Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
27 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, economic history, economics of regulation, financial economics, industrial organisation, law and economics Tags: competition law
Adam Smith warned that people in the same trade rarely meet without the conversation turning to a scheme to raise prices. Antitrust enforcers on both sides of the Atlantic now suspect they can skip the meeting—a shared shareholder may do the job. In May 2025, the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC)…
How to Profit From a Cartel Without Joining One
26 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, entrepreneurship, fiscal policy, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, Public Choice Tags: California, taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment
TweetMegan McArdle writes insightfully about California’s pending proposal to soak the rich. Three slices: These days, legislators generally don’t enact tax hikes so confiscatory that they trigger an immediate, obvious response. They adjust income tax rates by a few percentage points, fiddle with the deductions or impose new levies on some tiny portion of the…
Some Links
26 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in budget deficits, development economics, economic growth, economic history, fiscal policy, growth disasters, labour economics, macroeconomics, welfare reform Tags: Brazil
It would take true Milei-like ardour to slice through Brazil’s economic troubles. These are caused by a gnarly mix of high public spending, stubborn inflation and low saving. The result is a crippling cost of capital. Some analysts put Brazil’s real interest rate, the BCB’s policy rate adjusted for next year’s expected inflation, at 9% or…
Brazil’s economic problems, in a nutshell
26 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in cats, defence economics, war and peace Tags: World War II
World War II was a global conflict that tested the limits of human resilience, innovation, and ingenuity. In addition to the millions of soldiers, civilians, and military machinery involved, a vast array of animals played indispensable roles throughout the war. From dogs and horses to pigeons and even reindeer, animals were employed for various purposes, […]
The Use of Animals During World War II: A Vital Contribution to the War Effort
26 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in economic history, environmental economics Tags: maps, Tasmania
26 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, financial economics, history of economic thought, macroeconomics, monetary economics
Economists typically identify money by the extent to which an asset satisfies three functions. First, it needs to be a medium of exchange, meaning that you give it up when you buy goods or services, and you can receive it when you sell goods or services. Second, it needs to be a unit of account, meaning that you…
Mariana Mortágua on why crypto-assets are not money
25 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in defence economics, International law, laws of war, war and peace Tags: Norway, World War II
When the guns of World War II finally fell silent in 1945, Europe faced not only the monumental task of rebuilding cities and economies, but also of seeking justice. Few names were as synonymous with betrayal as Vidkun Quisling, the Norwegian politician whose collaboration with Nazi Germany turned his surname into a byword for “traitor.” […]
The Execution of Vidkun Quisling: Norway’s Reckoning with Treason
25 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, econometerics, health and safety, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice
Last week, my ECONS102 class covered health economics. Part of that topic involves discussion of approaches to measuring the ‘value of a preventable fatality’ (sometimes also called the ‘value of a statistical life’, or VSL). One of those approaches is the willingness-to-pay (WTP) approach, which involves estimating what people would be willing to pay in…
Job fatality and injury risk, and compensating differentials
24 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, law and economics, Richard Posner, Ronald Coase
What does it mean to be a law & economics (L&E) scholar? It can’t require a Ph.D. in economics. Richard Posner doesn’t have one. He didn’t even major in economics as an undergraduate, preferring English—as did his Chicago colleagues Douglas Baird and Diane Wood. It can’t require a law degree, either, or Ronald Coase, William…
‘Contemporary Law and Economics,’ by Adam Chilton, Joshua C. Macey & Mila Versteeg
24 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic history, growth miracles, history of economic thought Tags: The Great Enrichment
Robert Fogel is a Nobel Prize Winning Economist. Here is something he said recently:”Technology rescued humankind from centuries of physical maladies and malnutrition, Mr. Fogel argues. Before the 19th century (1800), most people were caught in an endless cycle of subsistence farming.”See Technology Advances; Humans Supersize.Francis Fukuyama, author of the famous book The End of…
Was 1800 (approximately) A Pivotal Year In Human History? Robert Fogel, Francis Fukuyama, And Deirdre McCloskey All Seem To Think So
24 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, budget deficits, economic growth, entrepreneurship, fiscal policy, macroeconomics, Public Choice, public economics Tags: creative destruction
From Jesús Fernández-Villaverde: Will AI poison the public finances of many modern states? There is a real risk that it will. Yesterday, I circulated a new paper, “Saving for the Machines,” which makes a simple point. Building the AI transformation will require enormous investment. The only way to induce agents to save for that investment…
Will bystander economies be able to finance their governments?
24 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in fiscal policy, income redistribution, macroeconomics, politics - USA, Public Choice, public economics Tags: social insurance
My Ph.D. dissertation last century was about Australia’s system of personal retirement accounts, so I have a long-time interest in how to fix America’s Social Security system. Which leads me to a good news-bad news situation. The good news is that politicians will probably be forced to deal with Social Security at some point in […]
The Economic Consequences of Different Ways of Propping Up Social Security
23 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in business cycles, history of economic thought, macroeconomics, monetarism, monetary economics
Tweet… is from page 129 of my late, great teacher Fritz Machlup’s May 1960 Review of Economics and Statistics paper, “Another View of Cost-Push and Demand-Pull Inflation“: It is clear that an inflation of effective demand is a necessary condition not only for a demand-pull inflation of consumer prices but also for a cost-push inflation.…
Quotation of the Day…
23 Oct 2026 1 Comment
in defence economics, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, war and peace Tags: Ukraine
Ukraine’s military has become heavily dependent on SpaceX’s Starlink satellite network for battlefield communications and drone operations. They have invested relationship-specific sunk costs into SpaceX’s satellite communications platform. According to a new Wall Street Journal report, Elon Musk ordered restrictions on a military version of the service last week, disrupting Ukrainian offensive and defensive drone…
Starlink Holdup?
23 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, entrepreneurship, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, survivor principle
The most valuable skill in the age of artificial intelligence (AI) may not be coding, prompt engineering, or any of the other competencies appearing in job listings. It may be the ability to figure out which skills will be valuable next. Half a century ago, Theodore Schultz had a name for something much like this:…
‘The Value of the Ability to Deal with Disequilibria,’ by Theodore Schultz
Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
A History of the Alt-Right
Econ Prof at George Mason University, Economic Historian, Québécois
Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
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Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
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.
Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
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Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
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Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
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Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
WORLD WAR II, MUSIC, HISTORY, HOLOCAUST
Undisciplined scholar, recovering academic
Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
Res ipsa loquitur - The thing itself speaks
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.”
Researching the House of Commons, 1832-1868
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Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
Exploring the Monarchs of Europe
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