The Prime Minister’s speech 10 days or so ago kicked off a flurry of commentary. No one much anywhere near the mainstream (ie excluding Greens supporters) questioned the rhetoric. New Zealand has done woefully poorly on productivity for a long time and we really need better outcomes, and the sorts of policy frameworks that would […]
The picture below is of a few paragraphs from the book The Economics of Public Issues, which I often used as a supplemental textbook when I was teaching. Now for modern day Mexico. See How Mexican Cartels Test Fentanyl on Vulnerable People and Animals: A global crackdown on fentanyl has led cartels to innovate production methods…
It’s well-known that when a couple has a child, the average woman experiences a “child penalty” in labor market outcomes, while outcomes for the man are largely unchanged. For a discussion of this pattern using US data, here’s an article by Jane Waldfogel from back in 1998 in the Journal of Economic Perspectives. As that…
This week, headline after headline bitched about the new ‘free’ school lunch programme. Principals apparently compared the meals to ‘dog food’. There were numerous teething problems with delivery. KidsCan jumped on the bandwagon to promote child poverty and useless government yet again.It beggars belief really. Parents are already paid cash every week to help them…
Maher’s comedy bits are called “New Rules,” and last night’s 9-minute episode was called “New Rules: Everything is broken.” Maher highlights Trump’s new dance, the “Icky Shuffle,” often performed to The Village People’s song, “YMCA”, with the dance accompanied by salacious gestures. Instead of “YMCA,” Maher suggests that the new American Anthem is Dylan’s “Everything […]
By Claudia Goldin. From NPR’s Planet Money.”Countries around the world have seen a jaw-dropping decline in fertility rates. In this paper, Claudia Goldin, the 2023 winner of the Nobel Prize in economic sciences, offers a new theory to help explain why (listen to The Indicator’s conversation with her back in 2021). Goldin starts by providing…
Trump’s first few weeks have been a mix of good and bad for this libertarian, all against a backdrop of horror at how Imperial the presidency has become. But as of today, perhaps the most destructive and stupid initiative has begun: Because we are all tired of those fentanyl-toting Canadians crossing the border illegally. I…
By David J. Deming, Christopher Ong, and Lawrence H. Summers. From NPR’s Planet Money. Summers was Secretary of the Treasury from 1999 to 2001, director of the National Economic Council from 2009 to 2010 and president of Harvard University from 2001 to 2006.”Obviously, there is a big fear right now that artificial intelligence will kill…
Roger Partridge writes – Has the Supreme Court once again stepped outside its lane? A recent ruling about who controls our coastlines suggests our highest court is trying to reshape laws made by Parliament, rather than just apply them. Even more concerning is the Court’s extraordinary haste in delivering its judgment, just as Parliament prepared […]
By Paul Homewood Blackout Britain threat rises on collapse of Norwegian government Britain’s increasingly dangerous reliance on imported electricity has just gone up another notch with the collapse of Norway’s Government. The Telegraph reports:
From the Economist: The international tax system has long suffered from two related problems: firms go to great lengths to book profits in low-tax jurisdictions, and governments thus have strong incentives to compete with each other in cutting levies so as to attract investment [only a dirigiste would consider this a problem]. Hoping to forestall…
Michael Reddell writes – I’ve spent the last week writing a fairly substantial review of a recent book (“Australia’s Pandemic Exceptionalism: How we crushed the curve but lost the race”) by a couple of Australian academic economists on Australia’s pandemic policies and experiences. For all its limitations, there isn’t anything similar in New Zealand. What […]
Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
In Hume’s spirit, I will attempt to serve as an ambassador from my world of economics, and help in “finding topics of conversation fit for the entertainment of rational creatures.”
“We do not believe any group of men adequate enough or wise enough to operate without scrutiny or without criticism. We know that the only way to avoid error is to detect it, that the only way to detect it is to be free to inquire. We know that in secrecy error undetected will flourish and subvert”. - J Robert Oppenheimer.
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