2018, Global Financial Crisis @ 10, Valerie Ramey, “What Have We Learned…
29 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in budget deficits, business cycles, currency unions, econometerics, economic history, fiscal policy, global financial crisis (GFC), great recession, history of economic thought, macroeconomics, monetary economics
More Libertarians: Murray Rothbard and Competitive Racism
29 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in discrimination, libertarianism, Murray Rothbard Tags: racial discrimination
Murray N. Rothbard (1926-1995), has been called “the most gifted libertarian writer of his generation” (p. 251). Rothbard prided himself as, in Nancy MacLean’s words, libertarianism’s “most scathing guardian of libertarian orthodoxy” (p. 147). He was an “anarcho-capitalist” who believed that all governmental functions should be privatized, including national defense and police forces.
More Libertarians: Murray Rothbard and Competitive Racism
How and why did the Victorians succeed?
29 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of education
From Samuel Hughes, in Works in Progress: The elites of Victorian Britain operated differently. Their schools and universities were not terribly academic and had very little STEM. As adults, they got up late, drank a lot, and spent a remarkable share of their waking hours partying. They loved feasting, sports, holidays, dancing, and dressing up.…
How and why did the Victorians succeed?
John McWhorter goes back to antiwoke
28 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of education, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left
The other day I expressed dismay that NYT writer John McWhorter produced a piece heartily endorsing land acknowledgments (“LA”s). That was out of character for a man who got a lot of attention for his “antiprogressive” stands, encapsulated in his book Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America. My objection to the…
John McWhorter goes back to antiwoke
The Left and the Mob
28 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: 2026 general election
Chris Trotter writes – By allowing themselves to be recorded alongside the Mongrel Mob, Te Pāti Māori, Green, and Labour MPs may have cost the Left the election. Harry Tam is one of those rare individuals with the ability to bring outsiders inside. As a working proposition, promoting the interests of the Mongrel Mob would […]
The Left and the Mob
Huge differences that require explanation
28 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in development economics, growth miracles, labour economics, labour supply, population economics
The California billionaire tax is very likely a net revenue loser
28 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, entrepreneurship, politics - USA, public economics Tags: California, taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment
This paper examines the revenue and migration impact of the 2026 California Billionaire Tax Act, a one-time 5 percent tax on the worldwide net worth of individuals exceeding $1 billion. Using data from the Forbes Billionaire List, news reports detailing the residential real estate holdings of California billionaires, and public announcements of billionaire departures from…
The California billionaire tax is very likely a net revenue loser
Holocaust Denial and Reason Magazine: 1976
27 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in libertarianism Tags: The Holocaust
In 1976 Reason Magazine published a piece by Austin App an antisemitic Holocaust denier.
Holocaust Denial and Reason Magazine: 1976
Bob Woodward Reveals He Spoke With Justices Stewart, Powell, White, Blackmun, and Rehnquist for “The Brethren”
27 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of media and culture, politics - USA
Steven Goldberg, one of Brennan’s clerks, provided Woodward with the 75-page case history of U.S.v. Nixon.
Bob Woodward Reveals He Spoke With Justices Stewart, Powell, White, Blackmun, and Rehnquist for “The Brethren”
When Moochers Outnumber Producers, Can a Nation Be Salvaged?
27 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in budget deficits, development economics, economic history, fiscal policy, growth disasters, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking, welfare reform
I periodically share data on the age-dependency ratio in various nations. That’s very important data. It helps to explain why young-to-old redistribution programs in many nations are becoming a recipe for fiscal crisis. But to fully understand the level of dependency in a country, you have to know the share of people who actually produce […]
When Moochers Outnumber Producers, Can a Nation Be Salvaged?
ROCKTOBER-Paradise by the Dashboard light.
27 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in Music
The career of Michael Lee Aday aka Meat Loaf, has been a turbulent one, to used an understatement. It went from filling huge stadiums with adore fans, to barely getting people to see him perform in small community halls in Ireland, and back to stadiums. His most iconic song though has to be “Paradise by […]
ROCKTOBER-Paradise by the Dashboard light.
How to Profit From a Cartel Without Joining One
27 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, economic history, economics of regulation, financial economics, industrial organisation, law and economics Tags: competition law
Adam Smith warned that people in the same trade rarely meet without the conversation turning to a scheme to raise prices. Antitrust enforcers on both sides of the Atlantic now suspect they can skip the meeting—a shared shareholder may do the job. In May 2025, the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC)…
How to Profit From a Cartel Without Joining One
Some Links
26 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, entrepreneurship, fiscal policy, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, Public Choice Tags: California, taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment
TweetMegan McArdle writes insightfully about California’s pending proposal to soak the rich. Three slices: These days, legislators generally don’t enact tax hikes so confiscatory that they trigger an immediate, obvious response. They adjust income tax rates by a few percentage points, fiddle with the deductions or impose new levies on some tiny portion of the…
Some Links
Brazil’s economic problems, in a nutshell
26 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in budget deficits, development economics, economic growth, economic history, fiscal policy, growth disasters, labour economics, macroeconomics, welfare reform Tags: Brazil
It would take true Milei-like ardour to slice through Brazil’s economic troubles. These are caused by a gnarly mix of high public spending, stubborn inflation and low saving. The result is a crippling cost of capital. Some analysts put Brazil’s real interest rate, the BCB’s policy rate adjusted for next year’s expected inflation, at 9% or…
Brazil’s economic problems, in a nutshell
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