Nice summary
12 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of education Tags: conjecture and refutation, philosophy of science
Is anyone worth a billion dollars?
12 Aug 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation Tags: superstar wages
That is the topic of my latest Free Press column. Excerpt: …in recent years they [Meta] have moved into AI in a big way. Over that same time period, the valuation of the company has risen from about $236 billion in November 2022 to almost $2 trillion at the end of this July. The reasons for […]
Is anyone worth a billion dollars?
Tenth Circuit: Parents Do Not Have Right to Override Ban on Gender Transitioning of Minors
12 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of regulation, gender, health economics, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination
The Tenth Circuit handed down a notable opinion this week in Poe v. Drummond, upholding Oklahoma’s law prohibiting gender transition procedures for anyone under eighteen. The opinion by Judge Joel Carson (joined by Judges Harris Hartz and Gregory Phillips) concluded that parental rights do not trump a state’s determination of what are safe treatments for […]
Tenth Circuit: Parents Do Not Have Right to Override Ban on Gender Transitioning of Minors
Some Links
11 Aug 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, economic history, history of economic thought, international economics, politics - USA Tags: tarrifs
TweetFareed Zakaria, writing in the Washington Post, eloquently corrects many of the fallacies believed by MAGA-types (and also by many – most? – progressives’) about the American economy. Two slices: The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s measure of median disposable household income in America was higher than in all but one advanced industrial economy…
Some Links
Politics Without Shame: Gerrymandering Makes Hypocrisy a Political Punch Line
11 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
Below is my column in The Hill on open hypocrisy of many denouncing the Texas redistricting effort. While I have been a critic of gerrymandering for decades, the faux outrage of Democrats in heavily gerrymandered states would make Captain Louis Renault blush. Here is the column:
Politics Without Shame: Gerrymandering Makes Hypocrisy a Political Punch Line
Chlöe Swarbrick’s homelessness hyperbole
11 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic history, economics of regulation, human capital, labour economics, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, poverty and inequality, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, transport economics, urban economics Tags: family poverty, homelessness, regressive left
Ani O’Brien writes – Chlöe Swarbrick wants you to believe the Government is intentionally increasing homelessness. She told RNZ’s Mata with Mihingarangi Forbes: “The only conclusion that I can really come to is that this Government has intentionally increased homelessness…” It’s the kind of soundbite that plays well on social media. Outrage travels faster than nuance, and a […]
Chlöe Swarbrick’s homelessness hyperbole
Sovereignty and Land Ownership: Distinct Legal Domains
11 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in constitutional political economy, economic history, law and economics, property rights Tags: constitutional law
Introduction Throughout history, territories have frequently changed hands through war, conquest, and annexation. However, the shift in sovereignty—the legal authority to govern and control a territory—should not be conflated with the transfer of private land ownership within that territory. Sovereignty concerns public law and political authority, whereas land ownership is a matter of private law […]
Sovereignty and Land Ownership: Distinct Legal Domains
The Black Day Of The German Army – The Battle of Amiens I THE GREAT WAR …
10 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in defence economics, war and peace Tags: World War I
Carney Limits Canadians’ Access to News
10 Aug 2025 1 Comment
in economics of regulation, politics Tags: Canada, free speech, media bias, political correctness, regressive left
Another blow against free speech in Canada reported in rightforcanada article Carney defends internet censorship bill, tells Canadians to rely on CBC for news. Excerpts in italics with my bolds and added images. PM Mark Carney dismissed concerns over Bill C-18’s restrictions on sharing news on social media, promoting the Liberal-funded CBC as the primary […]
Carney Limits Canadians’ Access to News
Someone had to listen to all this music
10 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in Marxist economics, Music Tags: fall of communism
The Press found to have breached Media Council rules with its school lunches article
10 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of education, politics - New Zealand Tags: media bias
The Media Council has upheld a complaint by David Seymour’s office against this article on school lunches. It was found to have breached both the fairness and conflict of interest principles. The first issue was that they ran the article, and didn’t even ask the Minister for comment. They only quoted opponents of the new […]
The Press found to have breached Media Council rules with its school lunches article
A new left UK party
09 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in Marxist economics, politics Tags: British politics
The Guardian reports: Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana have reached agreement over the launch of a new leftwing party after weeks of discussions, sending out a joint statement encouraging would-be supporters to register their interest. The new movement has yet to be named but has an interim website under the moniker of Your party. In a statement on X, the two […]
A new left UK party
The Lancet publishes a glowing but deeply misguided review of a book that denies the sex binary, yet the author of the review had previously TOUTED the sex binary
09 Aug 2025 1 Comment
in discrimination, economics of education, gender, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: evolutionary biology, free speech, political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination
We’ve all learned that The Lancet, once a respectable journal, has gone full-on “progressive,” denying the sex binary, adopting a comprehensive Left progressive position, blaming rich white countries for all the health problems of poorer countries, and advocating gender-activist language, as it did in its widely-criticized cover below. Much of this was done under the […]
The Lancet publishes a glowing but deeply misguided review of a book that denies the sex binary, yet the author of the review had previously TOUTED the sex binary
The US Auto Industry: Evolving, not Evaporating
09 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in economic history, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, survivor principle, transport economics, urban economics
One of those facts that “everyone knows” is that the US auto industry has been crushed by foreign competition. As Adam Ozimek points out in “Myths and Lessons from a Century of American Automaking” (Economic Innovation Institute, August 1, 2025), while the US car industry certainly no longer features large manufacturing plants in the city…
The US Auto Industry: Evolving, not Evaporating
Inciting abuse
08 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights
An email from Don Brash of Hobson’s Pledge explains the plan for its campaign against Māori wards on councils ran into trouble when they used a stock photo of a woman who supports the wards and was very upset when her image was used on billboards. When they learned of her distress they instructed the […]
Inciting abuse
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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