Thursday, December 14, 2023

Wild Goats - World War II R&D and the Takeoff of the US Innovation System

 Parliament has recently passed legislation aimed at fortifying identity verification services, ensuring their security and safeguarding the privacy of Australians, Attorney General Mark Dreyfus announced.

The Identity Verification Services Bill 2023 and Identity Verification Services (Consequential Amendments) are expected to boost the nation's digital infrastructure. Identity verification services are integral to daily life, including government operations, tax-related activities, and financial transactions. It is also critical to the operation of government and industry, with  MyGovID, the ATO, Centrelink, banks and telecommunications providers all using identity verification services to authenticate identity documents.

Identity verification services enable Australians to engage with the digital economy conveniently and securely without exposing them to identity fraud and theft. The new legislation enhances transparency, oversight, and privacy protection.

Maroubra students eyes law after topping four subjects

By Kathryn Wicks

Jeremy Wong, the Sydney Grammar student that topped four language courses in this year’s HSC, was elated when his results landed this morning.

“Amazing”,” he said.


You must be kidding: Wild goat tax costs more to collect than it raises By Shane Wright 

State and federal governments have unleashed an avalanche of levies on everything from wild goat carcasses to the nation’s biggest banks, in a way the Productivity Commission says is undermining the entire tax system and creating a bureaucratic “Levyathan”


Harpaz: International Tax Reform — Who Gets A Seat At The Table?




EXPERTS DEEPLY CONCERNED ABOUT CYBERTRUCK SAFETY Futurism


California Gov. Newsom vetoes bill limiting autonomous trucks Statescoop. From September, still germane.


The attack against the freedom to read and what to do about it MR Online


Highlights on cyber security issues, December 9, 2023 – Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and online security, often without our situational awareness.

 Four highlights from this week: Privacy First: A Better Way to Address Online Harms; A Bold New Plan for Preserving Online Privacy and Security; Automakers’ data privacy practices “are unacceptable”; and Gmail is now much better at detecting spam following major upgrade.


World War II R&D and the Takeoff of the US Innovation System That  is the article subtitle, the title is “America, Jump-Started:,” and the authors of this new AER piece are Daniel P. Gross and Bhaven N. Sampat.  Here is the abstract:

During World War II, the US government’s Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) supported one of the largest public investments in applied R&D in US history. Using data on all OSRD-funded invention, we show this shock had a formative impact on the US innovation system, catalyzing technology clusters across the country, with accompanying increases in high-tech entrepreneurship and employment. These effects persist until at least the 1970s and appear to be driven by agglomerative forces and endogenous growth. In addition to creating technology clusters, wartime R&D permanently changed the trajectory of overall US innovation in the direction of OSRD-funded technologies.

This is very important work, and among other things it may help explain the productivity slowdown starting in the early 1970s (that is my speculation, not from the authors).  Recommended, for all those who follow these topics.

Here are earlier, less gated copies.


Taylor Swift, Vladimir Putin, Sam Altman and Barbie are all shortlisted for Time Person of the YearDaily Mail