Podcast appearances and mentions of paul frijters

Paul Frijters runs Academia Libera Mentis from a castle in Belgium. After a distinguished academic career in Australia and Europe, he is creating an academic oasis in the Ardennes for thinking, learning and growing. I've written before about this project.Today, we reflect on five years of the corona panic debacle, the economic and social fallout we are still experiencing, and what we could have known early on but refused to collectively acknowledge due to the madness of crowds. We discuss in detail the enormous cost to our lives of lockdowns, the fact that the low-risk nature of COVID was clear early on from things like the Diamond Princess event, and how to minimise panic in the future when the unexpected happens. You can read the full story of my COVID experience in these two articles:Unfortunately, here in my city of Brisbane, we are going through another panic and lockdown. We are so far a week into a “cyclone lockdown”. There have been two days of school closures in a large part of the state, deferred hospital treatments, extra delays of construction work (beyond justified by the weather), and shortages at supermarkets (especially toilet paper, the preferred emergency ration).It is okay to prepare for potential power losses and strong winds. But “potential” is a key word here. Why did we panic early rather than waiting for better information? Conditional statements seem too advanced. Differential consideration of risks—based on location in this case, rather than age and health condition in the COVID case—seem too subtle. All I hear is that a risk is a risk, so stop complaining. The craziest part is how much people love it. Take action, any action. Will that action help? Who cares! It doesn't matter. And I fear that the collective impulse that makes for a rich and functional society is exactly the impulse that drives this behaviour. What else will we do to be part of the crowd in the next emergency?Paul predicted in 2022 that as a society we would learn that an instinct for such action has been nurtured and that new lockdowns would emerge. Here are some of Paul's early writings on COVID and the nature of the crowd reaction to it from 2020 and 2021 that we mentioned. * Here's a March 2020 assessment of the sheer scale of the human cost of lockdowns, border closures and other policy choices. * Here's an August 2020 prediction of a baby bust (with some hope of a small boom). * Here's a 2021 explanation of how many physical policies probably led to more virus circulation rather than less. * And here are some of Paul's predictions from the comments section of this article about the likely ways the NDIS will be rorted from back in 2016.As always, please like, share, comment, and subscribe. Thanks for your support. Find Fresh Economic Thinking on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.fresheconomicthinking.com/subscribe

De vijfde aflevering van Ongehoord Nieuws seizoen 7 Presentatie: Raisa Blommestijn Gasten: Willem Engel, Paul Frijters en Huibrecht Boluijt

De 13e aflevering van Ongehoord Nieuws seizoen 6. Presentatie: Tom de Nooijer. Gasten: Paul Cliteur, Pim van Rijswijk, Paul Frijters en Bauke Geersing

We gaan het hebben over: One World Government {de globalistische overname} een aantal dingen die daarmee te maken hebben: centrale bank munten, EU propaganda, de moordaanslag op Trump en een aantal andere dingen zowel recente realiteit als onderliggende factoren en oplossingen natuurlijk.---Deze video is geproduceerd door Café Weltschmerz. Café Weltschmerz gelooft in de kracht van het gesprek en zendt interviews uit over actuele maatschappelijke thema's. Wij bieden een hoogwaardig alternatief voor de mainstream media. Café Weltschmerz is onafhankelijk en niet verbonden aan politieke, religieuze of commerciële partijen.Waardeer je onze video's? Help ons in de strijd naar een eerlijker Nederland, vrij van censuur en Steun Café Weltschmerz en word Stamgast!https://www.cafeweltschmerz.nl/maandelijks-doneren/Wil je meer video's bekijken en op de hoogte blijven via onze nieuwsbrief? Ga dan naar: https://www.cafeweltschmerz.nl/videos/Wil je op de hoogte worden gebracht van onze nieuwe video's? Klik hierboven dan op Abonneren!

In de twaalfde aflevering van De Andere Tafel ontvangt vaste presentator Pieter Stuurman Prof. Dr. Paul Frijters, Wetenschappelijk directeur van Nova Academia, en Dr. Wendy Mittemeijer, ‘medisch ethisch adviseur. Het gesprek gaat over de staat van de wetenschap en het nieuwe initiatief van Paul Frijters, de Nova Academia waar vanaf september vrij wetenschappelijk onderwijs aangeboden gaat worden. Abonneer op De Andere Krant via https://deanderekrant.nl/abonnement.Meer informatie over Nova Academia: https://novacad.org/nl/---Deze video is geproduceerd door Café Weltschmerz. Café Weltschmerz gelooft in de kracht van het gesprek en zendt interviews uit over actuele maatschappelijke thema's. Wij bieden een hoogwaardig alternatief voor de mainstream media. Café Weltschmerz is onafhankelijk en niet verbonden aan politieke, religieuze of commerciële partijen.Waardeer je onze video's? Help ons in de strijd naar een eerlijker Nederland, vrij van censuur en Steun Café Weltschmerz en word Stamgast!https://cafeweltschmerz.nl/register/Wil je onze nieuwsbrief ontvangen in je mailbox?https://cafeweltschmerz.nl/nieuwsbrief/Wil je op de hoogte worden gebracht van onze nieuwe video's? Klik hierboven dan op Abonneren!

Bekijk het interview via: https://www.blckbx.tv/binnenland/kritische-denkers-opleiden-in-een-kasteel-nova-academia-trapt-afWaar je ooit intellectueel werd uitgedaagd en verantwoordelijk volwassenen werd, bevinden universiteitsstudenten zich nu in grote onpersoonlijke bureaucratische systemen die je als kwetsbaar behandelen tegen verkeerd denken. Je leert volgzaamheid en dogma's, waardoor je niet voorbereid bent op de eisen van werk en volwassenheid. Waarom je leven verspillen op zulke zielloze plekken als het ook anders kan?Nova Academia in oprichting is gesitueerd in een sprookjesachtig kasteel in Wallonië (België), en de oprichters krijgen op 22 maart de sleutel om kritisch denkende mensen op te leiden voor de uitdagingen van morgen. 'Wie zijn deze twee paradijsvogels? En wat zijn ze precies van plan?' was de openingsvraag van programmamaker Flavio Pasquino, die de oprichters Dr. Erika Turkstra en Prof. dr. Paul Frijters interviewde over hun plannen en drijfveren. De academie biedt een éénjarige opleiding aan waarbij met name economie en gezondheid centraal staan, naast een brede, holistische oriëntatie op de wereld als geheel. Intussen hebben veel docenten, uit binnen- en buitenland zich aangesloten. Waaronder ook vertrouwde namen als emeritus hoogleraar prof. dr. Kees van der Pijl.Op zaterdag 16 maart organiseert Nova Academia een online informatiesessie waar geïnteresseerden hun vragen kunnen stellen. In de maanden april en mei zijn er diverse open dagen, dus neem vooral een kijkje op hun evenementenkalender.Waardeer je deze video('s)? Like deze video, abonneer je op ons kanaal en steun de onafhankelijke journalistiek van blckbx met een donatie ➡ https://www.blckbx.tv/donerenWil je op de hoogte blijven?Telegram - https://t.me/blckbxtvTwitter - https://twitter.com/blckbxnewsFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/blckbx.tvInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/blckbx.tvLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/blckbxnews/TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@blckbx.tv#NovaAcademia #Universiteit #Opleiding #KritischSupport the show

Thank you to paid FET supporters. Your support allows me to do things like:* Appear as an expert witness at the Senate Inquiry into Shared Equity (was 5th March)* Appear at the Senate Inquiry into Retirement (on Tuesday 12th March). * Conduct a seminar on housing economics for NSW regulator IPART (also 12th March)The season for change in higher learning is now.Not only have I started Fresh Economic Thinking as an independent place to do science—conduct research, teach, and engage in public debate—I am also involved as a mentor and teacher at Nova Academia.Nova Academia is a new college based in a castle outside of Theux, Belgium, run by a team of academics to create an “academic oasis” for research and teaching and to challenge great minds. The image above is the new campus. It makes me think of the X-men, where gifted students got together in a castle for intensive training in their craft but also to build life skills. Here's the pitch.Where once you were challenged intellectually and became responsible adults, university students find themselves in large impersonal bureaucratic systems that treat you as fragile and in need of protection from wrongthink. You are taught compliance and dogma, leaving you unprepared for the demands of work and adulthood. We – a group of outspoken academics, thinkers, and citizens – have seen our universities abandon you. Why waste your life in such soulless places? Come join our oasis in a beautiful castle in the Ardennes. Live on a campus with freedom of speech. Discover yourself and the world, and escape from constant fear and online distractions. An open community where art, aesthetics, movement, and genuine interactions are as important as academic content. Is this for you? It is not a place for passive consumers: it is where you will expand your thinking, become a more responsible adult, set up creative activities for others to join, design solutions to economic and social problems, and prepare for future jobs and studies. Graduates and academics will have made friends, acquired valuable critical and job-relevant skills, and developed improvements to major sectors of our society.Currently, the subject areas are economics, political economy, and health and well-being. If you are thinking of pursuing further education in these areas, consider this option. To begin over the next couple of years, the basic course structures are one-year live-in programs that start with 6-months of core curriculum then specialisation and research.* The Gap-Year Program is for high-school leavers and undergraduates looking for a challenge to expand their horizons and get exposure to new disciplines. * The Finishing Year Program is for recent graduates and professionals looking to spend time in deep learning about a topic, perhaps one outside their technical expertise. * The Avant-Garde Program is for young leaders looking to make a difference in the world. There are two actions to take if this sparks your interest. First, go here to the website to get the vibe of the place. It is very early days. Pricing is yet to be confirmed. At the moment, Nova Academia is for risk-takers and leaders. It is an experiment in learning. Second, attend the online information session on 16th March 2024 (which is unfortunately around midnight in Australia). As I noted, I am part of the mentorship group that students will have access to and will be teaching in early 2025 in some form about the economics of corruption and property markets. More details about the vision for this new education project are in the below document. Read more below from Paul Frijters about the problems he sees in modern universities that have left open a market niche for places like Nova Academia.Problems With the Modern UniversityProfessor Paul FrijtersWe observe three interconnected problems with modern academia. Each problem hampers universities' ability to deliver on their mission to curate free and critical thought, produce new knowledge, and graduate students prepared to serve the needs of their communities.1. Bureaucratic bloatUniversities today are administratively bloated, a phenomenon also noted by many others (e.g., Raewyn Connell) that self-perpetuates via national and international bureaucracies. Bureaucracy naturally expands and expands, costing the time of academics and students. US universities in 2010 were found to function perfectly well with an administration-to-faculty personnel ratio of just 1 to 3, but the typical ratio observed that year was at least 5 to 3, and getting worse. Yale recently reported that it has as many administrators as it has students. This bloat represents easily 50 percent of all expenses in a university and perhaps more than that in terms of lost productivity, if one includes both additional expenses and the production prevented by over-regulation.An example of how this bureaucracy is self-perpetuating is seen in the process of accreditation. Accreditation agencies, whether private or public, largely measure the presence of administrative staff, policies, and requirements (processes, procedures, KPIs, progress reports, databases, ethics committees, and so on). In turn, accreditation is used as a prerequisite for student access to state loans, for purposes of fulfilling job requirements, or for academics to be able to apply for research grants from state agencies. Receipt of research income is then used in marketing to students and to pursue higher levels of accreditation. In this way, the university bureaucracy is both mandated and protected by the associated national and international institutions around accreditation, research grants, state job applications, and state loans. Only institutions with large endowments – either private endowments, as in the States, or state subsidies in the form of free public land or other state-provided resources – are able to keep up and become known as high-status universities in this bureaucratic race.Administrative bloat has many other consequences, amongst which is that many university functions now follow bureaucratic rather than academic logic, ignoring the purely academic benefits to activities and focusing instead on finding and privileging reasons for the bureaucracy's own existence. This leads to a perennial search for problems that can be exaggerated and turned into a justification for more administration (e.g., ‘Is there a problem I can pretend to solve by creating an additional compliance problem?').A clear example of this is seen in human subjects ethics policies, which today involve many committees and result in the strange reality that social science academics, whose job it is to do research about humanity, are bound by rules that in no way bind millions of businesses and government departments that treat people far worse than they are treated in most research involving human subjects. The bureaucracy has created a kind of administrative ritual, justified by the need to be careful when doing research with human subjects, that demands yet more administration, goes far further than the law of the land, and naturally crowds out individual responsibility.2. Universities as businesses The modern university has become a business run for the personal glory and profit of its management, rather than an institution serving a public-good function that reflects the desire for knowledge in a whole community. Universities are now large property owners, suppliers of visas, organisers of consultancy services and places where business and management careers are made, all of which feed a commercial but not necessarily a community mission. Universities today play a real ‘game of mates' (Murray and Frijters, 2022).This new orientation has many consequences. One is an inability to effectively caretake the physical and mental health of students, because the question of ‘what good could we do' is neither the starting point nor any longer built into the self-image of the university. A second is the loss of a positive community story, leaving a vacuum that is now filled with self-hatred and divisive doomsday stories. A third is that relevant research has been replaced by performative research. Fourth, truth is no longer treated seriously, having been replaced by feel-good promises. Fifth, public lectures have reduced in importance and publishing is increasingly seen as a pure status game, leading to territorial issues. Worst of all perhaps is the demise of the university as a place where people try to solve community problems. 3. Mediocrity and cowardice Second-rate and disconnected teaching, based on what students with limited understanding enjoy hearing, is coupled in today's universities with disconnected theories that are largely for sale (e.g., content for schools of medicine influenced by Big Pharma, theories on taxation and private property pushed by billionaire think tanks, and old textbooks rehashing tired theories that dominate the market and from which disciplines cannot escape). With mass teaching have come low-quality students, dragging standards down, but also the reality that university activities become relevant to institutions (including the state) wishing to manipulate whole populations – reducing universities' independence.Immersive teaching and travel are seen today merely as risks, rather than core activities, by university managers who do not weigh the risks versus benefits of university activities with respect to fulfilling a community service role.The result of these trends, coupled with broader social trends over the past generation, are alarming. Cognitive outcomes and several indicators of university success in the West are now visibly suffering relative to a mere 20 years ago. Not only do our children have lower IQs and a reduced capacity to think abstractly, but the mobility of young people is lower. On top of this, the returns to college graduation vary widely by degree, and facing large numbers of negative-return degrees, over 50 per cent of Americans think degrees are not worth the cost.These problems feed into each other and mutually reinforce a bad equilibrium for the system as a whole. The incentives are strong for university staff who are low-quality and demotivated to find ways of avoiding higher-quality demands or demands to reduce bureaucracy (which would lead to layoffs). A peer-review system that has metastasized into a mechanism for punishing real innovation and reward for super-specialists by established territorial groups spawns textbooks and academic societies reflecting those territories, creating more barriers to real renewal. The increased importance of research status signaling makes all of this worse, as ‘winning' on the terms of the existing system becomes more important, punishing innovation and broad thinking even more.Joy and spiritual meaning have been replaced in today's universities by dull, low-quality mass teaching and mass research. Strong lock-in effects make escape for existing universities nigh impossible. As early as 2012, we observed that an Australian university wanting to do something about quality or bureaucracy would upset the unions, the existing students, the local politicians, and even the alumni (who would suddenly hear from their own university that the degree they thought was great was in fact not great). New entrants would face extreme pressures to copy the basic failed model, both due to demands for bureaucracy by accreditors and students, and due to the need to look good on signalling measures (rankings, research income, etc.). A pessimist might think the only way to change is for the whole system to eventually lose legitimacy and then implode as the demand for education finds substitutes abroad and in external institutions, like homeschooling.With great upheavals, making a portion of the population lose faith in the state and in the many institutions associated with power and money, come new opportunities. The signs that we may be at such a juncture now are seen in the increasing percentage of people who have lost faith in the news and in local politicians (shown in surveys like this one), the prevalence of beliefs that standards have fallen, and the rising percentage of people opting out by homeschooling or paying for private education rather than trusting the state. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.fresheconomicthinking.com/subscribe

GUEST OVERVIEW: Dr. Paul Frijters is currently a Professor in Wellbeing Economics at the London School of Economics, teaching the Masters Course in Wellbeing and Public Policy. He specializes in applied micro-econometrics, including labor, happiness, and health economics and currently advises the UK government and others on how to implement wellbeing policies at the national and regional level. Dr. Frijters publishes regularly in top 50 economics journals and has (co-) authored around 150 papers, 6 books and is in the top 1% of cited economists. He is co-author of The Great Covid Panic: What happened, why and what to do next? (2021).

Paul Frijters is a Professor of Wellbeing Economics at the London School of Economics: from 2016 through November 2019 at the Center for Economic Performance, thereafter at the Department of Social Policy. He writes extensively on the realities of lockdowns and the 'why' behind the madness of crowds. In this interview we explored: The loud voices for and against lockdowns, and where those voices go after a madness dissipates The reaction of the crowd during a madness How a group madness collapses and what the crowd thinks in hindsight Forces that accelerate the collapse of a crowd madness Institutions that defend against or slow madness Opportunistic concentrations of power in the WHO, WEF etc What nationalism really is Watch the full interview at: https://discernable.io/prof-paul-frijters-the-madness-of-crowds ------------------------------------- DISCERNABLE The Video Archive: https://discernable.io Prefer audio? Search for 'It Is Discernable' on Spotify and Apple Podcasts Join our Private Community: https://discernable.locals.com Purchase tickets (and replays) to our Town Halls: https://discernable.io/townhall PAUL FRIJTERS https://brownstone.org/author/paul-frijters https://www.amazon.com.au/Great-Covid-Panic-What-Happened/dp/1630692778 https://twitter.com/FrijtersPaul

We are living through huge food price increases … And in a way, that's on us.” Much of the world has spent the last two years modeling how different policies will reduce COVID-19 cases or deaths—with little to no regard to how they damage humanity. Today, I sit down with a man whose job is to actually quantify these harms. Paul Frijters is a visiting professor of wellbeing economics at the London School of Economics, a social philosopher, and co-author of “The Great Covid Panic: What Happened, Why, and What to Do Next.” “There's kind of a madness that's crept into the population looking for other crazy things to do … We are as it were in a madly stampeding herd,” Frijters says. Follow EpochTV on social media: Twitter: https://twitter.com/EpochTVus Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/EpochTV Truth Social: https://truthsocial.com/@EpochTV Gettr: https://gettr.com/user/epochtv Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EpochTVus Gab: https://gab.com/EpochTV Telegram: https://t.me/EpochTV

Sign-up for our Newsletter at: https://firstfreedoms.ca/call_to_action_pages/stay_informed/ Recently, Barry W. Bussey spoke with Paul Frijters, Gigi Foster, and Michael Baker, authors of The Great Covid Panic: What Happened, Why, and What To Do Next (2021). Joining the interview from Thailand, Saudi Arabia, and Australia, the three economists shared their perspectives on the past two years. In their book, the authors looked at the pandemic in terms of a wellbeing analysis. Understanding the psychology of crowds can help us make sense of what happened in 2020, as an emotional wave of human panic swept the world. Recognizing the dynamics of power, and the political and corporate opportunism that followed, can help to explain why that state of panic has continued for so long, despite the harms caused by government interventions. Looking ahead, we can expect a lengthy recovery. Trust in our institutions has been broken and will be very difficult to repair. Although we may hope for justice – or even an apology – we are not likely to see any official acknowledgement of wrongdoing. Instead, we can already observe a changing of the narrative as the focus shifts to new crises. Where does that leave us? First, Gigi reminds us that evil triumphs when the good stay silent. Let your voice be heard. Second, practice stepping back from the crowd to examine your own behaviour; don't outsource your conclusions to the crowd. Finally, Paul recommends bypassing failed institutions by forming local groups to rebuild a productive civil society. We think this is such an important conversation that we'd like to offer a copy of The Great Covid Panic to one of our viewers! Anyone who donates to First Freedoms this month will be entered in a draw to receive their own copy of the book. Click the donate button now for your chance to win!! Please note the views expressed by the individual(s) in this video are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views or principles of the First Freedoms Foundation.

I'm joined today by three of Australia's top economists to discuss how panic, fear, and uncertainty led to the most egregious public policy in Australian history. 

Courageous Convos is a weekly live webinar hosted by Voices For Freedom co-founders (Claire, Alia & Libby); this episode with international guest, Dr. Gigi Foster we get an economists perspective on the pandemic response. Gigi Foster is one of Australia's leading economics communicators, Professor Foster writes for both the academic and the popular press and is regularly interviewed on mainstream television and radio programs across the country, and quoted in national print media, about economic matters. Her regular media appearances include co-hosting The Economists, a national economics talk-radio program and podcast series now in its fifth season, with Peter Martin AM on ABC Radio National. Her book she co-authored with Paul Frijters and Michael Baker, The Great Covid Panic: What Happened, Why, and What To Do Next is a riveting read and available on Amazon and Good Reads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58911778-the-great-covid-panic Remember to sign up to our mailing list to keep informed: www.voicesforfreedom.co.nz/stay-informed/ For more podcasts on these and other topics relating to upholding our freedoms join Claire, Libby and Alia at VOICES FOR FREEDOM - https://voicesforfreedom.co.nz

In this episode Saifedean invites back Professor Paul Frijters of the London School of Economics to debate whether bitcoin is a good form of money. Saifedean makes the case for money as a market phenomenon, and argues that bitcoin has the scarcity, divisibility, fungibility and transportability that humans have historically valued in monies. Paul questions whether bitcoin mining is a zero-sum game and whether the fact that people hold bitcoin really demonstrates it has value. The debate touches on the demonetization of silver in China, the scarcity of land, and whether government force is legitimate at all.

In this episode, Saifedean talks to London School of Economics Professor Paul Frijters about his book The Great Covid Panic. They talk about the role played by epidemiologists like Neil Fergusson in encouraging governments to pursue extreme lockdowns, and why mainstream economists failed to properly evaluate the opportunity costs of this policy. They discuss the damage lockdowns have caused and how societies were driven by crowd mentality to engage in largely ineffectual “Covid theatre” such as mask wearing and hand sanitising. At the end of the episode, Paul takes questions from seminar attendees about Sweden’s Covid response, vaccine mandates and what lessons can be learned from the Covid panic.

A lot of the discussion about an inquiry into the covid response has been, in my view, poorly framed. There are massive lessons to be learned from this pandemic, but I believe that a huge segment of this is being ignored - what the cost of lockdowns will be and has already been. For this reason I spoke to wellbeing economist Paul Fritjers, co-author of the book The Great Covid Panic, who believes that the cost of lockdowns outweighs the benefits 50:1 on a broad societal scale. This can be a difficult topic to explore without sounding callous, that is never my intention, but if the costs are really this great, I believe we have to understand them before we apply the same policy again. Paul Frijters is a Professor of Wellbeing Economics at the London School of Economics: from 2016-nov 2019 at the Center for Economic Performance, thereafter at the Department of Social Policy. He completed his Masters in Econometrics at the University of Groningen, including a seven-month stay in Durban, South Africa before completing a PhD through the University of Amsterdam. He has also engaged in teaching and research at the University of Melbourne, the Australian National University, QUT, UQ, and now the LSE. Professor Fritjers specializes in applied micro-econometrics, including labor, happiness, and health economics, though he has also worked on pure theoretical topics in macro and micro fields. His main area of interest is in analyzing how socio-economic variables affect the human life experience and the "unanswerable" economic mysteries in life. Resources Play Politics and War Free Here - https://politicsandwar.com The Great Covid Panic: What Happened, Why, and What To Do Next - https://amzn.to/3AHuhce https://www.iza.org/person/931/paul-frijters https://www.lse.ac.uk/social-policy/people/Emeritus-Visiting/professor-paul-frijters HELP ME CROWDFUND MY GAMESTOP BOOK. Go to https://wen-moon.com to join the crowdfunding campaign and pre-order To The Moon: The GameStop Saga! If you haven’t already and you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to this podcast and our mailing list, and don’t forget, my book, Brexit: The Establishment Civil War, is now out, you’ll find the links in the description below. Watch Us On Odysee.com - https://odysee.com/$/invite/@TheJist:4 Sign up and watch videos to earn crypto-currency! Buy Brexit: The Establishment Civil War - https://amzn.to/39XXVjq Mailing List - https://www.getrevue.co/profile/thejist Twitter - https://twitter.com/Give_Me_TheJist Website - https://thejist.co.uk/  

Viruswaarheid Live Extra - Economie Met Willem Engel En Professor Paul Frijters 7 april by Viruswaarheid en meer

Does Australia have a problem with rent-seekers, well-connected insiders who have their snouts firmly in the public trough, enriching themselves and their mates at the expense of the rest of us? Why is it that the majority of our Rich-Listers accrued their wealth from favourable treatment in heavily regulated industries? The Australia Institute's Chief Economist Richard Denniss, co-author of Games of Mates (with Paul Frijters), Cameron Murray and Marian Wilkinson (The Carbon Club) examine the cosy club of political insiders and this particularly Australian way to make money. Chaired by Michael West

Lockdowns to contain the spread of COVID-19 are pulling Australia's economy down under. Its GDP fell by a record 7 percent between April and June, plunging the economy into recession. And experts are warning of tougher times ahead, unless the government launches more stimulus measures. Mobin Nasir reports. For more on this, Paul Frijters joined us London. He's professor of Wellbeing Economics at LSE. #Australia #Recession #WildFires #Coronavirus

When we interviewed the famous and controversial Princeton ethics philosopher Peter Singer, he brought up an interesting study by economist Paul Frijters that claims the current set of economic lockdowns are causing 70 times more life years lost than Covid-19 otherwise would had we done nothing. It was surprising to hear such a perspective, since there has been almost unanimous consensus amongst the economics community that the lockdowns are the preferred policy prescription – how did Paul Frijters arrive at this calculation? How justified is his view? And what are the moral-ethical implications of the current measures and his alternative proposals? We reached out, and Prof. Frijters kindly agreed to have this brutally honest conversation with us. Prof. Frijters has written a series of controversial blog posts on https://clubtroppo.com.au/, topics ranging from how politicians were forced into “crowd-think” and made the unscientific decision of economic lockdown, to why quickly giving everyone Covid to build up herd immunity would be the wisest policy right now. In this interview, we dive deep into those moral-ethical debates and discuss how sensible policy measures can arise out of scientifically rigorous economic thinking. This is one of the most fascinating interviews that Tiger has conducted, and Prof. Frijters’s diagnosis for the current academic environment and social discourse will surely stimulate you in unexpected ways. Prof. Frijters is currently a Professor in Wellbeing Economics at the LSE. He specializes in applied micro-econometrics, including labor, happiness, and health economics, including measurement and how we all can help the wellbeing of others. He is particularly active with models of cost-effectiveness and how wellbeing can become the driving focus of the nation state bureaucracy.

Economics Explained host Gene Tunny speaks with Professor Benno Torgler of QUT about a new paper he has co-authored: Certified Corona-Immunity as a Resource and Strategy to Cope with Pandemic Costs.Professor Benno Torgler is Professor of Economics in the School of Economics and Finance and Centre for Behavioural Economics, Society and Technology (BEST), QUT. He was also Adjunct Professor at the EBS Universität für Wirtschaft und Recht, Germany (2012-2015) and an ARC Future Fellow (2011-2015).TimestampsUse these (approximate) timestamps to jump right to the highlights:1:20 – abstract/overview of Benno’s paper – immune people must be identified and re-integrated into normal activities as soon as possible5:15 – reference to Gene’s interview with CCIQ Chief Economist Marcus Smith on the economic impacts of coronavirus5:40 – concept of Immunity Certificates8:50 – what does Benno mean by actively producing the resource of corona-immunity?11:55 – importance of widespread testing and the need to discuss trade-offs (e.g. public health and economy), prompting discussion of final sentence of abstract, “There is a risk that the impacts of the secondary crisis could outweigh that of the biological event from a health and societal perspective.”13:40 – discussion of Frank Snowden’s book Epidemics and Society: From the Black Death to the Present16:40 – reference to post-September 11 study which showed driving deaths increased following terrorist attack which led to less air travel by Gerd Gigerenzer, Out of the Frying Pan into the Fire: Behavioral Reactions to Terrorist Attacks21:00 – reference to Paul Frijters’ articles on the virus - e.g. The Corona Dilemma23:45 – Benno mentions Rizio and Skali paper on How often do dictators have positive economic effects?

Would strong early action on coronavirus have been better, from both public health and economic perspectives, than the incremental policy responses we have seen in countries such as Australia and the US? In this episode, Economics Explained host Gene Tunny discusses policy responses to coronavirus with Dr Nicholas Gruen, CEO of Lateral Economics. Nicholas is a Visiting Professor at King’s College, London, and former Chair of several government, non-profit, and private sector organisations, including Innovation Australia and Kaggle.TimestampsUse these (approximate) timestamps to jump right to the highlights:4:00 – Nicholas discusses his recent article on coronavirus policy PANIC IS OUR FRIEND! which argues in favour of strong, early action on coronavirus, rather than the incremental ramping up of restrictions we have seen7:50 – Nicholas notes these decisions are challenging because panic itself has costs, as argued by Paul Frijters in his article The Corona Dilemma12:30 – discussion of John Quiggin’s Option value post on the benefits of early action 14:05 – Nicholas suggests policy makers should follow Google’s example and experiment and AB test policy responses, generating feedback to improve policies 15:05 – discussion of what Ben Shapiro calls The Un-askable Question26:35 – Nicholas observes “when things change they become highly unpredictable” in our discussion of what coronavirus could mean for our future economic system36:00 – conclusion of discussion with a quote from Nicholas’s article: “Right now, panic is the friend of anyone who doesn’t want to get this disease, which continues to surprise on the downside (i.e. the bad side).”

Land rezoning, sales, and planning approvals are just a few of the ways 'grey gifts' can decide who benefits from government decisions. Dean Lewins/AAPThe role of declared gifts and donations has driven a lot of discussion around government corruption in recent years. But what about the clique of developers, banks and superannuation companies who reap the benefits of policies and approvals that preserve monopolies? How do we decide who the winners and losers are in society, without even going into the more obvious acts of money changing hands for sweetheart deals between friends? Cameron Murray is a lecturer in economics at the University of Queensland and the co-author (with Paul Frijters) of the Game of Mates. The book explores the murky world of “grey gifts”: favours and promises given to bureaucrats and politicians in order to secure favourable decisions and judgements. The University of Melbourne’s William Isdale spoke with Murray on how these arrangements occur, who benefits, and who ultimately foots the bill. Subscribe to The Conversation’s Speaking With podcasts on iTunes, or follow on Tunein Radio. Music Free Music Archive: Blue Dot Sessions - Wisteria William Isdale does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Finance headlines seem to simmer beneath the conscious awareness of many, and economic words like the interest rates, ASX200, consumer confidence, and GDP often fly past on the news without a second thought. Daniel Seed speaks to economist Paul Frijters to explain some of the most common economics terms we might hear every single day without ever paying attention to what they mean. Brought to you by www.StringerPress.com.au

Paul Frijters, professor of Health Economics at the University of Queensland on his upcoming presentation at the Australian Telehealth Conference 2016.

Paul Frijters, professor of Health Economics at the University of Queensland on his upcoming presentation at the Australian Telehealth Conference 2016.