David Friedman on markets, governments and whether we need either?
19 May 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, David Friedman, defence economics, economics of crime, economics of regulation, environmental economics, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, law and economics, property rights
The Mainstream World Is Not Free-Market
10 May 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, Austrian economics, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economic history, economics of education, economics of regulation, history of economic thought, human capital, labour economics, occupational choice
An excerpt from Chapter 1 of *Unbeatable*
The Mainstream World Is Not Free-Market
Policy whiplash risks eroding NZ’s investment stability
10 May 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights
Roger Partridge writes- Resources Minister Shane Jones recently floated a novel idea: Government-backed insurance for oil and gas investors to protect them against future policy reversals. Let that sink in. A New Zealand minister is contemplating taxpayer-funded insurance to compensate companies against… the decisions of future New Zealand Governments.
Policy whiplash risks eroding NZ’s investment stability
Capitalism, Socialism, and Social Desirability Bias
01 May 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, development economics, economic history, entrepreneurship, history of economic thought, industrial organisation Tags: capitalism and freedom
An excerpt from the Introduction of *Unbeatable*
Capitalism, Socialism, and Social Desirability Bias
Socialism Is an Economic Cancer
26 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, development economics, economic history, growth disasters, Marxist economics Tags: economics of central planning
Building on my four-part series (here, here, here, and here) explaining the case against socialism and my five-part series (here, here, here, here, and here) on socialism in the modern world, today’s column will look at the economic argument against that statist ideology. Practically speaking, this seems unnecessary. After all, we can simply look at […]
Socialism Is an Economic Cancer
Pandemic Preparation Without Romance
25 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, health economics, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: economics of pandemics
My latest paper, Pandemic Preparation Without Romance, has just appeared at Public Choice. Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic, despite its unprecedented scale, mirrored previous disasters in its predictable missteps in preparedness and response. Rather than blaming individual actors or assuming better leadership would have prevented disaster, I examine how standard political incentives—myopic voters, bureaucratic gridlock, and […]
Pandemic Preparation Without Romance
Smith Reviews Stiglitz
24 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, Austrian economics, comparative institutional analysis, economics of information, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, experimental economics, history of economic thought, industrial organisation
Vernon Smith reviews Joe Stiglitz’s book The Road to Freedom: Stiglitz did work in the abstract intellectual theoretical tradition of neoclassical economics showing how the standard results were changed by asymmetric or imperfect information. He is oblivious, however, to the experimental lab and field empirical research showing that agent knowledge of all such information is […]
Smith Reviews Stiglitz
Long-Run Effects of Trade Wars
24 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, development economics, econometerics, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, politics - USA, unemployment Tags: 2024 presidential election, free trade, tariffs, unintended consequences
This short note shows that accounting for capital adjustment is critical when analyzing the long-run effects of trade wars on real wages and consumption. The reason is that trade wars increase the relative price between investment goods and labor by taxing imported investment goods and their inputs. This price shift depresses capital demand, shrinks the […]
Long-Run Effects of Trade Wars
My debate with Dani Rodrik about tariffs and free trade
22 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, development economics, economic history, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, international economic law, international economics, labour economics, politics - USA, unemployment Tags: 2024 presidential election, free trade, tariffs
This occurred in Knoxville, you can watch it here. Lots of fun, and p.s. I am more of a free trader than he is. We did have some disagreements.
My debate with Dani Rodrik about tariffs and free trade
Victor Davis Hanson Should Stick to the Classics
18 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economic history, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, international economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election, free trade, tarrifs
TweetHere’s a letter to The Daily Signal. Editor: Suppose I submitted to you an essay in which Thucydides is described as a first-century Roman senator who wrote a biography of Charlemagne – would you publish it? Of course not. The ignorance of such an essay would be palpable. But I would never write such a…
Victor Davis Hanson Should Stick to the Classics
Uneducated vs educated
03 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economics of bureaucracy, economics of education, economics of information, economics of media and culture, international economics, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics, property rights, Public Choice Tags: Brexit, British politics, political psychology
Political battles historically have been framed as contests between left-wing and right-wing ideologies, with clear distinctions based on policy preferences and socio-economic class interests. However, contemporary political dynamics reveal a new axis of conflict: the division between the educated and the uneducated. This emerging distinction marks a significant departure from traditional political alignments, reshaping electoral […]
Uneducated vs educated
Prebs is Right – a 4 Year Parliamentary Term is no panacea to NZ’s stagnation. The problem is neither the Nats nor Labour have had a plan since 1993.
03 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economic growth, economic history, law and economics, macroeconomics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice Tags: constitutional law
In an excellent article in the Herald, Richard Prebble (or “Prebs” as we call him) argues the proposals presented by National-ACT for a…
Prebs is Right – a 4 Year Parliamentary Term is no panacea to NZ’s stagnation. The problem is neither the Nats nor Labour have had a plan since 1993.
The Protectionism Edition of Economics Humor
01 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, economic history, history of economic thought, income redistribution, industrial organisation, international economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking, survivor principle Tags: 2024 presidential election, free trade, tarrifs
It appears that Trump wants to repeat the mistakes of the 1930s with a global trade war. That is going to be very bad news for workers, consumers, taxpayers, manufacturers, farmers, and exporters. But there are two bits of good news. At least for small slices of the populations First, lobbyists will get rich as […]
The Protectionism Edition of Economics Humor
What does India want – and what is New Zealand willing to give?
25 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, development economics, economic history, economics of education, growth disasters, growth miracles, human capital, income redistribution, industrial organisation, international economic law, international economics, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, politics - New Zealand, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, rentseeking, survivor principle Tags: India, preferential trade agreements
Chris Trotter writes – What does India want from New Zealand? Not our dairy products, that’s for sure, it’s got plenty of those. Indeed 45 percent of the Indian population are small-scale farmers, most of them running a few head of cattle – not to eat, you understand – but to milk. If it once […]
What does India want – and what is New Zealand willing to give?
The Grumpy Economist on Foreign aid: “send a person a fish every day, and he forgets how to fish.”
20 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, development economics, economic history, growth disasters, growth miracles Tags: overseas aid
John Cochrane recommends the Economist article Aid cannot make poor countries rich. From 2004 to 2014, foreign aid increased by 75%, but it didn’t help: 2004, William Easterly: aid was just as likely to shrink the world’s poorest economies as to help them grow. 2005, World Bank: grants and loans did not move the needle…
The Grumpy Economist on Foreign aid: “send a person a fish every day, and he forgets how to fish.”
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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