The Herald reports: Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick won’t say if she would have advised her MP Hūhana Lyndon against meeting with members of the Mongrel Mob. After being asked the question twice, Swarbrick said she needed to “understand more of the context as to what has played out here”, although she earlier said having…
Gangs are organised crime, not a community group
Gangs are organised crime, not a community group
16 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: 2026 general election
Book review: The Narrow Corridor
16 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, growth disasters, growth miracles, history of economic thought, law and economics, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking
My last book review was of Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson’s 2012 book Why Nations Fail. It’s taken me a while (with many interruptions), but I recently finished reading their 2019 book… 731 more words
Book review: The Narrow Corridor
The Story of Russia by Orlando Figes 3: the rise of Stalin
15 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in economic history, Marxist economics Tags: Russia
These are my notes on chapter 9 of Orlando Figes’ immensely readable History of Russia. The previous chapter dealt with the revolution and the Bolshevik victory in the Russian civil wars. This one is about Soviet history in the 1920s and ’30s. New Economic Policy In the early 1920s, as they won the civil war […]
The Story of Russia by Orlando Figes 3: the rise of Stalin
Climate Lawsuits Fail Constitutional and Scientific Review
15 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: nuisance suits
Whatever one thinks of the climate issue, its questions need to be answered according to the disciplined rationale of both the U.S. Constitution and scientific inquiry. The post Climate Lawsuits Fail Constitutional and Scientific Review appeared first on Watts Up With That?.
Climate Lawsuits Fail Constitutional and Scientific Review
The Story of Russia by Orlando Figes: 1 (2023)
15 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economic history, war and peace Tags: Russia
In Soviet times, when Communism was its certain destiny and history was adjusted to reflect that end, there was a joke, which perhaps Orwell had in mind: ‘Russia is a country with a certain future; it is only its past which is unpredictable.’ ‘The Story of Russia’ by Orlando Figes, page 4) No other country […]
The Story of Russia by Orlando Figes: 1 (2023)
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
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
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
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