornography’, the Draft Consolidated Industry Codes of Practice for the Online Industry (Class 1C and Class 2 Material) (the Codes) consultation closed last week. They Continue reading »
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Wed, 27/11/2024 - 04:51
The Philippines enacted two enabling legislation on 8 November 2024. Known as Republic Act (RA) 12064 or the Philippine Maritime Zones Act; and Republic Act (RA) 12065 or the Philippine Archipelagic Sea Lanes Act, the legislation has attracted a fair number of criticisms from the region among those not familiar with the 1982 UN Convention Continue reading »
Created
Wed, 27/11/2024 - 02:38
. Riksbanken har en nästintill oinskränkt makt över penningpolitiken, en politik som i hög grad styr inflation, sysselsättning och ekonomisk stabilitet. Denna makt bör vara föremål för större demokratisk övervakning för att säkerställa att den överensstämmer med vad vi som samhällsmedborgare har för intressen. När man diskuterat  Riksbankens oberoende har man oftast definierat detta i […]
Created
Wed, 27/11/2024 - 01:48
Ownership and control of social media platforms is a first-order concern for both domestic politics and international conflict. The most important battleground in the Russia-Ukraine war is elections in NATO member states. And there, Russia is clearly winning. Trump, obviously, but yesterday saw the stunning success of formerly fringe right-wing candidate C?lin Georgescu. In an […]
Created
Wed, 27/11/2024 - 01:31

During this year’s presidential election campaign, I was puzzled and increasingly troubled that the issue of truth-telling — and the spectacular lack of it from one candidate — wasn’t getting the sort of focus or emphasis in the news coverage it should have received. We heard or read about Donald Trump’s specific false statements just about every day (because they happened just about every day). But we didn’t often hear about the deeper questions those falsehoods raised and continue to raise: What will it mean to have a president of the United States who has no regard for the truth and often no idea what it is? What will it do to public life if a president’s words can’t be... Read more

Source: Fact-Checker Alert appeared first on TomDispatch.com.

Created
Wed, 27/11/2024 - 01:18
Keynes’s signal contribution was to switch the emphasis from interest rate adjustments to changes in income as the key macroeconomic adjustment mechanism. In so doing, he argued that the interest rate and asset prices adjust to clear balance sheets incorporating stocks, not flows, of financial claims. He pioneered national income accounting which now reveals the […]
Created
Wed, 27/11/2024 - 00:00

So, your father just emailed you a poem he wrote, and he wants your thoughts about it. You’re probably thinking: I still do not like my father. Is it normal for a person my age to still not like their father?

The answer is probably, but probably not. And what you’re also probably thinking (probably) is: I hold (or am about to hold) an MFA. Is this beneath my efforts? The answer is probably, but definitely not. And since you’ve made it here, you’re likely curious about what your tips are, so here’s the best I can do, because I, too, ask these questions:

Be nice.
Seeing as how this is the first time in your life you’ve ever seen your father create anything other than tension at dinner, it has probably taken a lot of effort for him to make this—and even more to send it to you. Even though it’s in all caps and center-aligned. And it kind of looks like a notice to hold down the handle taped above a leaky toilet in a gas station bathroom. Read it for what it is and be nice about it.

Created
Tue, 26/11/2024 - 23:00
Francesca Diluiso, Boromeus Wanengkirtyo and Jenny Chan. This post examines key aspects of climate mitigation policies that could matter for monetary policy, using insights from structural climate macroeconomic models (Environmental Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium). Three main findings emerge: first, mitigation policies – like carbon pricing – can be a direct source of shocks, creating potential … Continue reading Some implications of climate policy for monetary policy
Created
Tue, 26/11/2024 - 23:00
Boromeus Wanengkirtyo, Francesca Diluiso, Rebecca Mari, Jenny Chan, Ambrogio Cesa-Bianchi and Alex Haberis. Climate change is becoming increasingly important for monetary policy as the world transitions into greener economies and climate change’s physical impacts become more prominent. This is complementary, but distinct to, examining how climate change affects financial stability risks (Carney (2015)). This series … Continue reading Climate and monetary policy series
Created
Tue, 26/11/2024 - 22:20

Since at least as far back as Theodor Adorno famously denounced the ‘mechanical soullessness’ of interwar jazz, the relationship between Marxism and pop music has been rather vexed. While plenty of card-carrying Marxists have dabbled in music writing over the last few decades (see especially Perry Anderson’s exquisitely over-written Sixties critiques of the Beatles and […]

Created
Tue, 26/11/2024 - 22:10
23 November 2024 This book tells three stories about the impact of machines on the human condition: on the way  we work, on our freedom, and on our physical survival. Each story contains within it a vision of heaven and hell: the promise of relief from work, freedom to think our own thoughts, and almost … Continue reading Presentation for the Miami Book Fair – Mindless
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Tue, 26/11/2024 - 22:04
19 November 2024 Introduction As we all know  Frankenstein was the  scientist in Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel of that name, who invented a human machine, which he intended   to be a benefactor,  but  which  turned out to be a monster. The question I want to address this evening is: can we avoid  our technology … Continue reading A Tale of Frankenstein – Lecture at Bard College