15 August 2014

1 August 2014

INTERNING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF BUCKINGHAM




(This isn't really a review, more just raising awareness of the University of Buckingham. If anyone reading this was thinking of applying or wanted more information then please feel free to message me.)

After finishing my course at the University of Buckingham in December I was invited back to the economics department as an intern until April. The University had only just got funding for offering such internships so I didn't know much about what I would be doing and it wasn't paid;I was only able to claim back expenses but I knew I wasn't ready to move back home yet so I was happy to take the opportunity.

I interned mostly with Dr.Castañeda looking at optimal currency areas which mostly consisted of collecting data. If I'm honest I didn't work as much as some of the other interns (there were six of us) but I was happy for the work whereas another intern didn't complete the full term and another missed a deadline by quite a large margin.

I learnt a lot about how to use excel and go about research, which you think I would know about already, but there was only one module during my degree in which I had to look up raw data.

The way the work was structured was very flexible and I had to set my own hours and milestones. I was able to do a lot of things in the local area that I didn't have time for during my degree while also being to attend events such as The Freedom Festival. The skills I learnt using various features of excel and databases actually helped me with my next internship too.

In summary, I think if you want to go into research or academia then this would be a useful internship for you. It also allows for more freedom within the University. Two of the interns I worked with have stayed on until the end of July doing some more in-depth projects and both of them are going on to do a master's in October whereas the rest of us decided to move onto other skillsets.

28 July 2014

BOOK REVIEW: 'THE WELFARE STATE WE'RE IN' BY JAMES BARTHOLOMEW

Introduction
This was a recommendation from The Freedom Festival which I attended earlier this year, put on by The Freedom Association. The weekend was packed with lectures and then I was able to meet the author, James Bartholomew, at The Freedom Festival a few months later. Each chapter is dedicated to a different aspect of the welfare state in Britain and explains how provisions were made previous to the welfare state being introduced. It's a great history lesson and shows how each part of the welfare state could actually be provided by the private sector.

Style
Mostly easy to read although at times I felt the opinions of the author really came through, influencing and supporting the data rather than the conclusions being drawn from the data. Bartholomew writes in a conversational style that is easy to follow although at times the sheer amount of data and anecdote made the writing dense by necessity.

Content
Each chapter considered different aspects of the welfare state grouped around a general chapter heading. The chapter is usually introduced through the use of an anecdote which draws you into the chapter by asking you questions like 'What did Catherine of Aragon have to do with the origins of the welfare state'? while also addressing more general questions like 'Do welfare benefits cause unemployment?'

Other topics include the NHS (subtitled: like a train crash every day), Education, Housing, Parenting and Pensions. The last chapter is a very useful summary of the book while also drawing general conclusions over whether we should get rid of the welfare state altogether.

Conclusions
‘The Welfare State We're In’ was exceedingly interesting to read; I vaguely felt that the welfare state needed reforming before reading this but I wasn't at all aware of how much it had taken over from the private sector in previous years. Bartholomew presents data and anecdote together to form an interesting narrative and picture of Britain. I was quite convinced by the picture presented. However, straight after reading this I read Jack London's "The People of the Abyss" in which London goes tramping around the east end of London in 1902; before the welfare state was properly introduced. This made me realise that although Bartholomew is statistically correct when he says that people got along perfectly well before the welfare state London describes people sleeping six to a bed or people sleeping under and above the bed, or doing 'shifts' depending on the work schedule.

In summary: Very interesting book, excellent picture of how the welfare state doesn't need to exist in it's current state but best taken with a pinch of salt and another set of writings from the opposite perspective.

Usefulness
Very useful read if you're studying public sector economics or if you're looking for a solution to the expansion of government.

14 May 2014

11 May 2014

VOTING FOR AUSTRIA BY COUNTRY

So last night Conchita Wurst won Eurovision. Here's the winning song again:

For some reason Russia and some other countries were kicking up a fuss about whether she should be allowed to participate but the voting has finished and now she's 'The Queen of Europe'.
So, as an intellectual exercise I thought I would compare how 'free' a country was with how many points they gave to Austria. I realise that there are other factors that are taken into consideration when countries vote (such as the likeability of the song for example) but i just thought I would compare.
Here's what I got. I have no conclusions; I just thought it was interesting.
Please remember that this is raw data that I was looking at while watching Netflix. I've no idea what percentage of each country watched Eurovision or which characteristics make you more likely to vote.
For example I would assume that very anti-EU British people wouldn't have voted and pro-EU people are represented by the Lib Dems who are a more open minded party than the Tories. 
Notes:
Economic Freedom numbers came from The Heritage Foundation's Index of Economic Freedom
Social Freedom numbers came from Rahmey's The World Liberty Index If chart isn't displaying properly here's the chart as an image:
*Before someone gets confused I changed the index numbers to a score out of 12 so I could use the same scale for everything.

10 May 2014

THE FREEDOM FORUM 2014


The Liberty Leauge Freedom Forum is an annual student focused event that happened this year over the weekend of April 11th. £30 paid for attendance, food and boarding at a very good hostel called Clink78. The event is organised through the partnership of various think tanks including The Institute of Economic Affairs and The Adam Smith Institute with the aim of promoting free thought, libertarianism and critical thinking.

Speakers included speakers such as Ted Malloch and James Bartholomew (who kindly signed my copy of 'The Welfare State We're In' while also including panels on working in media, interview techniques and other workshops.

I left with plenty of free things, including a few huge books by Ann Rand courtesy of donors to the Ann Rand Institute, and a reading list as long as my arm. In many cases many participants already knew each other from events organised by the Young Britons Foundation, but despite this a lone traveller such as myself was welcomed and included.

In the end I left with a few new friends and hope to see more people there next year!

5 February 2014

BOOK REVIEW ‘THE WHY AXIS’ BY URI GNEEZY & JOHN LIST

Introduction
Another book that explores ‘the hidden side of everything’. Unlike the Dubner and Levitt books the topics explored here are quite narrow although not less interesting. Rather than separate chapters on different subjects this book looks at some very specific issues and the evidence connecting them.  The main focus of the book the ‘new field’ of economic experiments, controlling for factors and seeing how groups react to different incentives with the aim being to solve problems such as underachievement in schools and discrimination.
Style
Nothing too technical here to put off a casual reader, this is another of many books trying to increase awareness of microeconomics and therefore it has to be accessible to everyone. One thing that did annoy me was that some parts start a story but you can’t find out what happens until it is used to illustrate the conclusion. Although you can’t really  fault a literary device being used in a book.
Content
The main topics explored relate to discrimination and the achievement gap between students. Exploration happens through looking at field experiments, most of which were engineered by the authors or their colleagues during their careers. Other topics that the authors have looked into include how to get people to donate to charity, experiment to get ahead in business and a number of interesting by products besides this. Some topics span multiple chapters which other topics are only a few pages long.
Conclusions
‘The Why Axis’ covers a few subjects in a great deal of detail and although all of these topics are interesting the ties between them are vague. ‘The Why Axis’ was a very interesting read and I learnt a lot from it that I hope I’ll have power to put into practice some of the suggestions to combat discrimination and inequality. The only criticism I have is that the topics don’t really ‘flow’ together all that well, it can’t be helped as there’s not enough material for a singular book on a singular topic so it has to be a mash-up of previous work in a nicely digestible holiday novel.
Usefulness
In terms of classes I don’t think this is a very useful book. Yes it was interesting and yes I enjoyed reading it but I don’t think I would ever be able to reference this book in an essay. Still, if you enjoyed ‘Freakonomics’ you’ll enjoy this one too!