Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
17 Aug 2016 Leave a comment
in health economics Tags: economics of addiction, economics of smoking
Little wonder that Japanese and Korean women live much longer than men given that they spoke so little. Oddly enough, women smoke more or almost as much as men in countries where fewer smoke. The large cross-national differences in smoking rates is rather surprising too. Is smoking more addictive in some countries than others?
Source: OECD iLibrary: OECD Factbook 2015-2016: Economic, Environmental and Social Statistics.
17 Aug 2016 Leave a comment
in economics, liberalism Tags: crybaby left, feminism, political correctness
17 Aug 2016 Leave a comment
in economics
by Grania
Good morning! Jerry is in the skies at the moment, the holiday is sadly over. He will check in with us when he can, wifi permitting.
Today is the anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley back in 1977 (remember the Elvis is still alive conspiracy theories that used to abound?)
His music was never particularly my taste (although I have a few friends who will disown me for that admission) however he had an undeniable influence on rock and roll and other genres both contemporaneously and for decades afterwards.
Here is Jailhouse Rock from 1957 where he is all young and fresh-faced and innocent looking.
This is probably the Presley track I like the most, the JXL bowdlerised version of A little less conversation from 2002.
Hili is acknowledging the end of her holidays as well, although I suspect that her business as usual days look suspiciously…
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16 Aug 2016 5 Comments
in economics
I do not think condescension and mockery is the best way to make your case. Smiling all the time indicates you are not interested in serious debate.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sgm3QOWt6Tc ]
16 Aug 2016 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, labour economics, labour supply, politics - New Zealand, poverty and inequality, urban economics, welfare reform Tags: child poverty, family poverty, housing affordability, RMA
Today in the Guardian writing on trends in family poverty New Zealand, Eleanor Roy said that
The fact that twice as many children now live below the poverty line than did in 1984 has become New Zealand’s most shameful statistic.
Roy goes back to the 1980s as her base because child poverty has not gone up or down by that much since that sharp rise in the late 1980s.
Child poverty among single-parent households has doubled since 1990 and tripled since 1988. Poverty in families with two parents present is not much higher now than it was in 1988.
Source: Bryan Perry, Household Incomes in New Zealand: trends in indicators of inequality and hardship 1982 to 2014 – Ministry of Social Development, Wellington (August 2015), Table H.4.
Child poverty rates among single-parent families that live with other adults is one-quarter that of single-parent families who live alone. The reasons behind that should be explored more by those concerned with child poverty.
Source: Bryan Perry, Household Incomes in New Zealand: trends in indicators of inequality and hardship 1982 to 2013 – Ministry of Social Development, Wellington (2014), Tables F.6 and F.7.
The evidence is overwhelming that the main driver of the increases in the child poverty since the 1980s is rising housing costs.
In the longer run, after housing costs child poverty rates in 2013 were close to double what they were in the late 1980s mainly because housing costs in 2013 were much higher relative to income than they were in the late 1980s.
– Bryan Perry, 2014 Household Incomes Report – Key Findings. Ministry of Social Development (July 2014).
Any policy to reduce child poverty must increase the supply of houses by reducing regulatory restrictions on the supply of land.
Rather than blame the callousness of government in accepting higher rates of child poverty, Roy should blame its inability to take on the restrictions on land supply in the Resource Management Act that drive up housing costs for the poor. Increased child poverty in New Zealand is a by-product of housing unaffordability.
16 Aug 2016 Leave a comment
in politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: economics and immigration, growth of government, left-wing populists, right-wing populists, size of government, social insurance, welfare state
The Twitter Left is doing its best to attribute the surge against globalisation and immigration to inequality. This is despite the main beneficiary at the ballot box is right-wing populists.
The beneficiaries in the last few years were UKIP, the French National Front, Alternative for Germany, various pro-welfare state but anti-immigration parties in the rest of Europe, Pauline Hanson and Donald Trump. Barely a left wing party in sight outside of Greece.
Source: Only a third of the EU is governed by the centre-left | World news | The Guardian.
Bernie Sanders is a fake left-wing populist because much of his support comes from college students and the university educated, not the aroused working class. These college students are unwilling to pay more than $1000 in taxes for the socialist revolution especially if they have a job.
At the last New Zealand election, two-thirds of the electorate voted for other than centre-left and left-wing parties. The hard left party, Mana-Internet, won 1% of the party vote despite having millions of dollars in campaign donations from a criminal fugitive hoping to avoid extradition.
These right-wing populists combine a heady brew of nationalism and social conservatism, scepticism about market competition, strong support for social security and old-age pensions but not welfare dependency, and opposition to immigration, imports and cultural change. The rise of the parties are not the first signs of an aroused working class seeking to overthrow capitalism. Face up to it.
16 Aug 2016 Leave a comment
Matt Zwolinski and John Tomasi have a thought-provoking piece entitled, “A Bleeding Heart History of Libertarianism,” in the latest Cato Unbound. They criticize postwar libertarians (specifically mentioning Mises, Rand, and Rothbard) for seeing property rights as absolute and, in their view, regarding the welfare of the working poor as irrelevant to moral justifications for capitalism:
In the remainder of this essay, we will discuss one particular way that neoclassical liberalism has a better grounding in the libertarian intellectual tradition than the libertarianism of Mises, Rand, and Rothbard. It is not the only contrast, but one of the clearest and most important differences between these two schools of libertarian thought has to do with the proper nature of concern for, and obligation to, the working poor. On this issue, the neoclassical liberal position is that the fate of the class who labor at the lowest end of the pay…
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16 Aug 2016 Leave a comment
in economics
Below is my column in USA Today on Donald Trump’s statement that he thinks that American citizens should be tried at Guantanamo Bay with other “terrible people” accused of terrorism. I have previously criticized Hillary Clinton for her views on free speech and executive power. However, the suggestion that U.S. citizens could be sent for faux trials at Gitmo is truly chilling. Here is the column.
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