Arbitrageurs profit by buying where prices are low and selling where prices are high. But what happens when transporting the product is dangerous? According to The Wall Street Journal, oil producers in the Persian Gulf are paying $30–$40 million for tankers to make dangerous trips through the Strait of Hormuz. The tankers carry oil out…
War Provides Arbitrage Opportunities
War Provides Arbitrage Opportunities
12 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, defence economics, energy economics, industrial organisation, international economics
The Purge: Princeton Faculty Reach Perfect Zero Support for Republicans
12 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of education, politics - USA Tags: academic bias
We recently discussed how Yale faculty reached academic nirvana after years of purging departments of conservatives and Republicans. The university…
The Purge: Princeton Faculty Reach Perfect Zero Support for Republicans
Bret Stephens on Mamdani
11 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in defence economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, war and peace Tags: war against terror
If you’ve kept track of NYT Mayor Zohran Mamdani since he was elected less than a year ago, it’s not hard to conclude that, though he pretends to dislike bigotry, his statements and actions add up to a man who is not fond of Jews, and who wants Israel gone and replaced by a Palestinian…
Bret Stephens on Mamdani
Britain risks running out of gas this winter
11 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming Tags: British politics
By Paul Homewood The Telegraph is warning that Britain risks running out of gas this winter. Full story here. The warning follows the publication of the Winter Supply Outlook by ENTSOG, the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas: https://www.entsog.eu/media/38034
Britain risks running out of gas this winter
Great advice from Adam Smith
11 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in Adam Smith
From Goodreads. It is from his book The Theory of Moral Sentiments.“The prudent man always studies seriously and earnestly to understand whatever he professes to understand, and not merely to persuade other people that he understands it; and though his talents may not always be very brilliant, they are always perfectly genuine. He neither endeavours…
Great advice from Adam Smith
My Review of Ted Cruz’s Biography of Justice Thomas
11 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in law and economics, politics - USA
“Senator Ted Cruz’s new biography about Justice Clarence Thomas, Going Further, is a must-read contribution to this third genre of Supreme Court books.”
My Review of Ted Cruz’s Biography of Justice Thomas
Sargent on moderate inflations
11 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in budget deficits, business cycles, economic history, fiscal policy, history of economic thought, inflation targeting, labour economics, macroeconomics, monetarism, monetary economics, unemployment Tags: monetary policy
Straight out of Yes Minister
10 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice
The oldest bureaucratic trick in the world when an agency or council is asked to find savings, is for them to announce they will cut the most popular and liked programs, rather than the much larger wasteful pet projects. We see this with Wellington City Council: Funding for Te Papa, opening hours for galleries, the…
Straight out of Yes Minister
The Midterm Winner Will Be Whichever Party Americans Hate Less
10 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in politics - USA Tags: voter demographics
U.S. voters continue to be motivated more by whom they loathe than whom they like.
The Midterm Winner Will Be Whichever Party Americans Hate Less
Nobel Peace prize goes to Navi Pillay, promoter of the Israeli genocide blood libel
10 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA, war and peace Tags: Gaza Strip, Israel, Middle-East politics, regressive left, war against terror
Well, the only thing that consoles me about this year’s grotesque award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Navi Pillay is that the same Prize was awarded to Henry Kissinger and Yasser Arafat. But in some ways this Prize is even worse, for Pillay got it for ““for her efforts to promote peace and international…
Nobel Peace prize goes to Navi Pillay, promoter of the Israeli genocide blood libel
Another, very significant, example of why Māori privilege is a myth.
10 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in discrimination, gender, health economics, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: economics of mental illness
My ears pricked up a week back when ZB reported on recently released 2025/2026 suicide stats. Like many NZers, people taking their own lives has had an impact on me. My birth father took his own life when I was sixteen and close to meeting him for the first time. I have also been in…
Another, very significant, example of why Māori privilege is a myth.
The U.S. Poverty Rate Fell To 10.2%, The Lowest On Record; Median Income Also Reaches All-Time High While Inequality Unchanged
10 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in labour economics, politics - USA, poverty and inequality Tags: child poverty, family poverty
Every year around this time the U.S. Census Bureau releases its report on incomes and poverty for the previous year. The first year we have an official poverty rate for is 1959.See Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2025. This is the press release from the U.S. Census Bureau. Excerpts:”The U.S. Census…
The U.S. Poverty Rate Fell To 10.2%, The Lowest On Record; Median Income Also Reaches All-Time High While Inequality Unchanged
Mamdani booed for his October 7 statement—by supporters of Palestine
09 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in defence economics, politics - USA, war and peace Tags: Gaza Strip, Israel, Middle-East politics, regressive left, war against terror
UPDATE: In what can only be a gesture of anti-Israel defiance, Mamdani ate dinner on October 7 at an ideologically-themed Palestinian restaurant (h/t Wayne): New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani dined at a Palestinian restaurant chain blasted for being “openly genocidal” against Jews on the third anniversary of the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in Israel.…
Mamdani booed for his October 7 statement—by supporters of Palestine
The Democratic Socialists of America Platform
09 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
The DSA would abolish the police, open borders, socialize medicine, abolish the Department of War, and abolish the Senate.
The Democratic Socialists of America Platform
ALL THE PRESIDENT’S WARS: TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF THE WAR ON TERROR by Peter Bergen
09 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in defence economics, International law, laws of war, politics - USA, war and peace Tags: Afghanistan, Iraq, war against terror
The title of Peter Bergen’s latest book ALL THE PRESIDENT’S WARS: TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF THE WAR ON TERROR is a misnomer. The War on Terror did not begin on 9/11 as attacks against American interests took place long before planes flew into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The bombing of the Marine barracks […]
ALL THE PRESIDENT’S WARS: TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF THE WAR ON TERROR by Peter Bergen
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