The Pin Factory Blog

A reminder that, as in the US, so in the UK. Houses have not in fact become more expensive in recent years. Permission to build a house however has.

As so often happens, the fight to extend recording copyrights having failed in the UK it's now been moved up to the European level: where the idiocy might succeed. 

Extraordinarily dubious statistics from the anti-smoking front. If rates of myocardial infarcts are declining anyway, why should a decline that coincides with a ban on smoking in public places be ascribed solely to the ban? Or at all?

Isn't it wondrous when we have to turn to the nation's cook to get sense spoken on matters political? 

Yet more on the importance of mobile phones to development and how to get more of them and it. 

If the price of drugs is dropping, then supply is growing, yes? The alternative, that demand is dropping, seems unlikely. 

And finally, British builder spotted in Washington DC. 

I imagine that many reacted as I did to the news that a minimum of five hours of high culture is to be included in schools. These ministers come and go, making these announcements as they pass, but little happens on the ground. I wonder if these 5 hours will come before or after the compulsory 3 hours of sport previously promised (but not happened)? Or maybe they'll come after the compulsory cookery hours to be introduced? Perhaps they could be fitted around the promised lessons in "What it means to be British."

Ministers and bureaucrats sit at the centre signing pieces of paper to commit schools to each popular fancy, while hapless teachers shudder and groan at each straw added to an already over-burdened and top-heavy curriculum. Then the fuss dies down, the gloss wears off, and there are no more column inches to be gained, so the initiative is quietly forgotten.

Isn't there a case for giving teachers more discretion in this? Shouldn't head-teachers draw up proposals and put them to parents to see what they think of them? Couldn't education be decentralized so that local schools could offer an education they thought suitable. That way lies parental choice, with the money following the child. That way lies the transformation of education from a monolithic state system into one which tailors itself to the needs of parents and children and the talents of teachers.

In the meantime, would anyone care to guess what the next ministerial initiative will add to the school timetable?

35. "No-one should be given an unfair start in life. That is why there should be no inherited wealth."

Parents seem to want their children to have a better life than they did, and are prepared to devote energy, resources and time in order to achieve it. It seems to be a normal attitude which goes with parenthood. If society tries to thwart it, parents finds ways of achieving the same end. If inherited wealth is banned, then it will be jobs, or patronage, or some other advantage which will be secured. In socialist countries, for example, parents used their influence to secure good government jobs for their children.

Death taxes are very unfair from the point of view of parents. They earn money and pay tax on it, then when they die the state comes along to tax it again, and takes away much of the provision they'd worked so hard to give their children. It removes much of their motive to generate wealth and aid society with new opportunities in the process. From the recipient's point of view, the bequest from parents comes as a lump sum when most have already bought a house, and is available to give them a chance to invest, or even start up a business.

Inherited wealth allows capital pools to accumulate and boost enterprise and economic growth. Without heritable wealth, most family businesses, including such things as shops and farms can be broken up by death, with a consequent economic loss to society. Everyone loses from this, not just the rich, as employees and customers are hit.

In Britain inflation and rising house prices have meant the death tax now hits middle income people, rather than the very rich it was intended for; the really rich plan ahead to escape its net. The tax does more damage to the country's economy and future well-being than is justified by the revenue it brings in.

London, the success story of the financial-services era, is blighted by youth unemployment: 42.9pc of Londoners, aged 16-17, are out of work. Meanwhile young Poles come here and find jobs in a day.

– Jeff Randall in the Daily Telegraph

For the cynics among you:

"It’s such a rip-off. With flowers, dinner and cabs, you’re looking at a hundred quid minimum. Wouldn’t she just prefer the cash instead?"

For 19 more reasons why it's okay to hate Valentine's Day, see The Times. 

An economic analysis (and an impartial one!) of the various methods that carbon emissions could be reduced by. Worth noting that government "picking winners" is not even discussed: it's far to ludicrous an idea.

On the subject of the environment: have you ever noticed the similarity between the Green Party manifesto and that of the BNP? 

A detailed look at an entirely silly legislative proposal. Sadly, the person proposing it might get to a position of real power this year. 

Lots of people think that inequality matters: but which inequalties really do matter? 

There can indeed be reasons to prop up a failing bank, but perhaps not this one, not now. 

It would appear that the benefits system is the most effective method of sex education. 

And finally, at last, we've done it, solved all the important problems. 

34. "Education is a right, not something to be bought and sold."

Education is bought and sold. It costs money to produce, because resources and personnel have to be allocated to its supply. The question is not whether it should be bought and sold, but whether government should have a monopoly on the transaction.

Education has to be paid for, and people have to be directed to the production of it. This can be done, albeit inefficiently, by having government decide on the appropriate level, and by levying sufficient taxation to pay for it. Education then takes its place in the queue of demands on public funds. Extra allocation depends on political pressure, and what level of taxation the government thinks will be tolerated. It also depends on the level of public outcry at the standards which the state manages to achieve.

Alternatively it can be provided in a market way, with people spending on it what they think it is worth, and to the level which they think is advantageous. People engage in supply activity to meet, and even profit from, that demand. A wide range of choices is available for a range of widely different personal circumstances. In both cases it is a commodity, not a right. People have a scale of priorities; they have to balance how much they care to spend on housing, how much to other things such as consumer goods and holidays, and how much to personal services such as health and education. This is done very diffusely and imperfectly through the political process, where individual preferences have to be averaged.

People may decide that in a humane society, everyone capable of benefitting from education should have access to it at appropriate levels. Instead of being done through mass state provision, this can be achieved by ensuring that affordable school places are widely available, and by helping where necessary through vouchers or assisted places.

...Those who can't, teach.

Sir Roderick Floud, former vice-president of the European University
Association, said the UK was a clear market leader in higher education
in Europe, which by 2010 would offer a potential market of one billion
people as a result of the Bologna Agreement, designed to unify higher
education systems across the continent.

"I
find it completely extraordinary and short-sighted that British
universities are so well represented in recruitment terms in south Asia
and the Far East, and so badly represented in the rest of Europe,"
Floud told the Guardian's Higher Education summit in London.

As Sir Roderick recently (March 2006) retired as President of London Metropolitan University, his surprise is. umm, surprising. The reason universities try to recruit overseas students is because they can charge them lots of money for attending their elite insitutions. Domestically sourced students have their charges capped...and one part of the delights of the European Union is that students from other parts of the EU are to be treated as domesticaly sourced. Thus they can only be charged the (c.) £3,100 a year that a Brit would pay while someone from South Asia or the Far East might pay £11,000 or so.

These fees from overseas students have in fact been the lifeblood of the entire sector for some years now: possibly a third of the entire fee income of the whole higher education sector. This isn't extraordinary nor is it short-sighted: it's simple economic rationality.

A market of one billion people in a population of just under 500 million also looks a bit of a stretch.

So does the phrase finish with "those who can't teach, administrate"? 

The Potomac primaries made it eight in a row for Barack Obama. What must be very worrying to the Clinton camp is the breadth of support he showed in most constituencies. The BBC reported that:

Exit polls conducted for AP in Virginia suggested Mr Obama had won the support of two-thirds of men and almost six in 10 women. Mr Obama also made gains with women voters, who have been a core constituency for Mrs Clinton in past contests, and with white men and Latino voters.

These wins give Barack Obama a lead in delegates, enough to wipe out Hillary Clinton's lead among the 'super delegates,' the 796 establishment figures and party hacks whose votes are added to those of the elected delegates. Wisconsin next, but the Clinton hopes are that Ohio and Texas will halt the Obama bandwagon. Texas might not be as good for Hillary as she hopes, though. Delegate numbers per district are based on previous voter turnout, and Hispanics, her 'secret weapon,' had a low turnout last time.

It has been surprising to see her turn from a challenge into a rather faded establishment figure. Her manicured campaign, crafted to each teardrop, has wilted under the onslaught of the fresh-faced newcomer promising to bring real change. Senator Obama won't do that, of course. It will be high taxes and high federal spending, as it will under any of the main contenders. But at least his election will help to change the world's image of America.

It's sometimes said that no country has ever become rich because of foreign aid. The exception is Switzerland, however, whose secret bank accounts have swollen hugely with the proceeds of foreign aid.