Going for growth…..perhaps

The Prime Minister’s speech 10 days or so ago kicked off a flurry of commentary. No one much anywhere near the mainstream (ie excluding Greens supporters) questioned the rhetoric. New Zealand has done woefully poorly on productivity for a long time and we really need better outcomes, and the sorts of policy frameworks that would […]

Going for growth…..perhaps

Reviewing Covid experiences and policies

Michael Reddell writes – I’ve spent the last week writing a fairly substantial review of a recent book (“Australia’s Pandemic Exceptionalism: How we crushed the curve but lost the race”) by a couple of Australian academic economists on Australia’s pandemic policies and experiences. For all its limitations, there isn’t anything similar in New Zealand. What […]

Reviewing Covid experiences and policies

When politicians campaign on competition, be very worried

Targeting big existing businesses may be tempting to politicians, but ensuring market openness will do more good   Eric Crampton writes –  It’s fair to say that economists like competition. It’s also fair to say that when politicians start talking about competition, economists ought to get a little bit nervous.

When politicians campaign on competition, be very worried

ANANISH CHAUDHURI: Oral submission on the Treaty Principles Bill

Presented Jan 30, 2025 Kia Ora. Morena. Tena Koutou, Tena Koutou, Tena Koutou Katoa.   My name is Ananish Chaudhuri. I am Professor of Economics at the University of Auckland. My views are my own and not those of my employer.   Thank you very much for giving me an opportunity to speak this morning.…

ANANISH CHAUDHURI: Oral submission on the Treaty Principles Bill

A Wartime Natural Experiment About Copyright

One of the hardest questions in copyright policy is: “What would have happened otherwise?” When Disney lobbies for longer copyright terms or academic publishers defend high subscription fees, we struggle to evaluate their claims because we can’t observe the counterfactual. What would happen to creativity and innovation if we shortened copyright terms or lowered prices? […]

A Wartime Natural Experiment About Copyright

How to Visit India for Normies

In the comments to my post, India has Too Few Tourists, many people worried about the food, the touts and the poverty. Many of these comments are mistaken or apply only if you are traveling to India on the cheap as an adolescent backpacker (nothing wrong with that but I suspect the MR audience is […]

How to Visit India for Normies

Quotation of the Day…

Tweet… is from page 53 of the late, great Harold Demsetz’s excellent 2008 book, From Economic Man to Economic System: Adam Smith and Thomas Malthus differed in their forecasts of mankind’s future. Smith (1776), in his Wealth of Nations, offered an optimistic view, basing this on his understanding of the new economic system that began…

Quotation of the Day…

Further proof the Council just made things worse

Stuff reports: Reading Cinemas is set to return to Wellington after it was revealed on Tuesday night that the cinema chain’s owner, Reading International, intends to undertake a redevelopment of the old building. The company has entered into a Sale and Purchase Agreement with Prime Property Group, with part of the deal including a seismic upgrade […]

Further proof the Council just made things worse

CA gov prevents voluntary wealth-creating transactions

From REASON: On January 7, Newsom issued a state of emergency as fires spread in Los Angeles County. On Tuesday, Newsom signed Executive Order N-7-25, prohibiting buyers for three months from “making any unsolicited offer to an owner of real property” in fire-affected areas “for an amount less than the fair market value of the…

CA gov prevents voluntary wealth-creating transactions

Margaret Thatcher, Michael Curley, and the 19th Theorem of Government

In this 12-second video, Margaret Thatcher is talking about the Labour Party in the United Kingdom, but her warning has universal application. And when I say her warning has universal application, I’m not joking. Politicians generally can’t resist the temptation to buy votes. And I fear that this can and will happen at all levels […]

Margaret Thatcher, Michael Curley, and the 19th Theorem of Government

One early report on congestion pricing in NYC

That is my latest Bloomberg column, here is one bit: The core version of the plan stipulates a $9 toll for drivers entering Manhattan below and including 60th Street. Implementation is by E-Z Pass, and the tolls can vary in complex ways. But if you don’t cross the line, you don’t pay. So residents below 60th Street are exempt, […]

One early report on congestion pricing in NYC

Winston Peters: “Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi – Deletion” Bill…

The New Zealand Centre for Political Research dipped into the Parliamentary archives and retrieved Winston Peters’ speech on the first reading of New Zealand First’s “Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi – Deletion” Bill on 8 June 2005   Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) : I move, That the Principles of the Treaty […]

Winston Peters: “Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi – Deletion” Bill…

Economists Should Never Abandon Their Principles

TweetIn the Spring of 2023 I had the honor of delivering, at the Richmond Fed, the annual Sandridge Lecture to the Virginia Association of Economists. The text of that lecture – the title of which is “The Role of the Economic Scholar in Highly Politicized Society” – is available here. And pasted below are two…

Economists Should Never Abandon Their Principles

Left-Wing Economists Were Wildly Wrong about Javier Milei and his Libertarian Agenda for Argentina

It’s easy to mock economists. Consider the supposedly prestigious left-leaning academics who asserted in 2021 that Biden’s agenda was not inflationary. At the risk of understatement, they wound up with egg on their faces.* Today, we’re going to look at another example of leftist economists making fools of themselves. It involves Argentina, where President Javier […]

Left-Wing Economists Were Wildly Wrong about Javier Milei and his Libertarian Agenda for Argentina

Austria 2024–2025: Will FPÖ form government or will there be an early election?

The President of Austria,  Alexander Van der Bellen, has called upon Freedom Party (FPÖ) leader Herbert Kickl to attempt to form a government. This development comes after the incumbent Chancellor (PM) Karl Nehammer of the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) resigned upon failing to assemble a coalition. The ÖVP is the mainstream conservative party, whereas the […]

Austria 2024–2025: Will FPÖ form government or will there be an early election?

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