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
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
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
Why Mowbray donates
07 Oct 2026 1 Comment
in development economics, entrepreneurship, growth miracles, politics - New Zealand Tags: 2026 general election, China
Nick Mowbray writes: I’m aware of the criticism we receive for donating to National and ACT. I’m also aware of the false narrative that we lobby the government and expect something in return. So let me be clear: we have never lobbied the government. Less than 1% of ZURU’s revenue is in New Zealand. We…
Why Mowbray donates
India Rejects UN Climate Politics in Favor of Industrialization
07 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in development economics, economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, growth disasters, growth miracles, International law, resource economics Tags: India
By Vijay Jayaraj India’s External Affairs Minister, Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, used the U.N. General Assembly gathering to say something that climate scaremongers like Al Gore and John Kerry have spent… The post India Rejects UN Climate Politics in Favor of Industrialization appeared first on Watts Up With That?.
India Rejects UN Climate Politics in Favor of Industrialization
Welfare missing from 2026 election
07 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in labour economics, labour supply, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, poverty and inequality, welfare reform Tags: 2026 general election
Lindsay Mitchell writes – Welfare is markedly missing from 2026 election campaign issues.There’s been far more debate about Super: its cost, means-testing and the age of eligibility. New Zealand is an outlier. Australia, the UK and the US have a qualifying age of 67. Whether NZ joins must be decided. Super isn’t sustainable. But what […]
Welfare missing from 2026 election
Labour is reneging on its pay equity promise
07 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in discrimination, gender, labour economics, labour supply, politics - New Zealand, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, rentseeking, unions Tags: 2026 general election, gender wage gap
Bryce Edwards writes – Chris Hipkins has described the coalition’s decision to cancel pay equity claims under urgency as “probably the most reprehensible thing I have seen in my time as a member of Parliament”. He accused ministers of “robbing Paula to pay Paul” and of “sacrificing equal pay for women in order to balance […]
Labour is reneging on its pay equity promise
Sargent on hyperinflation
07 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in budget deficits, business cycles, economic history, fiscal policy, history of economic thought, macroeconomics, monetarism, monetary economics Tags: hyperinflation, monetary policy
The beauty premium doesn’t seem to extend to billionaires
06 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, economic history, entrepreneurship, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, poverty and inequality Tags: top 1%
There is a broad literature supporting the existence of a ‘beauty premium’ in labour markets – more attractive workers tend to earn more. There are a number of channels proposed to account for this, including confidence, social or communication skills being higher among more attractive workers, attractive workers sorting into occupations that reward attractiveness, and…
The beauty premium doesn’t seem to extend to billionaires
When 13,745,680 People Voted for the Nazis
06 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in economic history, Public Choice Tags: Nazi Germany
It is easy to forget that the Nazis didn’t take power, they were democratically elected, although they did not shy away from using violence to secure the votes. However, despite the bullying tactics by the SA, people still had a choice to vote for the NSDAP or any other party. The General election of July […]
When 13,745,680 People Voted for the Nazis
What I’d do
05 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand Tags: 2026 general election
A couple of weeks ago the Sunday Star-Times published a piece by me (that they’d requested) trying to explain productivity and why it mattered. The mandate for that piece included avoiding controversy (around, notably, specific ideas for reversing New Zealand’s decades-long productivity underperformance). As a follow-up to that, the editor invited me to participate in […]
What I’d do
Is mathematics discovered or invented?
05 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of education Tags: philosophy of science
That is one of the oldest and deepest questions in the philosophy of mathematics. The short answer is: we invent the formal systems, but we may discover the consequences that follow from them. There are three main positions. Mathematical realism or Platonism: mathematical truths exist independently of us, and mathematicians discover them. On this view, the Pythagorean […]
Is mathematics discovered or invented?
Some basics on incidence of student loan relief
05 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of education, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking
Labour proposes wiping 10% off of outstanding student loan balances for domestic borrowers that are not in arrears and who have not benefitted from fees-free study. That write-down will happen on 1 April.It proposes doing it again in 2031, and each year afterwards, for borrowers in good standing who have been NZ-based over the prior…
Some basics on incidence of student loan relief
Did the ACA reduce mortality?
05 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, economic history, health economics, politics - USA Tags: health insurance
Many of us brought up related points at the time, but basically we were booed off the reservation: While recent research has provided evidence that the Medicaid expansions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) reduced mortality, there is no evidence on the effect of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) net of the Medicaid expansions on…
Did the ACA reduce mortality?
Recent Comments