TOP has proposed a 1.75% tax on the value of urban land (except Maori communal land) and 0.5% on rural land. It is worth noting that land values have been declining for the last five years, so TOP’s policy is to tax you on an asset that is declining in value! Urban Av land value…
How much land tax will you pay?
How much land tax will you pay?
20 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand Tags: 2026 general election
Voter Ignorance and the Problem of Confusion Caused by Candidates With Similar Names [Updated]
20 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
Voter confusion caused by candidates with similar names – as in the current Alaska Senate race – is part of the much larger problem of political ignorance.
Voter Ignorance and the Problem of Confusion Caused by Candidates With Similar Names [Updated]
The 1934 German Head of State Referendum: A Pivotal Moment in Nazi Consolidation of Power
19 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in constitutional political economy, economic history, politics, Public Choice Tags: Nazi Germany
The 1934 German head-of-state referendum, held on August 19, stands as a crucial moment in the Nazi regime’s consolidation of power. Following the death of President Paul von Hindenburg on August 2, 1934, Adolf Hitler sought to solidify his grip on Germany by merging the offices of President and Chancellor, thus assuming the title of […]
The 1934 German Head of State Referendum: A Pivotal Moment in Nazi Consolidation of Power
Dr. Israel M. Kirzner — “Economics and Entrepreneurship”
19 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, Austrian economics, economic history, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, law and economics, Public Choice, regulation, rentseeking Tags: competition law
The International Court of Justice Climate Liability Ruling Sets a Worrying Precedent for Pandemics and Public Health
19 Aug 2026 1 Comment
in economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, law and economics, property rights, regulation, resource economics
In many countries the Covid response mimicked the climate change playbook. The catastrophism of both agendas was based on models. Claims of scientific authority and existential crisis escalated the agendas into moral crusades and people were asked to bear sacrifices for the good of the collective humanity and the planet. The post The International Court…
The International Court of Justice Climate Liability Ruling Sets a Worrying Precedent for Pandemics and Public Health
Who Pays for Medicare for All?
18 Aug 2026 1 Comment
in health economics, income redistribution, Marxist economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, public economics
Plus: Democrats reckon with the rise of the DSA, Trump scales back America’s military presence abroad, and the case for letting kids play outside
Who Pays for Medicare for All?
The Cost of Going to Space
18 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, economic history, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation Tags: space
Terzi & Nicoli have a fascinating new paper analyzing over 4,400 orbital launches since 1960 to estimate “Wright’s Law.” This law states that a new technology’s unit costs fall in proportion to cumulative experience. Essentially, it is an expression of learning-by-doing. They show:… that the average cost of sending a kilogram to orbit has dropped…
The Cost of Going to Space
Opportunity Party on when you’re a child
17 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, economics of education, health economics, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: 2026 general election, crime and punishment, criminal deterrence, law and order
The Opportunity Party policy is or was that any criminal offender aged under 25 should be sent to the Youth Court for a family group conference, rather than go to an adult court. They say this is because 24 year old brains are not fully developed, so they should not be held fully accountable for…
Opportunity Party on when you’re a child
The effects of remote work on the disability employment gap
17 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in discrimination, gender, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, transport economics, urban economics Tags: gender wage gap, sex discrimination
A rise in work from home explains most of the postpandemic gain in full-time employment among people with physical disabilitiesBy Tyler Smith. “Employment among people with disabilities has remained well below that of the broader population, with an average disability employment gap of 27 percentage points across OECD countries. In the United States, this low disability…
The effects of remote work on the disability employment gap
A Close Call with Asteroid Apophis
17 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of media and culture Tags: space
It was quite a scare when first discovered in 2004, but thousands of observations later, we now know that the asteroid known as Apophis will miss Earth when it makes its closest approach in April 2029. However, in the grand scheme of things in our vast universe, this will be a close call, and it’ll…
A Close Call with Asteroid Apophis
Life and death of Mata Hari
16 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in defence economics, laws of war, war and peace Tags: World War II
Despite her exotic name Mata Hari was a Dutch woman. Her real name was Margaretha (Gretha)Zelle and was born in Leeuwarden, in the province of Friesland in the North West of the Netherlands.. Today marks her 150th birthday. At 18, Zelle answered an advertisement in a Dutch newspaper placed by Dutch Colonial Army Captain Rudolf MacLeod (1 March 1856 – 9 January 1928), […]
Life and death of Mata Hari
The Omagh Bombing
16 Aug 2026 1 Comment
in defence economics, economics of crime, law and economics Tags: British politics, Northern Ireland, war against terror
The Omagh bombing, which took place on August 15, 1998, stands as the deadliest single atrocity of the decades-long sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland known as the Troubles. Just four months after the historic signing of the Good Friday Agreement, a car bomb exploded in the busy centre of Omagh, County Tyrone, in an attack […]
The Omagh Bombing
Alex Tabarrok: Britain’s equal pay madness
16 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, Austrian economics, discrimination, economics of education, gender, health and safety, human capital, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, poverty and inequality Tags: affirmative action, gender wage gap, pay equity, sex discrimination
The Taliban, Women and the Far Left
15 Aug 2026 1 Comment
in defence economics, discrimination, economics of education, economics of religion, gender, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, war and peace Tags: Afghanistan
It is five years today since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan. On 15 August 2021, its forces entered Kabul as the Afghan government collapsed and the long Western intervention came to an ignominious end. Five years later, the consequences for Afghan women are appalling. The Taliban has issued more than 100 decrees restricting the […]
The Taliban, Women and the Far Left
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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