Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
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
08 Aug 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, economic history, economics of regulation, history of economic thought Tags: price controls, Roman empire
By Tarnell Brown. At EconLog.”The Roman Empire was in trouble. During the fifty-plus years known as the Crisis of the Third Century (235-284 AD), the throne of Rome changed some 26 times, with the Roman Army engaging in a steady diet of crowning and removing claimants to the throne. These autocrats, known as “barracks emperors,”…
Diocletian, the Roman Empire, and Forever Failing Price Controls
07 Aug 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, urban economics Tags: housing affordability, land supply, zoning
Yes: In December 2018, Minneapolis became the first U.S. city to eliminate single-family zoning through the Minneapolis 2040 Plan, a landmark reform with a central focus on improving housing affordability. This paper estimates the effect of the Minneapolis 2040 Plan on home values and rental prices. Using a synthetic control approach we find that the […]
Did the Minnesota housing reform lower housing costs?
05 Aug 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, international economics, politics - USA Tags: tarrifs
I am delighted to see this excellent analysis in the NYT: Mr. Tedeschi said that future leaders in Washington, whether Republican or Democrat, may be hesitant to roll back the tariffs if that would mean a further addition to the federal debt load, which is already raising alarms on Wall Street. And replacing the tariff […]
Why the tariffs are bad
04 Aug 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, income redistribution, labour economics, Public Choice, welfare reform
In an article in The Conversation earlier this year, Edward Yiu and William Cheung (both University of Auckland) discuss New Zealand’s accommodation supplement for low-income renters:New Zealand’s unaffordable housing market has left many low and middle-income families reliant on the accommodation supplement to cover rent and mortgage payments.But our new research has found the scheme,…
Why the accommodation supplement does little to help low-income tenants
04 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, growth disasters, growth miracles, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, Public Choice Tags: India
In Massive Rent-Seeking in India’s Government Job Examination System I argued that the high value of government jobs has distorted India’s entire labor market and educational system. India’s most educated young people—precisely those it needs in the workforce—are devoting years of their life cramming for government exams instead of working productively. These exams cultivate no […]
The Tragedy of India’s Government-Job Prep Towns
02 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, fiscal policy, labour economics, macroeconomics, public economics Tags: taxation and investment
The Laffer Curve provides incredibly important insights about tax policy. Most important, it informs us that you don’t measure the revenue impact of tax policy changes merely by looking at what is happening to tax rates. You also have to consider whether changes in tax rates will alter incentives to earn and report income. Or, […]
The Laffer Curve Triumphs Again: Class Warfare in the United Kingdom Backfires
31 Jul 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economics of regulation, income redistribution, law and economics, Marxist economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, transport economics, urban economics Tags: economics of socialism, regressive left, rent control, useful idiots
Democrat Zohran Mamdani is likely to be the next mayor of NYC, as he proffered a number of campaign promises that delighted progressives young and old. (This is besides his pro-Palestinian stand on the Gaza war, which is irrelevant to his actions as NYC mayor but still delighted the benighted.) Here are a few of […]
Mamdani’s unworkable proposal for NYC-owned grocery stores
29 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, minimum wage, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking, unemployment Tags: California
The classic book, Economics in One Lesson reduces all of economics to a similar lesson:The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups.The lesson of Chapter…
CA min wage goes up ==> CA employment declines
26 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, history of economic thought, income redistribution, international economics, International law, labour economics, labour supply, Marxist economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: 2024 presidential election, regressive left, tarrifs
Many of Trump’s signature policies overlap with those of the American progressive left—e.g. tariffs, economic nationalism, immigration restrictions, deep distrust of elite institutions, and an eagerness to use the power of the state. Trump governs less like Reagan, more like Perón. As Ryan Bourne notes, this ideological convergence has led many on the progressive left […]
Horseshoe Theory: Trump and the Progressive Left
24 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, financial economics, industrial organisation Tags: competition law, competition law enforcement, mergers
Conventional antitrust enforcement tries to prevent harmful mergers by blocking them but empirical evidence shows that rival stock prices often rise when a merger is blocked—suggesting that many blocked mergers would have increased competition. In other words, we may be stopping the wrong mergers. In a clever proposal, Ayres, Hemphill, and Wickelgren (2024) argue that […]
Shorting Your Rivals: A Radical Antitrust Remedy
23 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, entrepreneurship, financial economics, international economics, politics - USA Tags: tarrifs
Cantor Fitzgerald, a financial services company led by the sons of US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, has offered to buy the right to hundreds of millions of dollars in potential refunds from companies that have paid Trump’s tariffs. The offer means that the sons of the pro-tariff commerce secretary, Kyle and Brandon, have made a way for […]
Markets in everything, bet on tariff repeal edition
23 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, budget deficits, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, economic growth, fiscal policy, growth disasters, growth miracles, law and economics, liberalism, libertarianism, macroeconomics, property rights Tags: Argentina
I almost feel sorry for the 108 leftist economists who predicted back in 2023 that Argentina would suffer if Javier Milei won the presidential election. Not only were they disappointed when he enjoyed a landslide victory, but the subsequent events in Argentina have shown that they were wildly wrong (all of which is discussed in […]
The Milei Miracle, Part II
22 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economics of bureaucracy, income redistribution, industrial organisation, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, rentseeking
The Herald reports: More than half of the $257 million loan book held by the Government entity formerly known as the Provincial Growth Fund is considered to be at risk of impairment or default. The surge in at-risk loan advances made by Crown Regional Holdings (CRH) – a vehicle used by the Government to warehouse […]
Stop the corporate welfare
21 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, income redistribution, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, public economics Tags: takings
Eric Crampton writes – The Regulatory Standards Bill before Parliament provides no enforceable legal right to compensation for the cost of regulation. It only suggests that compensation can be warranted when regulation takes or impairs property. A sovereign Parliament remains free to ignore that advice, as is made abundantly clear in sections 24 through 26 […]
Making sense of the case for compensation in regulatory bill
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
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
Scholarly commentary on law, economics, and more
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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
The world's most viewed site on global warming and climate change
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Let's examine hard decisions!
Commentary on monetary policy in the spirit of R. G. Hawtrey
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Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
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Reading between the lines, and underneath the hype.
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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
Reflections on books and art
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