I’ve added a new section to the Website containing reports on a range of subjects including privatisation, greenhouse gases, competition policy and casinos.

For those who’ve been following the John Lott/Mary Rosh affair, this set of links to bogus identity cases on the Web, and earlier on UseNET, might be of interest. I found this MIT paper quite interesting, though the content is of course familiar.

I’ve added a number of recent Op-Ed pieces from the Fin to the Website. Here’s a brief summary.

• Putting HECS to good use argues that the HECS debt could and should be used as the basis for a capital injection into the higher education sector
• Stuck in the comfort zonelooks at the issue of work intensity and suggests that workers are beginning to find ways around pressure for longer hours and a faster pace of work
• Woolly thinking on Telstra refutes the idea that government ownership of regulated monopolies creates a conflict of interest
• Interesting time for rates predicts rising inflation and interest rates in the US, and perhaps Australia also

Finally, there’s a Review of David Moss, When All Else Fails: Government as the Ultimate Risk Manager

Regular reader Jim Birch has been in touch by email to advise me that this site has been inaccessible and suggests the problem may be access restrictions introduced in response to the Blaster worm. I am looking into this, but haven’t made any progress yet. I’ve had lots of similar problems with other blogs in the last couple of weeks so it seems as if this worm is still doing lots of damage. To anyone who can read this and has any helpful suggestions, please make them.

A piece I wrote for the Fin on the ‘generation game’ several years back, but omitted to post on my website is finally online. Here’s a couple of paras.

One of the standard ploys in journalism, marketing and political commentary is the generation game. The basic idea is to label a generation ‘X’ or ‘Y’, then dissect its attitudes, culture, and relationship with other generations. The most famous generation, of course, is that of the Baby Boomers, born between the end of World War II and the early 1960s, and their most enduring contribution to the generation gap is the ‘Generation Gap’ between children and their parents.

At first sight, discussion of this kind can carry with it an air of fresh insight, but most of it stales rapidly. Much of what passes for discussion about the merits or otherwise of particular generations is little more than a repetition of unchanging formulas about different age groups ö the moral degeneration of the young, the rigidity and hypocrisy of the old, and so on.

Update 30/8/03 As if to prove my point, today’s Fin (subscription required) runs a particularly silly generation game, with an even sillier lead on the front page. After recycling the the usual cliched half-truths, the article turns to a complete furphy as its main theme. Boomers are blamed for grabbing the old age pension and leaving nothing for the young. In reality, boomers paid taxes during the 1970s and 1980s to finance a universal non-means-tested pension, with access for women at 60 and men at 65. Even when the pension was means-tested, tax concessions for superannuation and easy access to lump sums gave lots of early retirees the chance to double dip.

Now pensions are tested on both income and assets, the women’s age is being raised to 65 (just in time for the first boomers) and there’s talk of pushing the pension age up to 67 after that. Concessions for superannuation, while still generous compared to most other investments, have been scaled back significantly, as has the generosity of employer contributions. On any reasonable assessment, it’s the Depression kids who have done well on this score and the boomers who have paid for schemes whose benefits they will never enjoy.

Blogging is hard work – it’s particularly hard if you try to keep up with what other bloggers have been doing on a regular basis. I’ve let that slide a bit recently, and have been busy enough just responding to comments and pings. As a result I only just read this signoff post from Carita Kazakoff’s Manas blog. Carita didn’t post all that often (probably why she’s managed to kick the habit), but she brought a refreshingly different perspective to a lot of the issues she covered, particularly East Timor/Timor Leste.
Her post gives a hint that she may return next year, which would be very welcome.

I’m only just getting around to catching up on what other bloggers have been doing in my absence, and I can report that everyone over at Catallaxy is in top form. My jet lag is such that I’m bound to mix up the contributors to this collective blog, but I’ll go ahead anyway.

I enjoyed Jason Soon’s debunking of ‘sceptics’ on the subjects of global warming and evolution. I must have missed the arrival of Sarah Strasser but she has an excellent account of recent developments in relation to technical devices used to back up ‘global zoning’ schemes of price discrimination. Andrew Norton has some acute cultural comment. You’ve probably all read this already but, if not, go to it.

I’ve previously mentioned my blogtwin relationship with Tim Dunlop. Not only do Tim and I have the same views on a lot of issues, but we often think of the same posts, to the point where, if I have a good idea, I try to check that Tim hasn’t already posted it.

With my visit to the DC area, the link seems to get even closer. I had a very enjoyable dinner with Tim and his family and (as is fairly typical of me) left my glasses at his house. Next morning, Tim noticed the glasses and I noticed their absence. The problem arising immediately was to pick the appropriately civilised time to call and arrange a return. Tim and I chose exactly the same time, with the result that he got an answering machine and I got a busy signal. Fortunately, it was all cleared up and I can see clearly now. But I can’t help worrying that the blogosphere is generating some sort of obscure psychic network here.

I’m off to the (suburbs of the) heart of hegemonic hyperpower for a short visit. I expect to be back on air before too long, but until then, please converse peacably among yourselves.

I’ve made some changes in the right-hand sidebar.

First, I’ve made the picture smaller in response to people who’ve had trouble with the sidebar sliding under the main posts (this happens if your viewing window is too small relative to teh (fixed) size of the picture).

Second, following the lead of Crooked Timber, I’ve replaced the list of the most recent 10 posts with a list of the 10 before that (thanks to Kieran Healy for advice on how to do this)

Third, I’ve replaced the 10 most recent comments with the 10 most recently-commented-on posts. (thanks to James Russell for advice on how to do this)

The main idea is to overcome the “top of the page” problem, by which attention is focused on the most recent two or three posts. I’d like to think that, as we get better at this kind of thing that we can maintain discussions running over weeks, rather than, as at present, a few days.

I’d very much appreciate your responses and suggestions