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
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
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
The Great Escape
27 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic history, growth disasters, growth miracles, health economics Tags: child mortality, life expectancies, The Great Escape
The Milei Miracle, Part III
25 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, development economics, economic growth, economics of regulation, fiscal policy, growth disasters, labour economics, labour supply, liberalism, libertarianism, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, unemployment Tags: Argentina
I’m still riding high after Javier Milei’s political party won a landslide in last month’s mid-term elections in Argentina. And I’m very much hoping and expecting that gives him enough legislative support to enact big reforms next year to further liberate the Argentinian economy (tax reform, free trade, and labor market liberalization). But let’s take […]
The Milei Miracle, Part III
The Great Enrichment again
25 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic history, growth disasters, growth miracles Tags: The Great Enrichment
Argentine Rental Market Natural Experiment
24 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, economics of regulation, growth disasters, history of economic thought, income redistribution, law and economics, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, regulation, rentseeking, transport economics, urban economics Tags: Argentina, rent control
One of Argentine President Milei’s radical reforms was to “take a chainsaw” to rent control laws. Argentina had had some of the most restrictive rent control regimes ever. All of that was abandoned almost over night. Many media outlets noted with glee that rents fell dramatically. Even most economists were surprised by how much supply…
Argentine Rental Market Natural Experiment
Don Brash’s Oxford Union speech
11 Nov 2025 1 Comment
in defence economics, development economics, economic history, history of economic thought, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: economics of colonialism
The House believes that the Sun should never have set on the British Empire Don Brash says – Mr/Madame President, I speak in opposition to the motion. But I also want to acknowledge at the outset that the British Empire did more good things for more people than any other empire in human history.
Don Brash’s Oxford Union speech
*Violent Saviors*
11 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, development economics, economic history, growth disasters, growth miracles, history of economic thought, international economics Tags: economics of colonialism 0
That is the new William Easterly book, and the subtitle is The West’s Conquest of the Rest. I liked this book very much, but found the title and also book jacket and descriptions misleading. I think of this work as a full-throated examination and study of the classical liberal anti-imperialist tradition. We have been needing […]
*Violent Saviors*
Implications of the (Second) Libertarian Landslide in Argentina
29 Oct 2025 Leave a comment
in budget deficits, development economics, economic growth, fiscal policy, growth disasters, growth miracles, liberalism, libertarianism, macroeconomics Tags: Argentina
In yesterday’s column, I celebrated the huge victory for Javier Milei and his libertarian LLA party in Argentina’s mid-term elections. Today, let’s contemplate the consequences. Starting with this video. The above video is from an interview yesterday with the great Ross Kaminsky of KOA in Denver. He wanted to know the big-picture meaning of Sunday’s […]
Implications of the (Second) Libertarian Landslide in Argentina
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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