EclectEcon

The Importance of " 'No' Means 'No' "

When I see kids rewarded for throwing tantrums as parents give in to them, it bugs me. The parents who give in are teaching the kids that "no" doesn't mean "no".

It turns out there's a multicultural problem with understanding "no", too.

Hoping to combat the disproportionate number of rapes committed by immigrants and their descendants, a number of political parties are pushing for sexual education to be included in the Danish language courses provided to foreigners, Metroxpress reported. 

Between 2013 and 2014, 34.5 percent of all individuals convicted of rape were immigrants or their descendants despite those groups only accounting for roughly 12 percent of Denmark’s total population. ...

 

“It’s difficult if you come from a country where women never go out,” she said. “When you see a girl with a short skirt dancing at a party late in the evening, what kind of message will it give you?” 

 

“It’s important to tell them that this kind of behaviour or clothing doesn’t mean that it’s allowed for you to go the whole way. If a girl says ‘no’, it’s a ‘no’.”

 

Communication Changes in Canada Over Time

The CRTC has published a report showing recent trends in communication in Canada. It is fascinating. One thing for sure: our children and grandchildren have adjusted more and more quickly to the newer technologies than have we "under 90s".

1. Increasingly households are getting rid of landlines. We still have ours, but quite frankly I wonder why. We have maybe 8-10 phones connected to our landline, and we'd save money and space if we got rid of the landline.
2. We spend a lot on communications. From the Financial Post, "In a report issued Thursday, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission said households spent an average of $203 per month on their communication services in 2014".  Ms Eclectic and I joke that we just sign my Canada Pension Plan cheque over to Rogers each month, but we get more and better service for less money here in London than we did with the combination of services we were forced to find when we lived in Clinton, Ontario. We do subscribe to lots of sports on television, plus we have our landline, plus internet, plus two cell phones.
3. Cell phone revenues were $22B, more than radio, television, and landline revenues combined. Wow. And yet I understand that. We pay a lot for our cell phones and plans. I rarely listen to the radio (we do listen to music via some cable channels through the television now and then), and we don't really watch a lot of television (other than some sports, some Brit mysteries, and some nature/science programmes).
4. Netflix is BIG. 58% of Anglophone Canadians between the ages of 18-34 subscribe to Netflix, doublethe percentage from a year earlier. We tried it for two months and never used it. The Canadian version did not give us access to the older Brit mysteries that we liked (other than a few we already have on blu-ray). But our children and grandchildren all seem to have Netflix and use it fairly frequently.
5. Seniors watch more television. On average seniors watch 42hrs/wk, whereas people in the 2-11 and 18-34 age demographic groups watch only about 20 hours/week. The young folks tend to play more video games, watch more streaming videos (via Netflix and other services), and be in school or be working. We "under 90s" have lots of time on our hands. In our household, the tv is on quite a bit with tennis or baseball or football or music or science programmes. But I figure I really watch only about 2 hrs/day or maybe 14-16 hrs/day. The rest of the time I'm on my laptop and just look up now and then to see what's happening on the tv.
6. Bundled services and the resulting price discrimination are still common but are no longer growing so rapidly.

I think I could go without television for quite some time (especially now that the Trono Blue Jays have been eliminated in baseball playoffs). And I could quite easily dispense with the landline (though giving important people our cell phone numbers could be a mess). I might even be able to give up our wifi, though I'd rather not.

But cell phone service with a good data plan is crucial for me. I love being on the internet -- reading news, checking blogs, reading email, and following so many friends on Facebook. As you know, I wrote at length about how important the internet is for me last spring when I tried not to use it for 48 hours.

Overall, we fit the trends outlined in the CRTC report: we have the television on quite a bit, we bundle our services to get discounts, we spend a lot on telecommunications, and we are considering giving up our landline.

Media Bias in Covering Palestinian Murderers

From the Daily Agenda:

Media Bias in Reporting on Terror Attacks in Israel - Yair Lapid (Jewish News-UK)

• In the past two weeks terrorists have been chasing Israeli civilians across the country armed with knives, axes and guns. Jihadists are murdering and maiming, stabbing and burning. They no longer pretend this is about foreign policy, or even about settlements. It is religious fanaticism which knows no limits. In their own words, they want to murder Jews because they are Jews.
• Those in the media covering this wave of violence have created the impression that the victim is the aggressor, that the ones protecting themselves are the murderers, that Israel has no right to defend itself. Here are a few examples:
  • BBC headline - "Palestinian shot dead after Jerusalem attack kills two"
    The Palestinian who was shot wasn't a passerby; he was a terrorist who stabbed two Jews who walked past him.
  • CNN headline - "Joseph's Tomb Catches Fire"
    The tomb, a Jewish holy site under Palestinian Authority jurisdiction, didn't "catch fire." It was set on fire, it was arson.
  • Los Angeles Times headline - "4 Palestinian teens killed in Israeli violence"
    There is no mention that the four Palestinians were on a murder spree when they were killed.
  • NBC headline - "Man shot after rushing past police"
    The man tried to stab a police officer in the neck at Lion's Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem.
• Before I was a politician I worked in the media for 31 years. I covered wars, international conflicts and countless clashes. I can say, with total responsibility, that this is an incomprehensible number of incorrect reports, misleading headlines, distortions of fact and total falsifications of the truth.
• It doesn't happen anywhere else in the world where democratic countries fight Islamic fundamentalism. When Israel isn't involved, the world understands that murderers can't wander free on the streets with guns and knives.
  
  The writer, a former Israeli finance minister, is the leader of the Yesh Atid party.

What? A UN Org Stands up for the Jews and Israel? Ima Faint!

From the Daily Alert:

UNESCO Director General Objects to Arab Claims on Western Wall in Jerusalem - Somini Sengupta
Senior UN officials have objected to a proposal by some Arab states to have UNESCO classify the Western Wall, the holiest site in Judaism, as part of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City. UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova expressed her objection to the resolution on Tuesday in a stern statement, saying it "could be seen to alter the status of the Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls." The Western Wall is a UNESCO World Heritage site adjacent to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. (New York Times)

See also U.S. "Strongly Opposes" UNESCO Proposal to Reclassify Western Wall - Michael Wilner
"The United States strongly opposes this resolution and any such use of international fora such as UNESCO to inflame tension in the region and alter the status quo at the Holy Sites," Edgar Vasquez, a State Department spokesperson, told the Jerusalem Post. "One-sided anti-Israel resolutions have been a recurring challenge at UNESCO since 2009, and in all such circumstances the United States has blocked consensus on such resolutions by calling for a vote and voting against the texts."  (Jerusalem Post)

    See also Palestinians Drop Bid to Name Western Wall Part of Al-Aqsa - Raoul Wootliff
The Palestinians have withdrawn their demand that UNESCO declare the Western Wall an "integral part" of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Jerusalem's Temple Mount, Israeli officials said Wednesday. The resolution still contains a request to recognize Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem and the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron as Muslim sites. (Times of Israel)
    See also Jewish Groups Blast Arab Proposal to Label Western Wall a Muslim Holy Site - Rebecca Shimoni Stoil
Jewish organizations came out in force against the Palestinian initiativeon Monday. The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations noted that appropriation of the Western Wall as a plaza named after the Prophet Muhammad's horse flies in the face of histo rical fact. "In the millennia before the re-creation of the State of I! srael in 1948, Arab leaders largely ignored Jerusalem, laid no claim to the Western Wall or Rachel's Tomb....No UNESCO or UN resolution or action can undo more than 2,000 years of history."
    "President Abbas' goal is to deny Israelis and the Jewish people their connection to the land. He seeks to cut off their past in order to cut off their future. It would be better if President Abbas would devote the same energy to reigning in the violence being perpetrated by Palestinians and to engage Prime Minister Netanyahu in meaningful talks. He well knows that his actions at UNESCO can only undermine any prospect of peace and gains his people nothing."  (Times of Israel)
    See also Palestinians Attempt to Declare the Western Wall a Muslim Holy Site (Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

My Privacy

Those who follow me on Facebook know that I share many aspects of my life with the rest of the world --- many aspects, but not even most, and certainly not all. No matter how it looks, my life is not an open book.

Furthermore, believe it or not, I cherish many aspects of my privacy. For example, birthdays.

• I no longer list my birthday on Facebook. The first year I did, I was inundated with birthday greetings from friends and others. I am pleased they wanted to send me messages, but tbh I don't much care about receiving them. So I no longer show my birth date on Facebook.
• Even then, I listed my birth year as 1921 (that's not correct, just in case you think maybe I do look that old.).
• The team that manages our pension funds called me on my birthday last year. I told them we hire them to manage our pension funds, not to call me on my birthday and threatened that they would receive a FOAD letter if they called either me or Ms Eclectic on our birthdays again. I also suggested they add the postage they might otherwise spend on sending us greeting cards to our account.
• I rarely reveal my age. I am under 90. And people who really want to know can pretty easily figure it out to within a year or so.
• Recently someone asked me for my phone number and birth date because they have a hobby of calling people on their birthdays. I said, "February 30th". It took several more exchanges before I could persuade the person to leave me alone.
• Another group of friends puts out a calendar every year. They wanted to include birthdays. Again, I told them my birthday is February 30th. Fortunately, they know me well enough not to have pushed the issue.

 

Hallowe'en Gingerbread House

Last Christmas we bought a gingerbread house kit and a gingerbread carousel kit, thinking we might have fun putting them together with granddaughters over the holiday season. It didn't work out, but we still have the kits:

So we'll take these kits with us when we go to visit our son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughters in Houston when we go to visit them soon. And we'll decorate the completed projects with orange, black, and purple frosting, along with tonnes of Hallowe'en candy.

Maybe we'll end up with something like one of these. I'll post photos if we actually make the kits.

Digression: I note that the kit boxes do not mention Christmas. Clearly that has nothing to do with politically correct attempts to avoid mentioning Christmas but was a conscious decision because they want to market the kits for all seasons. ... Yeah, right.

Are Canadians the Rodney Dangerfield of Sports?

We don't get no respect.

I noticed this morning that in the sports section of the NYTimes, the three items did not include a story about the Trono Blue Jays staving off elimination in baseball's American League Division Championship. There was nothing about Estrada and the bullpen pitching a gem, nor about the otherwise-slumping Tulo hitting a three-run homerun.

Nothing in that email digest.

Maybe it's because the NYTimes, like Harold Reynolds, thinks Canadians don't play a lot of baseball and hence can't catch. No foolin. From CBC:

Harold Reynolds Says @HReynoldsQuotes

"We talked about foul balls into the stands... they don't play a lot of baseball in Canada, a lot of people aren't used to catching them"

The comments are fun. I especially like the one allegedly from Larry Walker:

Larry Walker ✔@Cdnmooselips33

I won 7 gold gloves. I think part of winning them was cause I could catch.

Maybe Harold Reynolds had this Instagram video in mind?

 

Harold was right. @jayonrait

A video posted by Dan O'Toole (@fs1otoole) on Oct 11, 2015 at 7:20pm PDT

Search, Information, and Signaling

I give a pretty kick-ass lecture on the economics of search, love, and one-night stands. [See this, this, and this.]

Clearly one aspect of that lecture needing work is the importance of signalling: how does one signal effectively and efficiently that one is a good employer/employee, lover, provider, good-time partner, or long-time partner? And what signals should one consider in the evaluation?

One possibility: broadcast your credit score. [See this from WaPoWonkbook] but make sure to show this article to whomever you are trying to signal, too.

A new working paper from the Federal Reserve Board that looks at what role credit scores play in committed relationships suggests that daters might want to start using the metric as well. The researchers found that credit scores -- or whatever personal qualities credit scores might represent -- actually play a pretty big role in whether people form and stay in committed relationships. People with higher credit scores are more likely to form committed relationships and marriages and then stay in them. In addition, how well matched the couple's credit scores are initially is a good predictor of whether they stay together in the long term.

Makes sense to me. If you're in it for a good time, credit scores probably don't matter so much, but if you're in it for a long time, the ability to make credible commitments is likely much more important.

 

 

The Nobel Prize in Economics

It's Nobel Prize season again. Here are my choices, but these are not  predictions about who will win.

• Regular readers of EclectEcon know that I have long favoured giving the Nobel Prize in economics (I know, I know, that's not the full title of the prize) to Richard Posner. I tout him as my favourite at the top of the blog because of his amazing path-breaking work in applying price theory to the field of law and economics. Over the past five-plus years, though, he revealed some inexplicable Keynesian tendencies, which has led me possibly to favour
• Deirdre McCloskey. She is another brilliant price theorist who has applied the concepts effectively to help understand growth, development, capitalism, and bureaucracies, often in an historical context. I cited some of her work here, nearly 11 years ago.
• My third choice is Jagdish Bhagwati. He was a pioneer in international trade theory.

I doubt if any of these three is a close candidate, but McCloskey might have the best chance of the three.

Two Grand Slams in One Baseball Game. July 26, 1952.

The first and only major league baseball game that my dad ever took me to was in the summer of 1952, the New York Yankers visiting the Detroit Tigers. It was a Saturday afternoon game, July 26th.

Mickey Mantle hit a grand slam home run in the first inning. I'd swear it went way back and up in straight-away centre field, but the information from Baseball Reference says it went to left field. If so, it must have been to the upper deck. I remember people around us groaning and oohing and ahhhing all at the same time. And I seem to recall a sort of resigned look on my dad's face.

After that, Detroit pitcher Ted Gray settled down and allowed only two more Yanker runs the rest of the game. Meanwhile the Tigers hit pretty well and managed to tie up the game by the bottom of the 8th inning.

Neither team scored in the 9th or 10th innings. Detroit had a chance to win it in the bottom of the 10th. The bases were loaded with 2 out and slugger Walt Dropo at the plate, but to the dismay of everyone around us, he fouled out to the shortstop to end the inning.

Ted Gray continued pitching for the Tigers and put the Yankers down 1-2-3 in the top of the 11th. I guess pitchers did things like that back then.

In the bottom of the 11th after Groth grounded out, Mapes walked and then Ginsberg doubled, but Mapes couldn't score to end the game. With runners at 2nd and 3rd, the Yanks issued an intentional pass to Kolloway, presumably to set up a force out at home or maybe a double play. I remember my dad (who must not have had a lot of baseball knowledge, which now surprises me) saying, "Why are they walking him? He's not very good."

Ted Gray was due up next, but the Tigers decided he'd had enough and sent Steve (Bud) Souchock to the plate. He hit a long fly ball that barely cleared the LF fence. Grand Slam!

Even if it hadn't been a home run, the Tigers would have scored, but it was SO exciting to be there, to see the home team (sort of -- I grew up in Michigan and was an early Tiger fan) win. I know my dad was really excited, too.

What a great memory, all spurred by some discussions on FB of Virgil Trucks' pitching two no-hitters for Detroit that season.

Digression: Detroit was horrible that season, winning only 50 and losing over 100 games. Aside from winning the two no-hitters he pitched, Trucks went 3-17 in his remaining decisions.

The Case for Free Trade is NOT about Jobs

I'm not running for office, so I can say this:

Jobs, schmobs. Moving toward freer trade is not about job gains or job losses; it's about producing more goods and services more efficiently for more people -- i.e. about increasing everyone's consumption possibilities.

Don Boudreaux says it well in his open letter published at Cafe Hayek.

Politicians routinely sell freer trade as a source of net job and export creation.  Yet economists since Adam Smith – and ranging across the ideological spectrum from Milton Friedman to Paul Krugman – have consistently rejected such claims as justifications for free trade. Economists understand that freer trade neither increases nor decreases the total number of jobs in an economy.  Instead, freer trade changes the kinds of jobs performed in an economy by shifting jobs from industries that are comparatively inefficient to industries that are comparatively efficient.

Likewise, the correct case for freer trade does not depend upon exports growing by more than imports.  First, there’s no reason to expect freer trade to result in such an outcome.  Second, such an outcome, should it occur, might well be lamentable for it could reveal that investment opportunities at home are consistently less attractive than are investment opportunities abroad.

 

Related articles

Donald Trump flunks ECON 101 when it comes to international trade. Assignment: watch a 1978 Milton Friedman video

Thomas Sowell on Foreign Policy

Supply Management Restriction

Canadian agriculture has what is known as "Supply Management". This horrific system limits production and generates quota values worth millions to the farmers who own them.

The problem with supply management is twofold:

1. As Jack Mintz writes in the Financial Post,
   
   

   In my view, the worst moment during the French debate was listening to five political leaders grovelling over supply management policies in agriculture. Supply management was one of the worst policies brought in during Pierre Elliot Trudeau’s era to support dairy, eggs and poultry farmers by restricting supply. Quotas limit production, leading to higher prices for consumers, especially hitting hardest low income Canadians.

2. And once the quota values are created, it is very hard to get rid of them. Farmers who own (or who have borrowed to purchase) quota worth millions of dollars will use every conceivable argument to justify their quasi-monopoly positions. My take: too bad. You gambled on gubmnt policy and you deserve to lose. ... for the sake of consumers.

Condemning Murderers in Israel and Palestine

From the Elder of Ziyon, an important contrast:

[T]he murder of the Henkins is like the murders of Mohammed Abu Khdeir or of the Dawabashe family. In those cases the victims were targeted.

And when you compare apples to apples, the difference between the morality of those Zionists h [sic] despises and the Palestinians he loves becomes crystal clear.

Because Israeli society, from the Prime Minister to the people on the street, rose as one to condemn the murder of Abu Khdeir.

Because Israelis raised cash to pay the victims of the Dawabashe arson/murder. 

Because the vast majority of Israelis are naturally disgusted and ashamed at the thought that one of their own could be responsible for such depravity. 

And how did Palestinians react to the murder of the Henkins? They celebrated. They shot off fireworks. The expressed uniform happiness on Facebook. 

I could not find a single Arabic voice in any message board or social media. As of this moment, a single article from Al Quds about the attack - showing the faces of the victims - has 4,500 Likes and 650 Facebook comments, every one uniformly happy that they were murdered. 

What does it say about Palestinian society that seemingly no one, from Abbas down to the streets of Nablus, can condemn the murders of the Henkins? What does it say about Palestinian society that the Khaled Abu Toamehs and the Bassam Eids and the Muhammad Zoabis and the Mohammed Dajanis, people who actually think of Jews as human beings, are so rare - and roundly hated?

This is the difference between Israel and its Palestinian neighbors. 

This is the difference between a moral society and one that is perverted.

That is the difference between a society that deserves respect and one that demands it.

Truth in Flying

I am always annoyed when flight attendants go through the nonsense about how to use airplane seatbelts. I'd like to hear some attendant make fun of having to do that. And I also think it would both amusing and interesting to hear the flight attendants launch into a discussion of how and by how much various things reduce the probability of dying or suffering serious injury should there be an accident. This piece in The Economist points out similar issues. [via Tom Palmer]. The opening paragraph:

“GOOD morning, ladies and gentlemen. We are delighted to welcome you aboard Veritas Airways, the airline that tells it like it is. Please ensure that your seat belt is fastened, your seat back is upright and your tray-table is stowed. At Veritas Airways, your safety is our first priority. Actually, that is not quite true: if it were, our seats would be rear-facing, like those in military aircraft, since they are safer in the event of an emergency landing. But then hardly anybody would buy our tickets and we would go bust.

The article continues in a similar vein and is an enjoyable read.

Westjet doesn't quite do that, but it is a fun airline to fly in Canada.

 

Creative Statues

Yesterday I posted this link on my Facebook page to the pictures of some really interesting statues. After we looked at the photos, Ms Eclectic looked around and found two more sets (some repeating the FB link but from different angles) where the locations of the sculptures are identified. Here is the first set of 20. I think my favourite from this set is

There is a second set of twenty from that site as well, and I think they tickle and intrigue me even more.

Given my level of (im)maturity, I really like this one from Prague:

If I were there, of course I would want a photo of me joining the statues (photo'd discreetly, of course).

John Lott on Gun Control

Earlier today, I received this message from John Lott:

Dear John --  

With the horrible shooting at the Oregon community college, we have been very busy doing media.  We haven't had a chance to post any of the radio interviews that we have been doing, but I have been on such shows as CNN and NewsMax TV in the US, Al Jazeera's international news broadcast, and Spanish news TV that covers South and Central America.  Within hours after the attack, President Obama pushed hard for more gun controls in his talks on Thursday and Friday, but the expanded background checks (requiring private gun sales to go through licensed dealers) that he pushed would not have stopped the attack in Oregon (all the guns were purchased through federally licensed firearm dealers) nor would they have stopped any of the other mass public shootings during his administration.  

At some point it would be nice if a reporter would eventually ask the president to point to a single example that his proposed laws would have stopped. [emphasis added]

Oh Lord, Won't You Buy Me a Mercedes-Benz

One of my favourites from the Pearl album!

 

and I really preferred her version of "Bobby McGee" to Lightfoot's

(which was also good, though)

Trade, Unions, and Inefficient Biznessez

When I first met the late great Canadian economist, Harry Johnson, he was at a party, railing about how Canada's New Democratic Party (NDP) were opposed to moving toward free trade. He said something like,

How can a party that SAYS it supports the little guy promote policies that do little more than protect small inefficient businesses in Ontario and keep prices higher for all the little people in the country?

The NDP is still at it. From the NatPost,

“You have no mandate to make concessions that could put thousands of well-paid Canadian jobs and the communities that depend on them in peril,” Mulcair wrote to International Trade Minister Ed Fast. “These changes will impact millions of Canadians every day. Your Conservative government has not consulted Canadians on any of them, and you have no mandate to trade them away.”

Keep in mind that freer trade leads to lower prices and gains for all consumers in Canada. If you care about the poor in Canada and if you care about the poor in Asia who will likely be able to earn more as we move toward freer trade, it is hard to oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership (trade treaty).

Protection from competition is sold as something that protects jobs, but those jobs that are protected don't last long. And the protection is really for businesses that are comparatively less efficient and not very competitive.

World Ostomy Day

According to the calendar that pops up on my computer, today is World Ostomy Day. My best friend, Ms Eclectic, is a cancer survivor and has had an ostomy for over 25 years. I gather Marvin Bush (brother of Jeb and George W) has an ostomy, as does former San Diego Charger place kicker, Rolf Benirschke. For  lists of other famous ostomates, see the lists in this forum.

I Am an Unabashed Fair-Weather Fan

I refuse to support mediocrity and failure in professional sports. I sneer that some people actually think it is somehow desirable to be a "die-hard fan" and spend good money supporting teams that don't win.*

But now that the Trono Blue Jays have started winning so much, I've jumped on the bandwagon. Sure, we watch games (and even visit Rogers Centre Hotel) even when the Jays aren't doing so well, but we watch more games now, and we watch them longer. Also we have bought more stuff with the BJ logo, including shirts for several granddaughters and now this:

We had gone out to try to find an inexpensive folding balcony chair, but then we saw this. It has an insulated pocket on the left arm and drink holder on the right. And the Trono BJ logo! We were hooked.

* From the perspective of stockholders, I see little reason for the Trono Maple Laughs to try to win if they can spend less money on talent and still have so many die-hard fans.