Andrew Leigh

The Academy of Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA) has elected 26 new fellows. Bizarrely, they've including a sitting politician. Have they no standards?

(On a more serious note, I'm chuffed to be joining in the same cohort as Lisa Hill, who taught me in my undergraduate political science degree, Stephen Bell, who marked my undegraduate honours thesis in 1994; and former ANU colleagues Dave Chalmers, Hal Hill, Jeff Bennett, Kaarin Anstey and Andrew Podger. Thanks too to my nominators - who I'll refrain from naming in case they'd like to maintain anonymity.)

For the past six months I’ve been lending out my marquee to community groups. It’s been very popular, and has been used to assist causes as diverse as motorcycle awareness and the Mount Rogers Explorer Day. Now I’ve got a small public address system which I’d be happy to lend to any community group that needs a bit of amplification. It’s simple to use, operates off a rechargeable internal battery (or mains power), and it comes with a microphone. It’s ideal for addressing small gatherings - indoor or outdoor. Phone 6247 4396 or email me at Andrew.Leigh.MP<AT>aph.gov.au to book either the marquee or the PA system for your event.

And while I'm talking about community groups, I’m also opening up a spot in my newsletter, the modestly-named Leigh Report, as a noticeboard for organisations that are seeking to expand their membership. It could be an appeal for volunteers or it could be a shout out to like-minded Canberrans who just don’t know you exist. Email the contact details of your organisation and a one-sentence summary of who in the community you’re trying to reach to Andrew.Leigh.MP<AT>aph.gov.au and I’ll try to include it in the next newsletter.

I've written and spoken before about the power of information to improve public services. So it's beaut to see that the MyHospitals website will from today contain information on hospital infection rates.

My video from my latest Capital Hill appearance with Kelly O'Dwyer, hosted by Julie Doyle.http://www.youtube.com/embed/77lQBT0GQoE

Here's my latest Sky AM Agenda appearance with my regular sparring partner Mitch Fifield. Kieran Gilbert's the host this time.http://www.youtube.com/embed/udhmXbUIBSI

In today's SMH, Peter Martin has a neat write-up of my Economics Letters paper with Christine Neill, which exploits Howard Government pork-barrelling to estimate the impact of fiscal stimulus on job creation. We find that the cost per job amounted to $10,000 to $31,000 over a three-year period.

Just a reminder about my community forum tomorrow night. The main focus of the forum will be Labor's plan for a National Disability Insurance Scheme, but I'll also be happy to take questions on any other local or national topics, from tax to terrorism, roads to refugees, postboxes to polio.

Details, details...

Venue: Belconnen Community Services, Swanson Court
Time: Tuesday 25 October 6.00-7.30pm

I hope to see you there. And in the event you can't make it along, here's a complete list of my coming mobile offices and community forums.

Due to a change in the way Hansard was formatted, Open Australia (main site, my page) has been out of action for several months. I'm pleased to say that this spunky interface for following parliament is now back online.

On Mon 14 Nov, 6-7pm, I'm giving a talk on 'The Economics and Politics of Teacher Merit Pay' at the Grattan Institute in Melbourne. Here's a summary:

The debate over merit pay can be summed up as follows: economists like it, voters love it, and teachers are divided. Can merit pay be made to work? Andrew Leigh MP will discuss these issues with John Daley, Grattan's CEO.

Looking across the international evidence, Andrew Leigh surveyed three sets of data that are relevant to answering this question: impact studies of teacher merit pay schemes, evidence on teacher attitudes to merit pay, and surveys of attitudes in the general public to merit pay. Looking at the existing merit pay plans, one is struck by the fact that they their incentive schemes are often very complicated, and most estimates are of short-run effects (so do not capture selection into the teaching profession).

Teacher attitudes are mixed, with new teachers more open to merit pay than their more experienced colleagues. US surveys find that voter support for merit pay is high and rising. I conclude with ten suggestions for future research on teacher merit pay.

To RSVP, click here.

(Incidentally,  Grattan is presently looking for a fellow to work in its cities program. If you liked Ed Glaeser's book, you should consider applying.)

The New York Times has a great blog post on the new Positive Coaching Alliance. Some snippets:

youth sports has come to emulate the win-at-all-costs ethos of professional sports. While youth and professional sports look alike, adults often forget that they are fundamentally different enterprises. Professional sports is an entertainment business. Youth sports is supposed to be about education and human development. ...

As a father of an 8-year-old who has happily regained his love of soccer thanks to a very positive coach, I can attest to the value of its teachings. Research has found that youth attrition rates are 80 percent lower for children whose coaches practice positive coaching (pdf, p.11). ...

P.C.A. encourages parents to let go of winning and concentrate on life lessons. “There are only two groups of people whose job is to win games,” says Thompson. “Coaches and players. Parents have a much more important job: to guide their child’s character development.”

What works best is helping children understand that they control three key variables: their level of Effort, whether they Learn from experiences, and how they respond to Mistakes. ...

Because there are so many opportunities to fail in sports, it is a gold mine of teachable moments. “If a child misses a big play, it’s a perfect opportunity to talk about resiliency,” explains Thompson. “‘I know you’re disappointed and I feel bad for you, but the question is what are you going to do now? Are you going to hang your head? Or are you going to bounce back with renewed determination?’” ...

One technique, adopted by many, is teaching players to “flush” their mistakes. Using a hand gesture that mimics flushing a toilet, a coach can signal from the sideline and players can signal to each other. “So the kid looks at the coach and the coach goes: ‘Flush it.’ The teammates are saying: ‘Hey, Flush it, we’ll get it back.’ “The single most important thing we do is help coaches teach kids not to be afraid to make mistakes,” he adds. ...

The key is not to withhold criticism, but to deliver it in a way that is helpful. If the child is angry or sulking or defensive, she’s not going to be listening very well anyway. “When you ask people to focus on mastery, it’s not soft,” notes Thompson. “And screaming at a kid is not tough. That’s just a lack of impulse control.”