@jamespeshaw nails the #TPPA policy trade-off @NZGreens
06 Oct 2015 1 Comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, economics of regulation, international economic law, international economics, International law, law and economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, property rights Tags: conspiracy theories, David Friedman, foreign direct investment, free trade agreements, FTI, international investment law, Leftover Left, New Zealand Greens, preferential trading agreements, TPPA, Twitter left
About 1% more GDP but higher drug prices.
Source: No increased medicine costs under TPPA | Stuff.co.nz
.@MSF: Patients and treatment providers in developing countries the big losers of the #TPP bit.ly/TPPconcludes http://t.co/cbikANleyA—
MSF Access Campaign (@MSF_access) October 05, 2015
The next best arguments James Shaw made were xenophobia about foreign investment in land and some vast conspiracy theory regarding endangered dolphins.
When your next best argument is foreigners are coming to buy up all our land, you are playing from a weak populist hand. About half of million New Zealand born live in other countries.
About 80% of these live in Australia, the great majority as residents rather than as citizens. These New Zealanders living in Australia and elsewhere need protection under international agreements to ensure they are not the victim of populist outbreaks against the sale of land to foreigners.
Source: Statistics New Zealand.
In addition, if a foreigner wants to pay over the odds for my house I am glad to separate a fool from his money.
Source: Statistics New Zealand.
New Zealand has a strong interest in protecting the rights of its own expatriates as well as New Zealand foreign investors to buy land in other countries. As David Friedman explains:
Much more commonly, [economic imperialism] is used by Marxists to describe–and attack–foreign investment in “developing” (i.e., poor) nations. The implication of the term is that such investment is only a subtler equivalent of military imperialism–a way by which capitalists in rich and powerful countries control and exploit the inhabitants of poor and weak countries.
There is one interesting feature of such “economic imperialism” that seems to have escaped the notice of most of those who use the term. Developing countries are generally labour rich and capital poor; developed countries are, relatively, capital rich and labour poor. One result is that in developing countries, the return on labour is low and the return on capital is high–wages are low and profits high. That is why they are attractive to foreign investors.
To the extent that foreign investment occurs, it raises the amount of capital in the country, driving wages up and profits down. The effect is exactly analogous to the effect of free migration. If people move from labour-rich countries to labour-poor ones, they drive wages down and rents and profits up in the countries they go to, while having the opposite effect in the countries they come from.
If capital moves from capital-rich countries to capital-poor ones, it drives profits down and wages up in the countries it goes to and has the opposite effect in the countries it comes from. The people who attack “economic imperialism” generally regard themselves as champions of the poor and oppressed.
To the extent that they succeed in preventing foreign investment in poor countries, they are benefiting the capitalists of those countries by holding up profits and injuring the workers by holding down wages. It would be interesting to know how much of the clamour against foreign investment in such countries is due to Marxist ideologues who do not understand this and how much is financed by local capitalists who do.
Denis Healey (1959) on the moral righteousness of @jeremycorbyn
05 Oct 2015 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: British politics, Denis Healey, Leftover Left, Twitter left
Denis Healey's speech to Labour conference after 1959 defeat. http://t.co/BTdbfJj147—
Stephen Bush (@stephenkb) October 03, 2015
Denis Healey, writing in 1989. http://t.co/wTSehilpoB—
Stephen Bush (@stephenkb) October 03, 2015
Economic liberty and human flourishing: A discussion with Deirdre McCloskey, Susan Shell, and Yuval Levin
04 Oct 2015 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, economic history, Marxist economics Tags: Deirdre McCloskey, The Great Enrichment, The Great Fact
The politics of marijuana in the USA
30 Sep 2015 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economics of crime, law and economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: economics of federalism, laboratory federalism, marijuana decriminalisation, meddlesome preferences, medical marijuana, nanny state
In representative democracy that is a unitary state such as New Zealand, the issue on marijuana decriminalisation is who will change their vote to vote against a party who advocates marijuana decriminalisation under a MMP system where all elections are close.
A plurality of Americans back marijuana reform. Another 20% don't care. Only 3 in 10 oppose.
msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/MSNBC/Sectio… http://t.co/UlvBT1D0ms—
Christopher Ingraham (@_cingraham) September 29, 2015
In a strong federal state, where some states allow citizen initiated referendums to change the law, it is possible to pioneer reform without that backlash. Then laboratory federalism takes over. Subsequent to the decriminalisation of marijuana or medical marijuana by various state governments, the Congress defunded federal marijuana drug law enforcement in states who had decriminalised marijuana. That major reform was underreported.
RT @oxfamnz @Oxfam what halved global poverty in 15 years? @NZGreens @RusselNorman @GreenpeaceNZ
30 Sep 2015 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, economic history, growth disasters, growth miracles, liberalism, Public Choice Tags: capitalism and freedom, Leftover Left, New Zealand Greens, Oxfam, The Great Enrichment, The Great Escape, The Great Fact, Twitter left
How can we eradicate #poverty by 2030? @Winnie_Byanyima wef.ch/1QvSVPW #development http://t.co/reBsT24BU3—
World Economic Forum (@wef) September 24, 2015
@syed17005919 @Noahpinion Look at what happened in a "world where corporations rule:" http://t.co/tAbbJW1Gvd—
David Andolfatto (@dandolfa) June 28, 2015
In 1980, the average American was 42x wealthier than the average Chinese. Now it's 4x wapo.st/1j6YcDc http://t.co/7afGdDf6mp—
Ana Swanson (@AnaSwanson) September 22, 2015
Parliament debates the Sustainable Development Goals today. But how did the MDGs fare? bit.ly/1gbcH6W http://t.co/r12PKVmPzK—
Commons Library (@commonslibrary) September 10, 2015
How the UN works: Set an unverifiable goal and then claim you achieved it. goo.gl/onJjCm http://t.co/bKm7zgeynH—
Steve Milloy (@JunkScience) September 29, 2015
The impact of economic theory on political belief
28 Sep 2015 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economics of education, Marxist economics Tags: conjecture and refutation, evidence-based policy, methodology of economics, overweening conceit of view, philosophy of the social sciences
…
How did the MDGs fare?
27 Sep 2015 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, economic history, growth disasters, growth miracles Tags: do gooders, MDG, ODA, overseas aid, United Nations
Parliament debates the Sustainable Development Goals today. But how did the MDGs fare? bit.ly/1gbcH6W http://t.co/r12PKVmPzK—
Commons Library (@commonslibrary) September 10, 2015
Drug Price Controls End Up Costing Patients Their Lives
24 Sep 2015 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, health economics, industrial organisation, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, survivor principle Tags: creative destruction, endogenous growth theory, innovation, intellectual property rights, patents and copyrights, pharmaceutical innovation, price controls
Our research shows that when prices fall, innovation falls even more. Patients would see their lives cut short by delayed or absent drugs.
Source: Drug Price Controls End Up Costing Patients Their Health – NYTimes.com
…cutting prices by 40 to 50 percent in the United States will lead to between 30 and 60 percent fewer R and D projects being undertaken in the early stage of developing a new drug. Relatively modest price changes, such as 5 or 10 percent, are estimated to have relatively little impact on the incentives for product development – perhaps a negative 5 percent.
Source: The Effect of Price Controls on Pharmaceutical Research
Stigler on economics as a big tent @RusselNorman @NZGreens @GreenpeaceNZ @Mark_J_Perry
21 Sep 2015 1 Comment
The Twitter Left believes in obedience to authority as long as they are in charge
21 Sep 2015 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, liberalism, Marxist economics, Music, Public Choice Tags: political psychology, The Who
Yesterday’s hippies, today’s grumpy old man, believed they were sticking it to the man. The only real problem of the left wing of politics with authority was they and those like them were not in charge. Jeremy Frimer explains:
Together with my collaborators Dr. Danielle Gaucher and Nicola Schaefer, we asked both red and blue Americans to share their views about obeying liberal authorities (e.g., “obey an environmentalist”). In an article that we recent published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, we found that liberals were now the ones calling for obedience.
And when the authorities were viewed as ideologically neutral (e.g., office manager), liberals and conservatives agreed. Only when people perceived the authority to be conservative (e.g., religious authority) did conservatives show a positive bias…
Liberal versus conservative is like Yankee fans versus Red Socks fans. Each has its own flag to which it pledges allegiance. And each side has its own authorities to which it demands obedience.
Hayek explains the inexplicable value of capitalism and traditions
13 Sep 2015 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, F.A. Hayek, liberalism Tags: capitalism and freedom, market selection, spontaneous order, The meaning of competition
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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