Making do with less: “… We can repair and recreate our relationships with the Earth and the consumption that has gotten us to this point. …”
Claim: Social Science can Solve the Climate Crisis
‘Swiftonomics’ and the optimal number of Taylor Swift examples
11 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of information, economics of media and culture, history of economic thought, industrial organisation
I was interested to read this recent article on Inside Higher Education, about ‘Swiftonomics’:Paul Krugman, a New York Times columnist, Nobel Prize winner and Distinguished Professor of economics at the CUNY Graduate Center, began working on the curriculum for the course last summer. Swift’s massive Eras Tour had just kicked off, creating such a frenzy…
‘Swiftonomics’ and the optimal number of Taylor Swift examples
Reading deal – rare media bouquet
11 Mar 2024 1 Comment
in applied price theory, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of media and culture, income redistribution, industrial organisation, law and economics, market efficiency, movies, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking, survivor principle, theory of the firm, urban economics Tags: Wellington
Both Matt Nippert of the NZ Herald and Tom Hunt of The Post deserve a bouquet for their analyses of the truly remarkable deal between the Wellington City Council (WCC) and the troubled American Cinema company Reading. For this who don’t know, Reading owns a large (more than 14, 000 square metres or 1.4 hectares) […]
Reading deal – rare media bouquet
TV layoffs not a threat to democracy
10 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of information, economics of media and culture, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, income redistribution, industrial organisation, managerial economics, market efficiency, organisational economics, personnel economics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking, survivor principle, theory of the firm Tags: media bias
A few weeks ago I joined some contemporaries by abandoning the near sixty year habit of watching nightly TV news. I dropped it because I felt it did not give me real information that I had not acquired from other media sources, including some I pay for – The Economist, the NZ Herald, The Atlantic […]
TV layoffs not a threat to democracy
Using procurement for political ends gives you worse prices.
09 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, entrepreneurship, income redistribution, industrial organisation, law and economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking, theory of the firm, transport economics, urban economics Tags: cartels, competition and monopoly, competition law
Over 20 years ago, some middling economists (cite) estimated that the Small Business Set-Aside program reduced Forest Service Timber prices by 15%. By limiting the potential pool of available bidders to only smaller lumber mills, you get less competition and worse prices. Now San Francisco is re-learning that lesson. In 2016, it refused to do…
Using procurement for political ends gives you worse prices.
DAVID FARRAR: Meta withdraws Facebook News in Australia
09 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, survivor principle Tags: creative destruction, market selection, media bias
David Farrar writes – Stuff reports: Facebook owner Meta has refused to continue paying for news in Australia, announcing it will end its deals with local publishers when they expire this year in a decision that news companies say blatantly ignores the value of their journalism. The government also blasted the move, describing it as “a […]
DAVID FARRAR: Meta withdraws Facebook News in Australia
Environmentalism Perverted by Climatism
08 Mar 2024 1 Comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, development economics, economic growth, economic history, economics of climate change, economics of crime, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, growth miracles, law and economics, liberalism, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, property rights Tags: climate alarmism, free speech, regressive left, The Great Enrichment
J. Scott Turner explains how the roots of environmental stewardship were poisoned, resulting in the perverted modern decarbonization movement. His Spectator Australia article is Environmentalism: from concern about clean air to throwing soup at the Mona Lisa. Excerpts in italics with my bolds and added images. H/T John Ray Garrett Hardin was a professor of biology […]
Environmentalism Perverted by Climatism
Former World Bank economist warns of energy transition’s fiscal risks
08 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, development economics, econometerics, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming Tags: climate alarmism
By Paul Homewood London, 5 March – In the run-up to Budget Day (6 March), a new paper by a former World Bank economist and published by the Global Warming Policy Foundation warns that the UK’s current decarbonisation timeframe is unrealistic and threatens to be economically and socially unsustainable.
Former World Bank economist warns of energy transition’s fiscal risks
Population is Not Being Told the True Cost of Net Zero, Warns Former World Bank Economist
07 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, development economics, econometerics, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming Tags: climate alarmism
The insanity of Net Zero becomes clearer by the day.
Population is Not Being Told the True Cost of Net Zero, Warns Former World Bank Economist
Even Lowerer Hutt
07 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, income redistribution, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, regulation, urban economics Tags: housing affordability, land supply, zoning
One annoying thing about writing a Saturday column for the Stuff papers is never knowing whether a piece will show up in print.I’d thought this one was a banger. I’ll be talking about related issues tomorrow night as part of a panel for A City for People. 🟨🟪 Our speaker line up has dropped! 🟪🟨Join us on…
Even Lowerer Hutt
The Black-Scholes-Merton Options Pricing Equation
07 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, entrepreneurship, financial economics Tags: active investing
A superb video on the history and mathematics of options pricing from Veritasium.
The Black-Scholes-Merton Options Pricing Equation
What can be learned from Singaporean health care institutions?
06 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, development economics, growth miracles, health economics, industrial organisation Tags: health insurance, Singapore
Besides the usual, that is. Max Thilo of the UK has a new and excellent study on this, here is one excerpt from the foreword by Lord Warner: Second, and critical, the Singaporeans are not fixated on delivering services from acute hospitals – the most expensive part of any healthcare system because of its fixed […]
What can be learned from Singaporean health care institutions?
Gaelic Price Control
05 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, Public Choice, urban economics Tags: rent control
Here is a nice video on the experience with price control in Ireland and Scotland. Hat tip: Marginal Revolution
Gaelic Price Control
DON BRASH: PERHAPS THE MOST IMPORTANT SPEECH FROM THE NEW GOVERNMENT SO FAR
03 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, income redistribution, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, regulation, rentseeking, transport economics, urban economics Tags: land supply, zoning
Last week, Housing Minister Chris Bishop gave perhaps the most important speech by the new Government since the election. In a speech to the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, he said he wanted the ratio of house prices to median household income to more than halve to between 3 and 5 over the next 10…
DON BRASH: PERHAPS THE MOST IMPORTANT SPEECH FROM THE NEW GOVERNMENT SO FAR
The Uncompetitive Urban Land Markets Theory of Everything
03 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economics of bureaucracy, environmental economics, income redistribution, industrial organisation, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, regulation, rentseeking, urban economics Tags: housing affordability, land supply, zoning
The Housing Theory of Everything has one of those wonderful self-explanatory titles. A good title matters. The recent and thorough essay explains how the anglosphere’s unnecessarily expensive housing affects, well, everything. Or at least almost everything.Zoning makes it too hard to build houses where people want to build. Urban containment policies block new subdivisions, so…
The Uncompetitive Urban Land Markets Theory of Everything
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