“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
My Review of Ted Cruz’s Biography of Justice Thomas
11 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in law and economics, politics - USA
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
The Great Enrichment
09 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in economic growth, economic history, entrepreneurship, macroeconomics Tags: The Great Enrichment
Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids: 15th-Anniversary Edition
08 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of education, human capital, labour economics, poverty and inequality Tags: behavioral genetics
Greetings from Yellowstone!Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids is the only book I ever wrote that definitely improved the world a lot. A lower-bound estimate is that several hundred extra babies were born as a result — a social value of over a billion dollars. Now a new edition of the book, shipping November 17,…
Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids: 15th-Anniversary Edition
Marianne Bertrand, laureate of the Jean-Jacques Laffont Prize 2019
08 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, econometerics, economic history, economics of education, gender, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, poverty and inequality Tags: gender wage gap
Quebec 2026
08 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
Quebec has just held its National Assembly (provincial parliament) general election. The results are a striking degree of fragmentation of the aggregate province-wide votes, with a highly disproportional seat allocation. The electoral system is, of course, single-seat plurality (or FPTP). The Parti Quebecois (PQ) has a plurality of the vote, at just 28%. Preliminary results […]
Quebec 2026
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