Sweden is continuing to reap the rewards of this mixture of fiscal rectitude and pro-market reforms. GDP is projected to grow by 1.8% to 1.9% this year; headline inflation stands at 1.5%; debt-to-GDP ratio is one of the lowest in the world, at just above 35%. There are some flies in this ointment, of course:…
Adrian Wooldridge on Sweden and liberalism
Adrian Wooldridge on Sweden and liberalism
20 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in economic growth, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics Tags: Sweden
Inflation: the struggle for simplicity
20 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in inflation targeting, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - New Zealand
Why the Reserve Bank must distinguish monetary inflation from supply shocks
Inflation: the struggle for simplicity
150 laws to go
20 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights
Chris Bishop announced: More than 150 outdated and obsolete laws are likely to be repealed as part of the Government’s statutory spring clean, Attorney-General Chris Bishop says. The legislative cleanup is being run in stages led by the Parliamentary Counsel Office, alongside the Department of Internal Affairs for local Acts. To date, 152 outdated Acts…
150 laws to go
A Nordic Nightmare for AOC
19 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic growth, economic history, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment, taxation and labour supply
In 2015, I wrote a column entitled “A Nordic Nightmare for Bernie Sanders.” Today, let’s do something similar, but this time I’ll explain why economic data from northernmost Europe is bad news for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. I’m motivated to address the issue because I just saw this tweet about how Scandinavian-Americans are much richer than their […]
A Nordic Nightmare for AOC
Thankfully the Govt did not panic
18 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in defence economics, energy economics, politics - New Zealand, war and peace Tags: Iran
There is a sort of peace deal between Iran and the US. If it holds, the fuel crisis is over. I’ll do a separate post on the merits of the peace deal, but for now want to focus on the response in NZ. The Government’s response was cool, calm and measured. They did not panic.…
Thankfully the Govt did not panic
Quarter of a million children are now dependent on welfare
18 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in labour economics, politics - New Zealand, poverty and inequality, welfare reform
It’s appalling that a quarter of a million children now need an income from the state to feed, clothe and house them.Data released under the Official Information Act shows over a quarter of a million children were dependent on welfare at December 2025.At 31 December 2025 there were 255,300 children aged 0-17 reliant on a…
Quarter of a million children are now dependent on welfare
Caplan-Jones UATX Debate Video
17 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, Austrian economics, development economics, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, liberalism, libertarianism, politics - USA Tags: economics of immigration
Here’s the full video from my recent immigration debate at UATX with Garett Jones. Coleman Hughes moderates. (A great guy, and not only did we finally meet in person for dinner; he also came to UATX karaoke!) Here are more debate details from the UATX Substack. I’ve got multiple post-debate commentary essays in my queue,…
Caplan-Jones UATX Debate Video
Rubber rationing in World War II
17 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in defence economics, war and peace Tags: rationing, World War II
When during the meetings the Americans offered that at most they could convert 15 percent of U.S. auto plants to military production, Beaverbrook replies that 100 percent of British automobile factories had been converted, and encouraged Roosevelt to aim higher. He did, and on January 1 he ordered U.S. auto production halted by late Februrary. …
Rubber rationing in World War II
Labour and Te Pati Maori
16 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand Tags: 2026 general election
Politik reports: But Labour may have got the jump on ACT with its leader announcing that it is highly unlikely to go into coalition with the Greens or Te Paati Maori, but instead will simply do confidence and supply agreements with the two parties. This will actually make any Government less stable, and actually make…
Labour and Te Pati Maori
The Spanberger Surge: Virginia Governor May Prove the Greatest Gun Influencer Since Charlton Heston
16 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: gun control
Is Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) a mole for the National Rifle Association (NRA)? After the recent scandal involving the…
The Spanberger Surge: Virginia Governor May Prove the Greatest Gun Influencer Since Charlton Heston
The Justification for Net Zero Has Vanished with the Demise of RCP8.5
16 Jun 2026 1 Comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming Tags: climate alarmism
Any justification for Ed Miliband’s Net Zero climate policy, whether real or imaginary, has vanished with the official abandonment by the IPCC of the scariest concentration scenario RCP8.5. Even Tony Blair can now perceive that the pursuit of Net Zero is unwarranted and harmful to Britain. The post The Justification for Net Zero Has Vanished…
The Justification for Net Zero Has Vanished with the Demise of RCP8.5
The Hooton-in-chief
16 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
The Post announced: In a bombshell move, former National Party strategist-turned consultant Matthew Hooton has been chosen as the new editor of The Post, replacing outgoing Editor in Chief Tracy Watkins. He hopes NZ’s powerful institutions are ‘a little unsettled’ by his appointment, and has big plans to accelerate the brand to become Kiwis’ primary…
The Hooton-in-chief
Watermelon Economics
16 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in development economics, fiscal policy, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, poverty and inequality, Public Choice Tags: development aid, regressive left, taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment, top 1%
Remember Thomas Piketty, the pro-class-warfare economist who is infamous for shoddy analysis and who also made a fool of himself by asserting back in 2023 that Javier Milei’s election in Argentina would lead to economic disaster? Yes, that Thomas Piketty. It turns out he’s also a “watermelon,” which is the derisive term for leftists who […]
Watermelon Economics
Quotation of the Day…
15 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in economic history, history of economic thought, labour economics, labour supply, unions
Tweet… is from page 88 of Art Carden’s and Ilia Murtazasvili’s paper “W.H. Hutt: An Economist for the Twenty-First Century,” which is a chapter in 2026 book Unsung Heroes of the Market: The 24 Underrated Economists You Need to Know – a volume edited by Robert Whaples, Christopher Coyne, Gregory Robson, and Diana Thomas [original emphasis;…
Quotation of the Day…
Bill Maher on Graham Platner
15 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in television, TV shows
I wondered what Bill Maher thought about the sketchy Graham Platner and his run as a Democrat for the Senate seat from Maine. Well, see the video below. Maher realizes that Platner is a “broken person,” but we’re “always electing our reflection in the mirror.” And he thinks that Dems should still vote for Platner…
Bill Maher on Graham Platner
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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