A guest post by Lucy Rogers: Today (as of the time of writing) I saw Associate Professor Michael Mawson of the theology faculty at Auckland University advertise on Facebook an event hosting Professor Miguel De La Torre, a Cuban academic specialising in liberation theology. The event is to be held at the Maclaurin Chapel at […]
Guest Post: Criticising Cuba
Guest Post: Criticising Cuba
23 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, economic history, economics of crime, growth disasters, history of economic thought, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice Tags: Cuba
Friedman vs Stiglitz, Chile vs Venezuela
16 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic growth, economic history, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, growth disasters, growth miracles, history of economic thought, income redistribution, labour economics, law and economics, liberalism, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, Milton Friedman, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking Tags: Chile, free speech, political correctness, regressive left, The Great Enrichment, Venezuela
I’ve repeatedly praised Chile’s pro-market reforms (see here, here, and here) and I’ve repeatedly condemned Venezuela’s shift to socialism (see here, here, and here). But if you don’t have time to read all those columns, this chart from the Maddison database tells you everything you need to know. Simply stated, Chile’s reforms have delivered huge […]
Friedman vs Stiglitz, Chile vs Venezuela
The (Non) Mystery of Economic Growth
13 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, economic growth, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, growth disasters, growth miracles, income redistribution, law and economics, macroeconomics, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: The Great Enrichment
The recipe for economic growth is not complicated. You can put it in very simple terms, as Adam Smith did a few hundred years ago. Or you can develop and utilize data-heavy indexes like the ones published by the Fraser Institute and Heritage Foundation. In either case, the result will be the same. If you […]
The (Non) Mystery of Economic Growth
Communism still doing well in Cuba
05 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of crime, growth disasters, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, Marxist economics, property rights, Public Choice, public economics Tags: Cuba
The Miami Herald reports: A stunning 10% of Cuba’s population — more than a million people — left the island between 2022 and 2023, the head of the country’s national statistics office said during a National Assembly session Friday, the largest migration wave in Cuban history. Isn’t it such a weird coincidence that the queue […]
Communism still doing well in Cuba
Joseph Schumpeter, Capitalism and Intellectuals
01 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, economic growth, economic history, history of economic thought, macroeconomics
See Socialists, Knowledge of History and Agency. These are letters to the editor of The WSJ in response to an article about socialism by Joseph Epstein. The one below reminded me of a 1992 article by Robert Samuelson in Newsweek. “Joseph Epstein’s “Socialists Don’t Know History” (op-ed, May 30, 2019) on the abysmal historical knowledge…
Joseph Schumpeter, Capitalism and Intellectuals
Venezuela under “Brutal Capitalism”
31 Jul 2024 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of crime, growth disasters, income redistribution, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, resource economics Tags: Venezuela
Jeffrey Clemens points us to some bonkers editorializing in the NYTimes coverage of the likely stolen election in Venezuela. The piece starts out reasonably enough: Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro, was declared the winner of the country’s tumultuous presidential election early Monday, despite enormous momentum from an opposition movement that had been convinced this was […]
Venezuela under “Brutal Capitalism”
Utah’s The Independent is Right, Climate Activism Ignores or Harms the World’s Poor
27 Jul 2024 Leave a comment
in development economics, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, growth disasters, growth miracles Tags: climate alarmism
Sierer’s analysis hits the nail on the head that climate activism is more likely to be harming the world’s poor rather than helping them.
Utah’s The Independent is Right, Climate Activism Ignores or Harms the World’s Poor
Net zero will only make you poorer and China richer-Bjorn Lomborg
26 Jul 2024 Leave a comment
in development economics, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, growth miracles Tags: China, climate alarmism
By Paul Homewood Starting in the 1990s, climate change has become a fixation for rich country politicians and elites. It emerged as the world had just seen the end of the Cold War. There was relative peace and trust across the world, broad economic growth, and swift progress being made against poverty. In the […]
Net zero will only make you poorer and China richer-Bjorn Lomborg
Chinese Economic Policy, Part I: The Demographic Challenge
17 Jul 2024 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic history, growth disasters, growth miracles, labour economics, labour supply, population economics Tags: China, economics of fertility
I’m in China this week, teaching about fiscal policy, convergence theory, and inequality at Northeastern University in Shenyang. So it’s a good opportunity to write about some pluses and minuses of Chinese economic policy. We’ll start this series by looking at demographics, which almost surely is the biggest long-run challenge for Chinese policymakers. How big […]
Chinese Economic Policy, Part I: The Demographic Challenge
China’s renewable energy surge strains power grid – a warning to ‘net zero’ advocates
16 Jul 2024 Leave a comment
in development economics, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, growth miracles Tags: China, wind power
The UK equivalent of China’s restrictions on renewable power generation would mean even larger constraint payments than the current £billions, and even bigger increases in costly transmission lines than already happening or planned. But that’s the implication of pushing ever harder for mythical net zero targets, resulting in greater fluctuations between excessive electricity and shortage […]
China’s renewable energy surge strains power grid – a warning to ‘net zero’ advocates
China Still Lagging Way Behind The UK On Renewable Energy
14 Jul 2024 Leave a comment
in development economics, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, growth miracles Tags: China, solar power, wind power
By Paul Homewood h/t Ian Magness Today’s misinformation from the Guardian: The amount of wind and solar power under construction in China is now nearly twice as much as the rest of the world combined, a report has found. Research published on Thursday by Global Energy Monitor (GEM), an NGO, […]
China Still Lagging Way Behind The UK On Renewable Energy
On degrowth
04 Jul 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, economic growth, macroeconomics Tags: The Great Enrichment
Wash Post Editorial Board Denounces ‘De-Growth Communism’ – ‘Ending Growth Won’t Save the Planet’
26 Jun 2024 Leave a comment
in development economics, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, growth disasters Tags: climate activists, cranks
Degrowth’s prophets offer little more than hand-waving in response to the most elementary questions about their prescription.
Wash Post Editorial Board Denounces ‘De-Growth Communism’ – ‘Ending Growth Won’t Save the Planet’
Climate Activists Are Wrong About Which Energy Source Reduces Air Pollution
24 Jun 2024 Leave a comment
in development economics, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming
Adoption of gas fuels did more to reduce air pollution over the last 60 years than any other energy source. Gas consumption will continue to rise for decades to come.
Climate Activists Are Wrong About Which Energy Source Reduces Air Pollution
BBC Worried About Kenyan Farmer’s Climate Scepticism
20 Jun 2024 1 Comment
in development economics, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming Tags: climate activists, climate alarmism
From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT By Paul Homewood h/t Ray Sanders It is hard to describe just how low the BBC has sunk. Climate change deniers have found a new champion in Kenyan farmer Jusper Machogu. On social media, he has become known as a flagbearer for fossil fuels in Africa, but […]
BBC Worried About Kenyan Farmer’s Climate Scepticism
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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