NPfIT

I suppose, as an IT Consultant, I should look on the NHS's National Programme for IT as a good thing. It's certainly providing a "base load" of demand for IT skills, even if I have no direct involvement with it. But £50bn on something nobody wants is just outrageous.

A Polish Immigrant laments the wasted talent in Britain

via "Strange Stuff"

European Services Directive

I thought this was dead? Apparently not.

I don't have high hopes if the BBC analysis can be relied on (which I know is a long shot..)

Why do some people dislike it?

There is wide support for the proposal that a company should be able to register in another country electronically, via a single point of contact.

However, critics said that the way the European Commission originally formulated the directive, it could have resulted in domestic companies being priced out of the market by cheaper, foreign competitors.

The amendments passed by the parliament on 16 February in the directive's first reading, and now mostly adopted by the Commission, make this less likely.

OK..... so the protectionists in France and Germany (presumably) have won the right to continue to screw their own consumers. Just wonderful.

Effect of first salary on lifetime earnings

EclectEcon points to Austan Goolsbee's piece on how one's first salary has a big role to play in predicting lifetime earnings.

Eek! My first salary wasn't terrible but is was far from great.....

This paragraph is scary:

"The Stanford class of 1988, for example, entered the job market just after the market crash of 1987. Banks were not hiring, and so average wages for that class were lower than for the class of 1987 or for later classes that came out after the market recovered. Even a decade or more later, the class of 1988 was still earning significantly less. They missed the plum jobs right out of the gate and never recovered."

Do you have a barcode on your head?

Russell Roberts neatly identifies the two ways of looking at wages....

So, am I a Tory?

No. I am not.

At least I don't think I am.

At College, I was (briefly) a member of the Labour Party. Looking back on it, I find it hard to explain why I joined. Either way, I think I went to one or two pub meetings and then drifted away.

More recently, however, I have been on a mission to learn about economics. My readings have led me to the conclusion that the basic insights of free-market economic theory best accord with my observations.

I don't really know what term to use but it's probably accurate to describe me as "pro-free markets", "economically liberal", perhaps even "economically right-wing", if such a term has any meaning.

So far, so classically liberal, perhaps (or maybe even Thatcherite).

The other aspect of politics, however, is where one stands on social issues. In this respect, I guess I am socially liberal. Thus, the astonishingly authoritarian actions of our current government upset me most grievously.

So, I'm economically liberal and socially liberal. Were I to join a political party, which one should it be?

New Labour? They say they're economically liberal on the tin but the reality has been somewhat different, to put it mildly. Don't get me started on their authoritarianism.

Lib Dems? Don't make me laugh. If we ignore their brazen opportunisim and assume they have a clear economic position, it's one of quasi-socialism. Were they to be elected and carry out their policies, the rest of the world would double up in laughter as the country was run into the ground

Tories? Well.... Cameron's recent pronouncements have suggested he really doesn't have much time for good economic arguments but at least he's sending out the right tones from a social perspective. It's immensely frustrating..... he appears to be moving them in the right direction on that scale whilst giving up their economic territory.

So, who else is there?

Economics Blogs I read

I find I spend a disproportionate amount of my blog-reading time browsing political and economic blogs.

Some of those I particularly enjoy include:

Tim Worstall - the guy is a genius. Clear and succinct writing style that cuts to the heart of every argument and exposes economic ignorance wherever he finds it.

James Bartholomew - James is the author of "The Welfare State We're In". The book (which I commented on here). He posts mainly on the welfare state but ventures more widely into social, political and ecomomic issues from time to time.

Café Hayek. This blog, written by some Economics Professors at George Mason University in the US is a masterclass in how to frame economic arguments clearly and with power. The sister blog, Market Correction, contains all the letters they send to the press correcting errors and misunderstandings. Well worth a read.

NHS Blog Doctor is a blog written by an NHS GP. It's unusual in this list in that he's a bit of an old leftie, from what I can tell. Either way, his inside track on what's really happening in the health service and how completely messed up huge tracts of it are is eye opening, depressing and scary.

David Milliband's Blog. The government's only blogging minister is a truly scary man. His belief in the power of the state to do good is childlike in its innocence. Sadly, like Gordon Brown, he uses economic terms in a way that implies he understands them... which can only mean he's heard about how incentives matter or that actions can have unintended consequences and decided that he, alone in all of humanity, has devised a way to ensure it doesn't apply to him. Scary, scary man.

The Devil's Kitchen is somewhat more scurrilous than those I've listed so far. Don't read this if you're offended by vulgarity. However, when he engages the more cerebral part of his talents, the author lands some excellent punches on those who deserve them.

Iain Dale, an aspiring Tory MP, writes about politics in a readable, "Insiderish", style. Most enjoyable.

Burning Our Money explains why Tax Freedom Day creeps into the future every single year in a style that makes you want to weep.

Biased BBC keeps tabs on the country's "favourite" broadcaster. We're conditioned from a young age to believe that the BBC is the voice of unimpeachable truth. This site suggests things aren't entirely as one has been taught.

The Adam Smith Institute Blog can be relied on to pump out three or four thoughtful pieces every day. Their "jokes of the day" are somewhat hit or miss, though.

Right... that's enough for now.

Capitalism

Market Power quotes a fantastic one-sentence description of capitalism:

"Capitalism isn't a system at all. Capitalism is what happens when people live freely and exchange goods and services how they choose."

Welcome

Hello. I'll be using this blog to indulge my political and economic interests.

I'll continue to use Gendal World to discuss the IT industry and my work and will use this one to capture my other views. Any hope of keeping my politics separate from my work may prove to be naive but I'm hoping the use of separate blogs will allow me to separate my role as an employee from my role as a politically-interested individual.