Links - 28/07/17

Two days ago there was a little excitement in the Science Community when the remains of an extinct bird were discovered... little did they know that I personally have uncovered another fossil... a links post!

It's been a rather long time. Fortunately I still remember how to copy and paste links - obviously a difficult skill to master. I'm listing points by dot points instead of numbers now - sorry Dewey, it's time for a change.

Some interesting stuff I read/stumbled across the past week, and some cool things to think about.

•  Welcome to the new cash economy - in urban China, cash has increasingly become obsolete in favour of electronic payments:

“...China is systematically and rapidly doing away with paper money and coins.

 Just as startling is how quickly the transition has happened. Only three years ago there would be no question at all, because everyone was still using cash.

Even the buskers were apparently ahead of me. Enterprising musicians playing on the streets of a number of Chinese cities have put up boards with QR codes so that passers-by can simply transfer them tips directly.

• Something that's got the criminology community rather excited: a new study bolstering the "lead crime hypothesis." Apparently higher exposure to lead = higher tendency to commit crime. This sounds very promising, and if causation can be thoroughly established, what implications does this have, in terms of policy, for how we address crime and criminal offenders? Definitely something to keep an eye on - I'll keep you all updated. 

•   An interesting perspective on the minimum wage debate: when Maine (U.S) tried to lift the minimum wage, restaurant workers actually protested it. If you're not familiar with the ins and outs of  the minimum wage debate, the general perception is that minimum wage is said to be mostly beneficial for restaurant workers:

But in Maine, servers actively campaigned to overturn the results of a November referendum raising servers’ hourly wages from $3.75 in 2016 to $12 by 2024,  saying it would cause customers to tip less and actually reduce their take-home income.

•  A (surprisingly) great article about why it matters that Melania Trump wore Dior in Paris last week.   Some great and very eloquent discussion about historical perceptions of fashion in France and how that influences political and cultural discourse. Not one for the econophiles though.  

• And finally, to conclude, something to warm the hearts of any free market liberals, an article about Ford's "super smellers":  

Car designers are increasingly competing to deliver the perfect car scent in each market. For Ford Motor Company, smell is a crucial aspect of delivering high quality vehicles to customers.

Every year Ford runs an application process to select its team of super smellers in China. Would-be testers can come from any department within the company and are asked to judge material samples in 16 jars. They are judged on their smelling ability and consistency, but must also meet other requirements to qualify for a spot on the prestigious panel.

“You can’t smoke or have allergies and sinus issues,” says Mike Feng, a Ford smell tester for four years. “Wearing perfume, leather jackets or nail polish is also not allowed, and you shouldn’t use strongly scented shampoo to ensure your senses aren’t compromised.”

Ford’s super smellers must requalify annually to maintain their position on the panel and must be available to attend regular odor tests throughout the year. A small group of six panelists form the smell jury for each test and an average of their scores is given to each material sample.

Everything used in a Ford vehicle – like seat fabric, plastics or carpet – is odor tested.  

 It's pretty awesome how much time, effort, and minute details goes into small aspects; and all in the name of competition and innovation.

Also, Adam Smith really knew what he was talking about - specialisation of labour is pretty cool.

Another photo of a super smeller - not associated with Ford. 

Brexit, gold, a growth rate of 167.7%... wait, what?!

I'm doing a research project on Australia's composition of trade at the moment, so I'm looking at Australian trading stats. Scintillating stuff.* But I stumbled on something a little weird.

 So most countries had year on year growth of 2-3%. But one country had current trading growth consistently in the double digits .... and no, it wasn't China. Even China could only manage single digits (albeit approx. 8-9%... Japan can only wish). It was something that:

• has experienced stagnation compared to its more adaptable peers
• has a fairly unpopular leader at its helm
•  whose glory days remain in the past.

Pencils down. No, it's not the Canadian band Nickelback. In fact it's the United Kindgom that is managing 25.4% YOY growth in two way trading and 71.6% YOY growth in exports with the Oz. Merchandise trade grew 167.7% - and this is all around Brexit, damn! What's in the water in the U.K? Today, the Budding Statesman investigates. (Cue boring analysis below.)

On further inspection its exports that has been driving this growth. Since exports of services actually declined, it can only be Australian goods... which is probably gold, since proportionally it occupies a larger share of total exports. So the stats suggest that for some reason Britain had an absurd hankering for gold in 2015-16.  

After patting myself on the back for discovering (what I thought) was the second coming of the Gold Rush, I dug a little deeper... and alas, it was not to be:

Britain's trade deficit with the rest of the world is L6 billion larger than previously thought -- and at a record high -- because the nation's beancounters made a mistake in their sums.

The Office for National Statistics yesterday admitted to a big "processing error" that meant it had miscalculated the value of everything that the country exports and imports for almost two years.

The problem was found in the collection of "non-monetary gold" data, which measures the amount of gold traded privately rather than used in jewellery. For every other quarter from the start of 2015, the corrected numbers improve the trade picture, suggesting that UK investors have been net sellers of gold. Since Brexit, the data shows that they have become large importers of the dollar-denominated asset in an apparent flight to safety. 

So those record growth rates were a little exaggerated, to say the least. Darn. But still, I think the Nickelback/United Kingdom comparisons are still strikingly accurate. See below: this is Nickelback's "how you remind me", with some of my own personal annotations. Remind you of any country?

And this is how you remind me

This is how you remind me

Of what I really am (a country in structural decline)

This is how you remind me

Of what I really am (a country in secular decline)

It's not like you to say sorry

I was waiting for a different story...

** I actually do enjoy it quite a bit. Although I think my economics teacher might read my blog so its in my interest to say so anyway.

Many a broken promise...

It has been almost 3 months since I announced the return of the prodigal son/daughter. On April 25th, I proclaimed, rather grandly, "a return from the hiatus", implicitly promising more posts. I followed up on that by remaining inactive for three months. Caesar's backstabbing friends seem rather honest folk compared to some of my (rather ambitious) broken promises.

Since then, the trend line of the Budding Statesman's stats has followed the same life cycle as that of a souffle with too few egg whites: showing great promise, before sadly stagnating. This is entirely my own fault.

So because my lack of posting has caused my downfall, I have decided to grab the bull by the horns (the blog by the horns?) and write as often as possible (hopefully even every day) and in a more conversable manner.  This means more photos and more hip cultural references (and bad jokes). This will also mean, on average, shorter posts. But it'll also cut down on a lot of drabble, and I think overall it will improve the quality and readership of this blog. Especially considering my readership is mostly my mother's friends, who probably don't have time for 3,000 word posts.*  As Snow White proclaimed, "the mirror doesn't lie" - and neither does Google Analytics.

 So, judging by the success of some other blogs, I think I am on the right track - and so begins another day, and another approach. Hopefully this time it sticks.

(Gif courtesy of Riffsy.)

** I do appreciate your readership, but I think it may be time to branch out. Nevertheless, if some Ancient Roman armies were as loyal as you, we'd probably all be speaking Italian.