As Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham wanted to slash hydrocarbon use by 90% in 10 years. Now the new Energy Minister is making similar noises. Chris Morrison wonders if destroying modern society is still the plan. The post New UK PM Andy Burnham Has Supported a 90% Cut in Hydrocarbon Use Within 10 Years appeared first…
New UK PM Andy Burnham Has Supported a 90% Cut in Hydrocarbon Use Within 10 Years
New UK PM Andy Burnham Has Supported a 90% Cut in Hydrocarbon Use Within 10 Years
31 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming Tags: British politics
The Endangered Species Act Reduces Housing
31 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, economics of regulation, environmental economics, environmentalism, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, urban economics
Max Tabarrok’s paper on the Endangered Species Act and housing (WP) has just been published in the Journal of Public Economics! It’s a clever paper: Max observed that the moment an animal is put on the endangered species list, developers face enhanced compliance costs and liability risk. But what’s important for an empirical economist is…
The Endangered Species Act Reduces Housing
RODNEY HIDE: The Strange New Face of Women’s Empowerment
30 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of religion, gender, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics Tags: political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination
Here is a single image that captures the extent to which we are lost. Khadija Patel stands at the Palace of Westminster, recipient of the British Citizen Award 2026 for her “work empowering young women.” She is covered from head to toe. Only her eyes are visible. The official caption celebrates her as a champion…
RODNEY HIDE: The Strange New Face of Women’s Empowerment
Radio NZ at it again
30 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economics of crime, economics of religion, law and economics, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, war and peace Tags: Germany, media bias, war against terror
Simon O’Connor points out: So Radio NZ ran a story from Reuters about the terrible hate crime attack in Berlin which saw 1 killed and 29 wounded at a pride festival. However they removed a key detail from the story. That the attacker was an Islamist. Reuters had this in their story, yet Radio NZ…
Radio NZ at it again
New Research Further Confirms Anti-Growth Impact of Wealth Taxation
30 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic growth, entrepreneurship, fiscal policy, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, liberalism, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, public economics Tags: taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment, taxation and labour supply
I’ve shared multiple studies about the harmful impact of wealth taxes (see here, here, here, here, and here). Today, let’s add to the body of evidence. I’ll start by calling attention to a column I wrote in 2019 that warned how wealth taxes mean very high – even confiscatory – taxes on saving and investment. […]
New Research Further Confirms Anti-Growth Impact of Wealth Taxation
The economic effects of GLP-1s
30 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, survivor principle
We estimate the causal impacts of GLP-1 treatment on labor market outcomes using linked Danish administrative data and a matched stacked difference-in-differences design. We compare patients who initiate GLP-1 treatment during the first two years of Semaglutide availability to observably similar patients who initiate four years later. We find that GLP-1 treatment reduces long-term sickness…
The economic effects of GLP-1s
The Predictable Folly of Government Grocery Stores
30 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in income redistribution, industrial organisation, politics - USA, Public Choice, survivor principle
I don’t like government running post offices, retirement systems, or air traffic control, so you won’t be surprised to learn that today’s column explains why it’s a dumb idea to have government grocery stores. We’ll start with this video from the Foundation for Economic Education. My knee-jerk instinct on this issue is to go to […]
The Predictable Folly of Government Grocery Stores
Will MBIE be held on contempt?
29 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice
The Herald reports: Ministry officials are denying they deliberately misled a Parliament select committee by not revealing an immigration IT project had been terminated while being questioned about its progress. Appearing before Parliament’s Privileges Committee today, Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) chief executive Nic Blakeley and former Immigration New Zealand (INZ) head Alison…
Will MBIE be held on contempt?
Defending the Indefensible: Western Communists and the Berlin Wall
29 Jul 2026 1 Comment
in defence economics, Marxist economics, war and peace Tags: Berlin wall, East Germany
When the East German government began constructing the Berlin Wall on 13 August 1961, its real purpose was unmistakable. It was intended to stop East Germans escaping to the West. Nevertheless, communist parties and sympathetic intellectuals in Western countries attempted to justify the Wall by presenting it as a defensive measure rather than an instrument […]
Defending the Indefensible: Western Communists and the Berlin Wall
Criminal “Villification”: Australia Court Upholds Conviction, Massive Fine, and Compelled Speech in Transgender Case
29 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of regulation, gender, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - Australia, politics - USA, property rights Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination
We have followed the evisceration of free speech values in the United Kingdom and other Western nations. Australia has been…
Criminal “Villification”: Australia Court Upholds Conviction, Massive Fine, and Compelled Speech in Transgender Case
Trump is Right to Take On the Climate Litigation Complex
29 Jul 2026 1 Comment
in applied welfare economics, development economics, economics of bureaucracy, economics of climate change, economics of education, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: climate alarmism
Whatever one makes of President Trump’s chosen words, the underlying demand – that a body claiming the authority of disinterested science should actually be disinterested – is one any serious defender of scientific integrity ought to be able to endorse. Surely the most litigated-against President in US history is right in ensuring that judges overseeing…
Trump is Right to Take On the Climate Litigation Complex
Hazlitt on Marx
29 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, liberalism, libertarianism, Marxist economics
The Apples and Oranges Tribunal
28 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, economics of education, economics of regulation, gender, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, poverty and inequality, property rights Tags: gender wage gap, sex discrimination
Suppose that apples sell for more than oranges and Parliament in it’s wisdom decides that, at last, apples and oranges must be compared. Not by shoppers — shoppers are biased, they merely reveal what they are willing to pay — but by a tribunal, which will determine whether apples and oranges are of truly equal…
The Apples and Oranges Tribunal
Italy is changing its electoral system (again)
28 Jul 2026 1 Comment
in constitutional political economy, politics, Public Choice Tags: Italy
Nicknamed the “Stabilicum” by the right-wing coalition government that introduced it, this would be the fifth major electoral reform in Italy since 1993.
Italy is changing its electoral system (again)
The law school at the U of C bans devices in the classroom
28 Jul 2026 1 Comment
Speaking of AI, I wish the rest of the University of Chicago would adhere to our Law School’s new dictum, reported in the article below from WGN9 (click to read): An excerpt: Some students at the University of Chicago will have to learn how to do their work the old fashioned way, without their phones…
The law school at the U of C bans devices in the classroom
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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