Violent Saviors: The West’s Conquest of the Rest
29 Jan 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, growth disasters, growth miracles, history of economic thought, income redistribution, law and economics, liberalism, libertarianism, Marxist economics, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: age of empires, economics of colonialism
Climate Change Economics, Skip the Hysteria (Lomborg)
25 Jan 2026 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic history, economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, resource economics Tags: climate activists, climate alarmism, pessimism bias
For those who prefer reading, below is an excerpted transcript lightly edited from the interview, including my bolds and added images. Hey everyone, it’s Andrew Klavan with this week’s interview with Bjorn Lomborg. I met Bjorn, he probably doesn’t remember this, but I met him many, many years ago at Andrew Breitbart’s house. Andrew brought […]
Climate Change Economics, Skip the Hysteria (Lomborg)
Part II: Oxfam Is a Leftist Joke, not a Real Charity
20 Jan 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, economic growth, economic history, growth miracles, income redistribution, labour economics, liberalism, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, technological progress Tags: regressive left, The Great Enrichment
As I wrote nine years ago, Oxfam is a pathetic organization. Originally created to help the poor, it has been captured by activists who peddle class warfare. But they play that role in an incredibly sloppy fashion. In all the debates I’ve been part of over the years, no left-leaning academic has been willing to […]
Part II: Oxfam Is a Leftist Joke, not a Real Charity
Mamdani and Other Socialists Tout South Africa and Cuba as Models for Good Government
09 Jan 2026 Leave a comment
in development economics, growth disasters, history of economic thought, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice
Below is my column in the New York Post on the bizarre effort of Democratic Socialist leaders to herald South…
Mamdani and Other Socialists Tout South Africa and Cuba as Models for Good Government
U.S. Withdraws from the IPCC—and Dismantles a Global Climate Bureaucracy
08 Jan 2026 1 Comment
in development economics, economics of bureaucracy, economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, International law, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: climate alarmism
…the exit from IPCC-adjacent institutions is not an isolated gesture, but a blunt, in your face, message that the era of unquestioned deference to transnational climate bureaucracy is over.
U.S. Withdraws from the IPCC—and Dismantles a Global Climate Bureaucracy
Why Some US Indian Reservations Prosper While Others Struggle
06 Jan 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, growth disasters, growth miracles, industrial organisation, labour economics, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice
Our colleague Thomas Stratmann writes about the political economy of Indian reservations in his excellent Substack Rules and Results. Across 123 tribal nations in the lower 48 states, median household income for Native American residents ranges from roughly $20,000 to over $130,000—a sixfold difference. Some reservations have household incomes comparable to middle-class America. Others face persistent…
Why Some US Indian Reservations Prosper While Others Struggle
So much for overpopulation
02 Jan 2026 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic history, labour economics, labour supply, population economics Tags: ageing society, population bust
Canada fact of the day
29 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, labour economics, labour supply, poverty and inequality, welfare reform Tags: Canada
Since 2015, Canada has tripled its Indigenous spending – paying more than on national defense. Over those same years, Indigenous people have suffered a catastrophic collapse in health and well-being: on average almost a full decade of lost life expectancy. That is from David Frum. The post Canada fact of the day appeared first on…
Canada fact of the day
Kids nowadays have it so difficult-Putting things in perspective.
28 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in defence economics, development economics, economic history, growth disasters, war and peace
I think 2021 will be remembered where people lost the sense of perspective. So many people are saying how kids nowadays have it more difficult then ever before. The picture above A starving child in Sudan, 1993. Terezka, a girl who grew up in a concentration camp, draws a picture of her Poland “home”, December […]
Kids nowadays have it so difficult-Putting things in perspective.
Book review: Economics of the New Zealand Maori
27 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic history, labour economics, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: economic anthropology, Maori economic development
In amongst my collection of books, I have assembled a number of classics, including some reasonably rare editions. One of those is Economics of the New Zealand Maori [*] by Raymond Firth. This book was originally published from Firth’s PhD thesis in 1929 (the thesis was approved in 1927 at the University of London). The edition…
Book review: Economics of the New Zealand Maori
Celebrating Two Years of Libertarian Success in Argentina
27 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, Austrian economics, budget deficits, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, economic growth, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, fiscal policy, growth disasters, history of economic thought, income redistribution, industrial organisation, labour economics, liberalism, libertarianism, macroeconomics, Public Choice, rentseeking, unemployment Tags: Argentina
As explained in my four-part series (here, here, here, and here) and in this clip from a recent interview, Javier Milei’s first two years have been amazingly successful. There are two points in the interview that deserve emphasis. First, Javier Milei’s libertarian policies already have been extremely beneficial for the Argentine economy. Inflation has dramatically […]
Celebrating Two Years of Libertarian Success in Argentina
Quotation of the Day…
27 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in Adam Smith, Bill Easterly, development economics, economic history, history of economic thought, Milton Friedman
Tweet… is from page 298 of William Easterly’s brilliant 2025 book, Violent Saviors: The West’s Conquest of the Rest [footnote deleted; link added]: The Friedman’s [Milton and Rose] liked markets because they could make individual self-determination possible for all groups. Markets allowed “the freedom of individuals to pursue their own objective.” Markets made this possible…
Quotation of the Day…
Some Snapshots of Global Urbanization
26 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic history, population economics, urban economics
During the last half-century or so, one of the biggest changes in how humans live is the greater share of people around the world who live in cities. The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs describes some pattern in its report on World Urbanization Prospects 2025: Summary of Results (November 2025). The report defines…
Some Snapshots of Global Urbanization
Three that Made a Revolution
25 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in development economics, growth disasters, growth miracles Tags: India
Another excellent post from Samir Varma, this time on the 1991 reforms in India that launched India’s second freedom movement: Three men you’ve probably never heard of—P.V. Narasimha Rao, Manmohan Singh, Montek Singh Ahluwalia—may be the three most important people of the late 20th century. Bold claim. Audacious, even. Let me defend it. Here are…
Three that Made a Revolution
Who Won the Socialist Calculation Debate (with Peter Boettke) 2/17/25
29 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, Austrian economics, comparative institutional analysis, development economics, economic history, economics of information, entrepreneurship, F.A. Hayek, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, law and economics, Ludwig von Mises, market efficiency, property rights, survivor principle, Thomas Sowell
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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