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Are oil prices manipulated prior to elections? This paper provides evidence that they are based upon a sample of legislative elections for 32 countries over 27 years: Do Politicians Manipulate Gasoline Prices?, by David Wessel WSJ Washington Wire : Before the recent U.S. congressional election, there were widespread, unsubstantiated assertions that the Bush administration somehow had manipulated gasoline prices so they’d fall before the November congressional elections. Economists pooh-poohed them. Now a couple of International Monetary Fund economists, looking through data on gas prices and legislative business to business email marketing lections from 1978 to 2004 in 32 countries from Australia to the U.S., say there may be something to this conspiracy theory. “Focusing on real” – inflation-adjusted – “gasoline prices alone, we observed that they declined 0.3%, on average, during ‘normal’ quarters and about 0.7% during quarters of electoral campaign. Moreover, in 15 countries of the sample, this difference exceeded 2 percentage points, whereas it exceeded 6 percentage points in seven countries,” economists Claudio Paiva and Rodriga Moita write in new IMF working paper . ... Though the paper appears to be carefully done, I'm skeptical. In particular, though there is a theoretical model in the paper, how the price manipulation is carried out isn't completely clear.

Back in April 2005 I posted an entry about this Asics ad spouting off about the lack of competitive drive in knitters. "It seems like highly competitive knitters are frowned upon." Well Asics, you should have been at the club this weekend. This past weekend was our club's Ladies Club Championship. I signed up. What did I have to lose? I am a HIGH emergency medicine witness andicapper. How high? Let's just say my handicap and my bra size are really, really close. I try to play in all of the tournaments at the club. The way I see it, by the time I'm competitive, my knees won't knock during a tournament. Granted I'll be on Social Security (if it's still around) by the time I might get into Championship flight but I'll be competitive darn it! Wait did I just say "competitive"? I'm a knitter. Whose frowning at me out there? Asics would have been eating their shoes on Saturday. My first round was against another knitter. Yes, you read that right. Knitter Golfer against Knitter Golfer. We gathered are bags and prepared to battle it out. The tournament was match play. As with all my knitting projects, I was off to a fast and furious start, I won the first 4 holes. Granted each hole was close and it came down to the purls putts each time. By the time we got to the armhole shaping hole 5, I was starting to lose my confidence.

Back in April 2005 I posted an entry about this Asics ad spouting off about the lack of competitive drive in knitters. "It seems like highly competitive knitters are frowned upon." Well Asics, you should have been at the club this weekend. This past weekend was our club's Ladies Club Championship. I signed up. What did I have to lose? I am a HIGH handicapper. How high? Let's just say my handicap and my bra size are really, really close. I try to play in all of the tournaments at the club. The way I see it, by the time I'm competitive, my knees won't knock during a tournament. Granted I'll be on Social Security (if it's still leads software round) by the time I might get into Championship flight but I'll be competitive darn it! Wait did I just say "competitive"? I'm a knitter. Whose frowning at me out there? Asics would have been eating their shoes on Saturday. My first round was against another knitter. Yes, you read that right. Knitter Golfer against Knitter Golfer. We gathered are bags and prepared to battle it out. The tournament was match play. As with all my knitting projects, I was off to a fast and furious start, I won the first 4 holes. Granted each hole was close and it came down to the purls putts each time. By the time we got to the armhole shaping hole 5, I was starting to lose my confidence.

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I love living in KL, really I do, but .... where are all the darn fiddleheads??!! Perhaps I should explain. A few months ago, shortly after I learned that a relocation to KL was in our future, I came upon this thread on pucuk paku (fiddlehead ferns) in Malaysia on foodcentric site egullet. "Eureka!" I thought to myself. "Yet another reason to anticipate with growling stomach the upcoming move." Dave and I had just returned from a stay in a small village in north-central Bali, where one morning we and our guide Nyoman scoured the forest around Lake Tamblingan for fiddleheads and wild mushrooms. Though we came up emtpy on the fungi front, we (OK -- Nyoman, primarily) scored fairly fantastically in the fern department, and that evening we mobile work force ined on pakis urab , a cool dish of fern tips in a spicy coconut dressing. That meal reminded me how much I adore the slightly asparagus-y, woodsy flavor of the tightly coiled, several-inch diameter fiddleheads available with the rains in northern California and parts of the American north and northeast. With a few morels and a sturdy green like escarole they make for a lovely warm salad.

Are oil prices manipulated prior to elections? This paper provides evidence that they are based upon a sample of legislative elections for 32 countries over 27 low price cruises ears: Do Politicians Manipulate Gasoline Prices?, by David Wessel WSJ Washington Wire : Before the recent U.S. congressional election, there were widespread, unsubstantiated assertions that the Bush administration somehow had manipulated gasoline prices so they’d fall before the November congressional elections. Economists pooh-poohed them. Now a couple of International Monetary Fund economists, looking through data on gas prices and legislative elections from 1978 to 2004 in 32 countries from Australia to the U.S., say there may be something to this conspiracy theory. “Focusing on real” – inflation-adjusted – “gasoline prices alone, we observed that they declined 0.3%, on average, during ‘normal’ quarters and about 0.7% during quarters of electoral campaign. Moreover, in 15 countries of the sample, this difference exceeded 2 percentage points, whereas it exceeded 6 percentage points in seven countries,” economists Claudio Paiva and Rodriga Moita write in new IMF working paper . ... Though the paper appears to be carefully done, I'm skeptical. In particular, though there is a theoretical model in the paper, how the price manipulation is carried out isn't completely clear.

Last May I wrote a post entitled "Faraway Places" in which I spoke about the detailed view of visitors and their preferences thanks to SiteMeter's real-time stats. It's interesting to observe how things have changed in those eight months. A few highlights: Then: about 52-53% of visitors were from Italy, 32-33% from the USA. Now: 44% from US, 35% from Italy. An ever-larger percentage of visitors is coming from "other" countries, notably Canada, Scandinavia (especially Sweden), Germany, France, Belgium and...Slovenia?? Yes, Slovenia. Canada just surpassed the UK to go to #3. Some days the "other countries" outnumber Italy and almost match the US. There seems to be a broad desire for knowledge about Italy's wines...and New York restaurants. Overall site traffic and screen saver development age views are 3-4 times greater than in May, hurray. Then: US visitors seemed to come from all over. I recognized some regulars, of course, but otherwise, no geographical focus. Now: The overwhelming majority of US visitors comes from the New York City area. Something tells me that's a good thing. They search both for wine and restaurant info. I think it's good to have a local base. Shows I'm relevant, so to speak. Then: Over 50% of visitors had Italian as the language on their computer. English was in the low 40s. Obviously, there wasn't much readership in those "other" countries, unless of course they were Britain and Canada. Now: English 54%, Italian 36%. German, French and Spanish follow.