Afternoon roundup

A closing of the browser tabs

• Dave Frame batting back the usual (often older) arguments from those who don't like climate science. 
• Alice Evans on the origins of 'Dayooth'
• Ben Kepes on the Māori parallel to the Jewish experience
• Consumer NZ figures that if one of our grocers lowers its back-end costs, there could be zero passing-on of savings to consumers. Even a standard monopoly model would have a reduction in price. It would be a fun microeconomics problem set question: come up with conditions under which Jon Duffy could be right (if any), and provide an answer simple enough for him to understand. Consumer NZ just keeps getting more absurd. 
• I like that NZ's Accident Compensation Commission is hiring a Lead Advisor, Econometrics.
• Pharmac's posted its final decision about pulling 27 drugs from funding consideration, 24 of which were proposed to be pulled because there was no apparent prospect of Medsafe registration. They've decided to pull 24 drugs, 22 of which are because there's no prospect of Medsafe registration. Tafamidis and Cefuroximine might get onto Medsafe's radar. This system is so stupid. 
• But the new stadium would really put Christchurch on the map, just like Ogdenville and New Haverbrook. 
• Interesting proposal around investment in buying out IP rights to make lower-carbon tech more affordable in developing countries. Loyal readers may remember that I've long argued that NZ could do something similar as moonshot on ag biotech. If AgResearch figures out low-emission pastoral systems, GE or otherwise, with government funding, don't try to earn money on any patent. Release it globally on a royalty-free licence that simply requires that a small fraction of the resulting global emission reduction credits to NZ's account. Lowish chance it pans out, but if it did, it would have high return.