After years of climate-driven experimentation – forced by deluded or dishonest politicians and business titans – the failures became too many and too consequential to be ignored. Little wonder that Larry Fink has turned his ear away from the rhetoric of alarm and toward client demands for strategic guidance.
BlackRock CEO Abandons Climate Delusion for Investor Needs
BlackRock CEO Abandons Climate Delusion for Investor Needs
28 Mar 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, financial economics, global warming Tags: active investing
International Olympic Committee Imposes Biological Test on Athletes
28 Mar 2026 Leave a comment
in discrimination, gender, sports economics
In the Paris Olympics, media and pundits piled on any commentators expressing opposition to transgender athletes playing in women’s sports.…
International Olympic Committee Imposes Biological Test on Athletes
Bet On It Book Club: For a New Liberty, Chapter 7
28 Mar 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, economics of education, human capital, labour economics, libertarianism, Murray Rothbard, Public Choice Tags: signaling
SummaryIn this chapter, Rothbard makes the case for the abolition of public schooling. While he somewhat surprisingly views Friedman’s voucher system as “a great improvement over the present system in permitting a wider range of parental choice and enabling the abolition of the public school system,” Rothbard will settle for nothing less than the separation…
Bet On It Book Club: For a New Liberty, Chapter 7
Javier Milei Week, Part VI: Continuing Challenges
28 Mar 2026 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic growth, economic history, growth disasters, macroeconomics Tags: Argentina
I began this series by reviewing the terrible shape of the Argentinian economy when Javier Milei took over at the end of 2023. I then wrote four columns (here, here, here, and here) on the steps that Milei has taken to restore prosperity. The good news is that his reforms have produced very good results. […]
Javier Milei Week, Part VI: Continuing Challenges
Joseph Goebbels-An Evil little man
28 Mar 2026 1 Comment
in defence economics, economics of media and culture, war and peace Tags: Nazi Germany, World War II
Before joining the Nazi Party (NSDAP), Joseph Goebbels (1897–1945) held a doctorate in German literature but struggled to establish himself as a writer and was unemployed. His exceptional rhetorical skills enabled him to rise rapidly within the party, where he became a key figure in disseminating National Socialist, anti-republican, and antisemitic propaganda. Adolf Hitler rewarded […]
Joseph Goebbels-An Evil little man
Labour’s fuel crisis policy is silence
27 Mar 2026 Leave a comment
in defence economics, energy economics, politics - New Zealand, transport economics, war and peace Tags: Iran
The Herald reports: Labour leader Chris Hipkins isn’t providing an alternative plan of action to help struggling New Zealanders facing pain at the pump and the threat of rising prices elsewhere. Asked repeatedly what alternatives Labour could suggest, Hipkins said the onus to present ideas was on the current Government. He gave some principles, such…
Labour’s fuel crisis policy is silence
Taking comfort from the 1970s
27 Mar 2026 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economics of regulation, energy economics, politics - New Zealand, war and peace Tags: Iran
When a story recently emerged about the government getting advice on carless days under the Petroleum Demand Restraint Act, older New Zealanders will have felt a warm flush of nostalgia. The 1979 restrictions brought coloured windscreen stickers announcing the weekday car owners had promised not to drive. Thursday proved the most popular choice. A thriving black market followed. Forty-three percent of vehicles secured exemptions.
Taking comfort from the 1970s
Wealth Is Not a Fixed Pie
27 Mar 2026 1 Comment
in applied price theory, behavioural economics, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, growth disasters, growth miracles
One of the most destructive myths in economics is the zero-sum fallacy. Back in 2018, I shared a cartoon that sought to debunk the notion that one person getting richer meant another person had to be poorer. But I wasn’t satisfied with the cartoon, so I offered a modified version. But I still didn’t think […]
Wealth Is Not a Fixed Pie
Javier Milei Week, Part V: Fixing Argentina’s Monetary Crisis
27 Mar 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, Austrian economics, budget deficits, business cycles, development economics, growth disasters, macroeconomics, monetary economics Tags: Argentina
I’ve been participating in a conference in Argentina this week on “Understanding Argentina’s Transformations Under Milei.” Part I reviewed the horrible economic conditions that plagued Argentina when Javier Milei took office. Part II looked at Milei’s spending restraint and some of the subsequent improvements in fiscal outcomes. Part III examined Milei’s remarkable progress with regards to […]
Javier Milei Week, Part V: Fixing Argentina’s Monetary Crisis
The truth about TOP
27 Mar 2026 Leave a comment
in environmentalism, politics - New Zealand
TOP isn’t above Left and Right. It’s just the Left in better packaging Every election cycle, like clockwork, Opportunity (TOP) reappears. It refreshes its branding, gets a new leader, rolls out a new slate of candidates, and the media, just as predictably, froths over them. Since Gareth Morgan founded the party in 2016, this has become a […]
The truth about TOP
Frederick Forsyth reviews
26 Mar 2026 1 Comment
in defence economics, economics of education
Frederick Forsyth (1938 to 2025) was an English novelist and journalist. He’s best known for the string of meticulously researched popular thrillers he wrote in a 30-year career between the early 70s and the early Noughties. He wrote 14 novels in total, none of them as good as the debut, his first and best novel […]
Frederick Forsyth reviews
Quotation of the Day…
26 Mar 2026 Leave a comment
Tweet… is from page 15 of the late Brian Doherty’s excellent 2007 book, Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement: Libertarianism is based in economic theory, as economic science teaches how workable order can arise from the seeming chaos of free actions uncoordinated by a single outside intelligence, and how…
Quotation of the Day…
Two obituaries of Robert Trivers
26 Mar 2026 Leave a comment
Although I did call attention to the death of Robert Trivers, age 83, on March 12, and I knew him slightly, I did not have the chops to summarize his many contributions, nor did I know him that well (we overlapped at Harvard). Fortunately, Steve Pinker has produced an absolutely terrific bio of Trivers at…
Two obituaries of Robert Trivers
Defining Socialism
26 Mar 2026 1 Comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, development economics, economic history, economics of regulation, history of economic thought, liberalism, Marxist economics
I’ve written a four-part series (here, here, here, and here) explaining why socialism is a bad idea, but let’s use today’s column to define this evil ideology. As I mentioned in the video, genuine socialism is based on three very specific concepts. Government ownership of the means of production Central planning to determine the allocation […]
Defining Socialism
The rise of China as a global innovator in pharma (incentives matter)
26 Mar 2026 Leave a comment
in development economics, entrepreneurship, growth miracles, health economics Tags: drug lags
This paper examines China’s transition from pharmaceutical “free rider” to global innovator over the last decade. In 2010, China accounted for less than 8% of global clinical trials; by 2020, it had surpassed the US in annual registered clinical trial volume. To study this transformation, we compile a comprehensive, synchronized database spanning the pharmaceutical drug…
The rise of China as a global innovator in pharma (incentives matter)
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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