If laws passed by Congress do not apply to presidential actions, then we no longer live in a democracy.
Trump’s Plan To Buy Russian Diesel Would Violate Federal Law
Trump’s Plan To Buy Russian Diesel Would Violate Federal Law
15 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in defence economics, energy economics, politics - USA, war and peace Tags: Russia, sanctions, Ukraine
China fact (?) of the day
15 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in development economics, growth miracles, health economics, labour economics, labour supply, population economics Tags: China
A monograph by Yi Fuxian, a University of Wisconsin-Madison demographer and longtime critic of China’s population policies, argues that China’s actual population may be closer to 1.27 billion—not the 1.4 billion officially reported. The gap would be as much as 130 million people, roughly the population of Mexico. And Yi argues the distortion has warped…
China fact (?) of the day
Predictable
15 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economics of crime, Economics of international refugee law, International law, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, laws of war, war and peace Tags: British politics, Gaza Strip, Middle-East politics, war against terror
LBC reports: An investigation has revealed that a man known only as ‘Mr X’ worked as a personal bodyguard for Ismail Haniyeh, who was Hamas’ leader in Gaza between 2007 and 2017. He then successfully applied for asylum and eventually indefinite leave to remain in the UK, and was able to plot an antisemitic attack…
Predictable
Internet diffusion and religious decline?
15 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
Using a panel of 81 countries across six World Values Survey waves (1990–2022), we examine whether growth in internet diffusion is associated with religious decline. We construct a six-item composite religiosity index, align annual macro series to wave periods, and estimate country fixed-effects models with one-wave lags and a broad set of modernization, demographic, welfare-state,…
Internet diffusion and religious decline?
Navi Pillay is a disgraceful choice for the Nobel Peace Prize
14 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in defence economics, war and peace Tags: regressive left, war against terror
Some say that the Nobel Peace Prize lost credibility when it was won by Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho in 1973, given neither men were great at anything beyond blood thirsty realpolitik. Anjeze Bojaxhui (known as Mother Teresa of Calcutta) in 1979 was another one, given the succour she gave to the likes of…
Navi Pillay is a disgraceful choice for the Nobel Peace Prize
*Plunder: The Last of the War in Europe, 1945*
14 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in defence economics, war and peace Tags: Japan, Nazi Germany, World War I, World War II
By Max Hastings, an excellent book, I benefited from every page. One recurring theme is simply how hard the Germans fought on the way down, and how unusual that behavior was. Here is one interesting passage of many: In World War I, 150 German soldiers were sentenced to death for serious crimes, of which a…
*Plunder: The Last of the War in Europe, 1945*
More on the Herald so called poll of polls
14 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand Tags: 2026 general election
On the 2nd of October I wrote: So the last six polls, all from different firms, have had ACT ahead of Opportunity by margins ranging from 1% to 6%, and the Herald-MOTU poll of polls says that the poll of polls means Opportunity is ahead of ACT. On the 8th of October the Herald did…
More on the Herald so called poll of polls
Marijuana Contracts Are Not Enforceable in Federal Court
14 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, economics of regulation, health economics, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: Marijuana decriminalization. economics of prohibition
Just because marijuana is legal under state law does not mean marijuana is legal — a useful reminder.
Marijuana Contracts Are Not Enforceable in Federal Court
California in-migration and out-migration
14 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, entrepreneurship, fiscal policy, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, public economics Tags: California, taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment, taxation and labour supply, top 1%
Long-run U.S. population movements have been driven more by natural amenities than by jobs, and California, rich in both uniform and complementary climates, should be a persistent net gainer of domestic migrants. It has instead lost residents to other states every year since about 1990. This paper argues that its amenities are unchanged and that…
California in-migration and out-migration
On the microeconomic foundations of macro stabilisation: The Hall-Woodford prize in historical perspective
13 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in business cycles, history of economic thought, inflation targeting, macroeconomics, monetarism, monetary economics
“This year’s prize is about stabilization” was the sentence with which Ellen Moons, Secretary General of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, introduced the not-true-Nobel-but-Nobel-still prize for economics this morning (a physicist, she is the first woman to hold the position since the Academy’s creation in 1739). It went to Stanford’s Bob Hall and Columbia’s […]
On the microeconomic foundations of macro stabilisation: The Hall-Woodford prize in historical perspective
Opportunity cost makes the news
13 Oct 2026 1 Comment
Opportunity cost is one of the most underappreciated concepts in economics, and yet it is fundamental to good decision-making. Whenever we choose to use our resources for one thing, we give up what we could have done with them instead. The opportunity cost of something is the cost of foregoing the opportunity of using the resources…
Opportunity cost makes the news
Canada’s First Nations Are Using Their Land To Build Dense Housing
13 Oct 2026 1 Comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, environmental economics, law and economics, property rights, Public Choice, transport economics, urban economics Tags: Canada
Exempt from Vancouver’s building restrictions, Squamish Nation is constructing a 6,000-unit residential high-rise.
Canada’s First Nations Are Using Their Land To Build Dense Housing
Michael Woodford, Nobel Laureate
13 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in business cycles, history of economic thought, labour economics, macroeconomics, monetarism, monetary economics, unemployment
I think of Michael Woodford as the kind of economist who studies something very specific very intensively and tries to get it just right. But in his case he is not studying something small and irrelevant, he is studying “monetary policy.” I think of him as the economist who put monetary policy and “monetarism” —…
Michael Woodford, Nobel Laureate
The Nobel Prize Goes to Robert Hall and Michael Woodford
13 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in business cycles, history of economic thought, labour economics, macroeconomics, monetarism, monetary economics, unemployment
Twenty-five years ago Tyler told me he thought Robert Hall should win the Nobel. He has been a contender for so long today’s award was a surprise! Hall has an unusual number of unexpectedly creative papers. His best known is on consumption. Start with the textbook Keynesian model: Y = C + I + G…
The Nobel Prize Goes to Robert Hall and Michael Woodford
Robert E. Hall, Nobel Laureate
13 Oct 2026 1 Comment
in business cycles, economic growth, fiscal policy, history of economic thought, labour economics, macroeconomics, monetarism, monetary economics, unemployment
Alex has already covered this, I will add a few remarks. First, every Bob Hall paper is interesting! Only a handful of economists can say the same. Every paper has an idea, and some sort of novel contribution. His lesser-known papers can be as thought-provoking as the more famous ones. Here is Bob on scholar.google.com. …
Robert E. Hall, Nobel Laureate
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