Martin Gurri has a very good, deep-dive on the current situation in Cuba. The wreckage of the Cuban economy really can’t be exaggerated. The perpetual blackouts are an apt symbol of a country that is headed for the dark ages. For the first time since the revolution, Cuba is begging the United Nations for food aid. Nearly […]
Cuba Libre
Cuba Libre
05 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of crime, growth disasters, history of economic thought, human capital, income redistribution, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking Tags: Cuba
Productivity Syndrome and the Investment Prescription
30 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, economic growth, economic history, growth miracles, history of economic thought, human capital, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics
Economic productivity is about growing the size of the pie. I sometimes point out that no matter what your goal–spending increases, tax cuts, greater support for the poor, environmental protection–that goal is easier when the economic pie is growing. When the economic pie isn’t growing, after all, then all priorities have to pit potential winners…
Productivity Syndrome and the Investment Prescription
Haiti vs. the Dominican Republic
26 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, development economics, growth disasters Tags: Haiti
I am setting aside most of the cultural and “macro” issues, and just considering policy, in my latest Bloomberg column. Excerpt: Consider agriculture. If you fly over Hispaniola, you can see a notable difference between the Haitian and Dominican sides of the border. The Dominican side has plenty of trees, whereas the Haitian side is denuded. Much […]
Haiti vs. the Dominican Republic
How credible is the Milei plan?
24 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, budget deficits, business cycles, development economics, economic growth, financial economics, fiscal policy, growth disasters, income redistribution, international economics, macroeconomics, monetary economics, Public Choice, public economics Tags: Argentina
Here is a good Substack essay by Nicolas Cachanosky, excerpt: Inflation expectations depend on what is expected to happen to the budget in the months to come. It is natural, then, to ask whether the observed surpluses are sustainable in the months ahead. Answering this question requires looking at two things. First, how was the fiscal […]
How credible is the Milei plan?
India Power Sector In 2023
19 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in development economics, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, growth disasters, growth miracles
By Paul Homewood India’s thermal power production continues to forge ahead, growing by 9% last year, from 1190 to 1294 TWh. Meanwhile there has been barely any increase at all in their much vaunted renewables. Wind and solar only increased by 16 TWh in the 10 months to October (latest data), and still […]
India Power Sector In 2023
The RCT Agenda
12 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, development economics, econometerics, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of education, economics of information, economics of regulation, experimental economics, growth disasters, growth miracles, history of economic thought, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, managerial economics, market efficiency, Marxist economics, occupational choice, organisational economics, property rights, Public Choice, public economics Tags: The fatal conceit
Randomized Controlled Trials: Could you be any more scientific? The book I’m now writing, Unbeatable: The Brutally Honest Case for Free Markets, insists that the randomistas of the economics profession actually have a thinly-veiled political agenda. Namely: To get economists to humbly serve the demagogues that rule the world instead of bluntly challenging their unabated…
The RCT Agenda
Some Chinese electric cars are ‘almost uninsurable’ in Britain
12 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in development economics, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, growth miracles, law and economics, transport economics, urban economics Tags: adverse selection, asymmetric information, British politics, electric cars, moral hazard
By Paul Homewood h/t Patsy Lacey Owners of some of the latest Chinese electric cars to enter Britain are facing expensive premiums and in some cases are ‘almost uninsurable’ for drivers. It comes after various reports of Range Rover owners struggling to find affordable cover for their vehicles, which is linked […]
Some Chinese electric cars are ‘almost uninsurable’ in Britain
Environmentalism Perverted by Climatism
08 Mar 2024 1 Comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, development economics, economic growth, economic history, economics of climate change, economics of crime, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, growth miracles, law and economics, liberalism, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, property rights Tags: climate alarmism, free speech, regressive left, The Great Enrichment
J. Scott Turner explains how the roots of environmental stewardship were poisoned, resulting in the perverted modern decarbonization movement. His Spectator Australia article is Environmentalism: from concern about clean air to throwing soup at the Mona Lisa. Excerpts in italics with my bolds and added images. H/T John Ray Garrett Hardin was a professor of biology […]
Environmentalism Perverted by Climatism
Former World Bank economist warns of energy transition’s fiscal risks
08 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, development economics, econometerics, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming Tags: climate alarmism
By Paul Homewood London, 5 March – In the run-up to Budget Day (6 March), a new paper by a former World Bank economist and published by the Global Warming Policy Foundation warns that the UK’s current decarbonisation timeframe is unrealistic and threatens to be economically and socially unsustainable.
Former World Bank economist warns of energy transition’s fiscal risks
Population is Not Being Told the True Cost of Net Zero, Warns Former World Bank Economist
07 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, development economics, econometerics, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming Tags: climate alarmism
The insanity of Net Zero becomes clearer by the day.
Population is Not Being Told the True Cost of Net Zero, Warns Former World Bank Economist
What can be learned from Singaporean health care institutions?
06 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, development economics, growth miracles, health economics, industrial organisation Tags: health insurance, Singapore
Besides the usual, that is. Max Thilo of the UK has a new and excellent study on this, here is one excerpt from the foreword by Lord Warner: Second, and critical, the Singaporeans are not fixated on delivering services from acute hospitals – the most expensive part of any healthcare system because of its fixed […]
What can be learned from Singaporean health care institutions?
Climate alarmism
04 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in development economics, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, health economics Tags: air pollution, climate alarmism, indoor air pollution, life expectancies
Life is full of tradeoffs: if we want more nickel to make EV batteries we might have to use more coal
28 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in development economics, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming Tags: unintended consequences
See One Country’s Dream of EV-Driven Prosperity Helps Fuel a Coal Binge Instead: Indonesia pitches its plan to leverage natural resources as a model for other developing nations by Jon Emont of The WSJ. Excerpts:”A few years ago, Indonesia set out to turn its treasure trove of nickel into an electric-car manufacturing boom.It imposed a sweeping…
Life is full of tradeoffs: if we want more nickel to make EV batteries we might have to use more coal
Claims about Iran (from the comments)
27 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in defence economics, development economics, economics of crime, economics of religion, growth disasters, law and economics Tags: Iran
I’ve chatted with a lot of Iranians online in the past few years (they’re in Iran). Some of their takes (always subject to the “plural of anecdote is not “data”)… 1. Islam is seen by younger people as the doctrine of a failed government staffed by a bunch of crooks. 2. And it’s a foreign, […]
Claims about Iran (from the comments)
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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