Hi Everyone.
Welcome to Part 2 of my year end summary. In Part 1 I explained some of the events that occurred during 2017. In Part 2, I want to focus on the content that I produced during 2017. After I set-up my YouTube channel in March and my Steemit account in June, I have been trying to churn out new content on a regular basis. I have been working with a number of themes and topics, mostly relating to economics. Below are the main themes and topics that I wrote about and/or made videos about in 2017.
Cost benefit analysis was a logical starting point for me. The majority of the 10 years I worked in government, my role was related to cost benefit analysis (CBA). I have conducted about 100 CBAs for road and transport projects and programs of various types and sizes. I have reviewed dozens of CBA reports, spreadsheets, and models. So I decided to share my knowledge with the world. My first YouTube video and Steemit post was about CBA. The video and post was about the key elements of CBA. The video and post was targeted at those with some knowledge of CBA and, therefore, might be interested in either conducting a CBA themselves or reading the contents of a CBA report.
I made several other videos and posts relating to CBA. Most of these post were focused on particular key elements of the CBA such as the discount rate, sensitivity analysis, base case, assumptions, and decision criteria.
CBA_Screens
I also introduced social impact evaluation (SIE). I developed SIE while I was working for Building Queensland. SIE is intended to be used alongside and with CBA. I have only done a couple of SIE videos and posts. One video/post introduced SIE while the other video/post explained how SIE can be used to enhance a CBA. I have included elements of SIE in some of my other video/posts such as my democracy videos as well as a video focused on valuing time. I will revisit SIE again in 2018. I will most likely adopt a less technical approach with an emphasis on explaining how SIE can be applied to our daily lives.
I added another CBA post earlier this month. This post outlined the steps involved in conducting a CBA. This post should be easier to follow than some of my earlier more technical posts regarding CBA.
Over the last decade, I have presented at many conferences. My conference papers and presentation slides are mostly available online. My actual conference presentations were not recorded. I thought it would be a great idea to add voice overs to my existing presentation slides. I thought these video versions of my papers would be useful for those that were interested in the contents of my papers. The videos have a slightly less technical approach to the subject matter of the papers and might be easier to comprehend.
I have always had a fascination with developing models in Microsoft Excel. I have built many economics models over the years. Most of them have remained with my previous jobs. I have a sensitivity analysis model that I developed outside of my previous job. The model can be used to a apply distributions to benefits produced using CBA. These distributions can be used to calculate the maximum, minimum, mean, and variance of benefits calculated for projects.
I also developed a game in Microsoft Excel. I called this game ‘Life Choices’. This a turn-based game that requires players to maximise their happiness based on choices they make in the game. Players will get to choose between gambling, making a purchase with their game money, performing a kind deed, being dishonest to gain money, and several other options.
The economics basics series investigates some of the most basic and fundamental economic concepts such as utility, specialisation, efficiency, demand and supply, the market, and scarcity. I adopted an approach typically different from most textbooks by beginning with utility rather than demand and supply or scarcity. I wanted my audience to understand the fundamentals regarding needs and wants in the absence of money and the market. I introduced money later in the series. I also placed an emphasis on valuing time and quality of time rather than material possessions. Economics is often taught from a materialistic perspective, where people are often assumed to maximise their monetary payout.
I have come up with the term ‘Vegan Economics’. Vegan Economics involves a massive paradigm shift away from viewing the world purely from the human perspective. Vegan Economics involves looking at the world from the perspective of all sentient beings. Animals, in most cases, are treated like property belonging to humans. Their feelings, their suffering, and their death is not considered a cost. Vegan Economics aims to expand the paradigm of economics to include the costs of suffering and death of animals.
I am currently working on a book with the working title ‘Vegan Economics’ as I progress with the book I am including drafts of sections or summarises of sections in posts and videos. I have posted a few sections so far. They include the first two parts of the five areas of animal abuse, horse racing, my vegan story parts 1 and 2 in both blogs and video, and an introduction to Vegan Economics.
I have been quite fascinated with game theory for some time. The ideas behind game theory are very interesting. The application of game theory can be used for both competition and cooperation. Zero sum games encourage competition as the winner takes what the loser gives. The prisoner’s dilemma game explains how cooperation can achieve a better outcome for all but also demonstrates that there is a tendency for people to get locked into a less than optimal outcome.
I have further explored cooperation using game theory. I came up with a game I call triple threat. This game involves weaker players teaming up to defeat stronger players. The game investigates when triple threat scenarios might occur. A very basic example is in a two player game. One player is stronger than the other. The stronger player has a high chance of success. A third player enters. The third player is independent to the other two players. The game demonstrates that the weaker player’s chances of winning might improve even though there are more players. If the third player has a better chance of succeeding by cooperating with the weaker player, the weaker player is also likely to have higher chance of winning. The weaker player may in fact have a better chance of winning than the stronger player.
I will have to admit that I am far more of a microeconomist than a macroeconomist. I have greater interest in microeconomic concepts and theories such as game theory, theory of the firm, utility, and intertemporal choice than macroeconomic concepts and theories such as inflation, unemployment, and national income. I also felt that I could not exclude macroeconomics altogether. I have also found that here is generally more interest, by most readers, in macroeconomic concepts than there is in microeconomic concepts.
Therefore, I made a few posts and videos regarding macroeconomics. These posts and videos included inflation, unemployment, monetary policy and money supply, and fiscal policy. The information I provided departed a little from mainstream economics. I explained how macroeconomics is often used as a tool for exploitation rather than for good. I explain how fiscal policy is often used to transfer wealth from the middle class to the rich (wealthiest 1%). I explain how inflation is used to erode savings. I explain how money is created out of thin air (fiat money). I explain how unemployment is a contrived problem that can be easily solved.
My dark side of economics series is my most controversial series to date. My dark side of economics series focuses on how economics is being used to exploit others. The areas I have investigated so far in the series are as follows:
All of the above are mechanisms for exploitation. My videos and posts explain how they are used to control the population. For example, healthcare is designed to keep people sick. Treatments are emphasized instead of prevention or cure. Parents are brainwashed or forced to vaccinate their children. Vaccines have been proven to provide very limited benefit and instead can cause serious health problems such as allergies and even autism.
I will continue with the dark side series in 2018. There are still several more areas I need to explore.
Economics is everywhere is a series that explains how economic concepts are applied in our daily lives. The series has looked at the application of economics on a typical work day where people make decisions about what to eat, how to get to places, what to do after work. The series has looked at particular situations where economics is applied or can explain particular behaviour. These situations include:
The series includes both blogs and videos.
I hold a weekly puzzle contest and I have just started to hold a monthly meme contest. The contests are generally not related to economics. The puzzle contests require the participants to use their analytical ability, which is required to be a good economist. Each contest normally contains four questions. The first person to get all the correct answers wins the prize money.
The meme contests are really just for a bit of fun. I generally include a few memes in most of my posts and I find them entertaining. I thought it would be fun to see what memes other people create using my photographs. I have quite a few quite entertaining photographs that are perfect for memes.
I am excited about 2018. I will continue to be active on Steemit. I will continue many of the series I have started and I will come up with a few more along the way. I also have some interesting trips planned for 2018 as well. I will be going back to Singapore in March. I lived in Singapore for 15 years before moving to Australia. I will be taking a cruise with my sister up to Alaska in May. This will be my first time going to Alaska. In fact, this will be my first time in the USA. This should be a great experience and I should be able to bring back something to share.
This brings me to the end of Part 2 of my ‘2017 Year in Review’ series. I am happy to share my journey as well as summarise my content over the year. Thank you Steemians for making me feel welcome here. I wish you all a Happy New Year.
Part 1 can be accessed using the following link:
