An excerpt from the Introduction of *Unbeatable*
Capitalism, Socialism, and Social Desirability Bias
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
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
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
My first trip to Haiti
29 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic history, growth disasters Tags: Haiti
This was in 1994, right after the Aristide regime was restored by Clinton. I had traveled a good deal by that time, mostly in North America, Europe, and southeast Asia. But I had never been anywhere truly dangerous. It seemed impossible to visit such places. It is not that I did any serious risk calculation, […]
My first trip to Haiti
Trump’s Energy Secretary Offers Africa Freedom from Biden’s Climate Imperialism
28 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in development economics, economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election, Africa
“It’s a paternalistic post-colonial attitude that I just can’t stand,” Wright said of the climate evangelism that sought to force others to abandon fossil fuels and adopt largely useless technologies like solar and wind energy.
Trump’s Energy Secretary Offers Africa Freedom from Biden’s Climate Imperialism
Argentina’s DOGE
27 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, economics of information, economics of regulation, growth disasters, health economics, industrial organisation, labour economics, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, property rights, regulation Tags: Argentina
Cato has a good summary of Deregulation in Argentina: The end of Argentina’s extensive rent controls has resulted in a tripling of the supply of rental apartments in Buenos Aires and a 30 percent drop in price. The new open-skies policy and the permission for small airplane owners to provide transportation services within Argentina has […]
Argentina’s DOGE
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?
Should asylum be restricted to neighbouring countries
24 Mar 2025 1 Comment
in defence economics, development economics, economic history, labour economics, labour supply, laws of war, war and peace Tags: economics of immigration
100,000 asylum seekers a year is massive, especially when you consider the many countries one has to pass through to get to the UK. The right of asylum is an ancient right to flee a government or ruler that persecutes you. It goes back thousands of years. In the modern era the UDHR says: Everyone […]
Should asylum be restricted to neighbouring countries
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.”
US AID, current status
11 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in development economics, economics of bureaucracy, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: 2024 presidential election, overseas aid
After a 6 week review we are officially cancelling 83% of the programs at USAID. The 5200 contracts that are now cancelled spent tens of billions of dollars in ways that did not serve, (and in some cases even harmed), the core national interests of the United States. In consultation with Congress, we intend for […]
US AID, current status
Bill Maher’s New Rule: Guilt by Civilization
09 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in development economics, discrimination, economic history, economics of crime, economics of education, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, property rights, television, TV shows Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, political correctness, regressive left, The Great Enrichment
For some reason Bill Maher’s latest comedy/news video, “New Rules: Guilt by Civilization”, is age-restricted (it must be the photo of Bianca Censori in her see-through outfit) , but you can see it by clicking either here or on the “Watch on YouTube” line below. The beginning is great, as Maher claims that the Democrats […]
Bill Maher’s New Rule: Guilt by Civilization
Another gender gap
28 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in development economics, health economics Tags: economics of smoking, gender gap
Trade
25 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic history Tags: age of empires, economics of colonialism
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