Liberal Hypocrisy is Fueling American Inequality. Here’s How. | NYT Opinion well worth watching
04 Nov 2023 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, economics of bureaucracy, economics of education, economics of regulation, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking, urban economics Tags: housing affordability, top 1%, zoning
Quotation of the Day…
04 Nov 2023 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, Austrian economics
Tweet… is from pages 86-87 of Georgetown University philosopher Jason Brennan’s excellent 2014 book, Why Not Capitalism?: So, to summarize, there is a range of reasons to have private property, even in utopian conditions. People get value from having objects that they can use at will, without having to ask permission from others. They get…
Quotation of the Day…
The Limited Effects of Taxes on Sugar-Sweetened Beverages
04 Nov 2023 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, health economics Tags: nanny state, sugar taxes
Here’s the case for imposing a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages: 1) Obesity is a major public health problem, through its effects on diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, asthma, certain cancers, and mental health; 2) Consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages is an outsized contributor to obesity; 3) Taxing sugar-sweetened beverages will raise the cost that consumers pay, and thus…
The Limited Effects of Taxes on Sugar-Sweetened Beverages
More Evidence for Trump’s Corporate Tax Reform, Part I
03 Nov 2023 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, economic growth, entrepreneurship, fiscal policy, macroeconomics, public economics Tags: taxation and investment
I’m very critical of bad policies we got during the Trump years, most notably profligacy and protectionism. But I shower praise on the good policies, such as the 2017 tax legislation (especially the lower corporate tax rate and the curtailing of the state and local tax deduction). Today, we’re going to focus on the positive. […]
More Evidence for Trump’s Corporate Tax Reform, Part I
ANANISH CHAUDHURI: Labour stuffed up; that’s why they lost – deal with it
02 Nov 2023 Leave a comment
Ananish Chaudhuri writes – With power about to change hands, I see more and more commentary about how this election was somehow unfair. There was Rob Campbell, Chancellor of AUT, pontificating in the Herald that this election was “bought”. Then more recently David Williams of Newsroom weighed in about the influence of the Taxpayers’ Union […]
ANANISH CHAUDHURI: Labour stuffed up; that’s why they lost – deal with it
Walter Block on Sexual Discrimination & the Pay Gap(Uncut)
02 Nov 2023 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, Austrian economics, discrimination, econometerics, economic history, economics of education, gender, health economics, history of economic thought, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice Tags: gender wage gap, sex discrimination
DON BRASH: SHOULD WE HAVE A REFERENDUM ON THE TREATY?
31 Oct 2023 Leave a comment
A couple of days ago, K Gurunathan – described as a former mayor of Kapiti – had an article in Stuff under the heading “ACT’s Treaty referendum: a bad idea, and even worse timing”. In the article, he noted that former Prime Minister John Key had ruled out the idea of scrapping Maori electorates, even…
DON BRASH: SHOULD WE HAVE A REFERENDUM ON THE TREATY?
Claudia Goldin with Kiana Scott: The Century-Long Fight to Close the Gen…
31 Oct 2023 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, discrimination, economic history, economics of information, gender, health and safety, history of economic thought, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, poverty and inequality Tags: gender wage gap, sex discrimination
Casey Mulligan on Vaccines, the Pandemic, and the FDA 5/22/23
31 Oct 2023 2 Comments
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, health economics, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: drug lags, economics of pandemics
War of the Worlds-October 30-1938
30 Oct 2023 Leave a comment
It’s Sunday evening, you turn on the radio and the news breaks that planet Earth is invaded by Mars. So what do you do? You panic of course. Well that was the case for many when they switched on the radio on October 30,1938. By the end of October 1938, Welles’s Mercury Theatre on the […]
War of the Worlds-October 30-1938
Ripping down the “kidnapped” posters
30 Oct 2023 Leave a comment
One act that is absolutely reprehensible, unjustifiable, and downright sick is the ripping down of posters and fliers showing pictures of the hostages taken by Hamas on October 7. No matter what you feel about what’s going on in Gaza right now, there’s no justification for ripping down posters calling attention to Jewish (and non-Jewish) […]
Ripping down the “kidnapped” posters
Monetary policy and estimated excess demand
30 Oct 2023 Leave a comment
In my post last week on ANZ’s note on the balance of payments, I included this chart from the latest IMF WEO (numbers finalised late last month). On the IMF’s read we had the most overheated advanced economy this year taken as a whole. ANZ themselves followed up with this chart (As a reminder, the […]
Monetary policy and estimated excess demand
2023 Swiss election: minor technical problem leads to major embarrassment
30 Oct 2023 Leave a comment
Like most European countries, Switzerland uses proportional representation (PR) to choose members of the National Council, the lower house of the country’s federal legislature. However, the Swiss system has distinctive characteristics which require a special procedure to determine the nationwide party percentage shares, and a minor technical problem during the federal election held last Sunday, […]
2023 Swiss election: minor technical problem leads to major embarrassment
Maverick: A Biography of Thomas Sowell by Jason Riley Book Review
30 Oct 2023 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, discrimination, economic history, economics of education, gender, history of economic thought, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, property rights, Thomas Sowell, urban economics
I was skeptical of learning about Sowell because he leans conservative, and I was curious to learn about Sowell because he leans conservative. The last few years I’ve grown sympathetic to the political left because I got tired of conservatives seeming hatred for all things “left.” After reading this book I think a lot of […]
Maverick: A Biography of Thomas Sowell by Jason Riley Book Review
Book Review: Race and Culture by Thomas Sowell
29 Oct 2023 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, discrimination, economic history, gender, growth disasters, growth miracles, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, Marxist economics, minimum wage, occupational choice, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, Thomas Sowell
Thomas Sowell is a skilled writer with a powerful ability to combine historical, social science and free-market perspectives. He cuts through the noise and doesn’t mince his words on the sensitive topics of race and culture. In Race and Culture Sowell argues against two common social science doctrines: 1) that all races are equal and […]
Book Review: Race and Culture by Thomas Sowell
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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