
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
The Great Escape
24 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic history, health economics Tags: anti-vaccination movement, The Great Escape, vaccines
Maps again
24 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in development economics, economics of education Tags: China, economics of languages

The Great Escape
22 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic history, growth disasters, health economics Tags: child mortality, infant mortality, The Great Escape
The Great Escape
22 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic history, health economics Tags: child mortality, infant mortality, The Great Escape
Another Great Escape
16 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic history, health economics Tags: The Great Escape
The Effect of inbreeding of European Monarchs on State Performance
14 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic history Tags: Europe
We create a novel reign-level data set for European monarchs, covering all major European states between the 10th and 18th centuries. We first document a strong positive relationship between rulers’ cognitive ability and state performance. To address endogeneity issues, we exploit the facts that (i) rulers were appointed according to hereditary succession, independent of their […]
The Effect of European Monarchs on State Performance
If Cooks wants to have their own foreign policy, then let them be independent – of our aid
09 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in development economics, international economics, International law, politics - New Zealand Tags: Cook Islands
Radio NZ reports: The New Zealand government says the Cook Islands has failed to properly consult it on proposed agreements its Prime Minister Mark Brown will be signing in China this week. Brown has now left for China without further consultation, RNZ understands. In a statement this afternoon a spokesperson for foreign affairs minister Winston […]
If Cooks wants to have their own foreign policy, then let them be independent – of our aid
Trade 101 for Trumpies
08 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, Austrian economics, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, international economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election

To augment my four-part video series about trade (dealing with the WTO, creative destruction, deficits, and economics), here’s part of my recent lecture about Trump’s trade policy to the Universidad de Libertad in Mexico City For those who (mistakenly) want to skip the video, my speech focused on these five themes. Trade deficits don’t matter. […]
Trade 101 for Trumpies
Levels of Industrial Policy
05 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, development economics, economic history, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: industry policy
In arguments over industrial policy, there’s often a moment where someone makes an assertion like: “Every nation has industrial policy. Even not having an industrial policy is a type of industrial policy. The only relevant question is what kind of industrial policy we should choose.” In my experience, the people who make this argument then…
Levels of Industrial Policy
Babies and the Macroeconomy
02 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, economic history, economics of love and marriage, economics of marriage, human capital, labour economics, labour supply Tags: ageing society, economics of fertility, marriage and divorce
By Claudia Goldin. From NPR’s Planet Money.”Countries around the world have seen a jaw-dropping decline in fertility rates. In this paper, Claudia Goldin, the 2023 winner of the Nobel Prize in economic sciences, offers a new theory to help explain why (listen to The Indicator’s conversation with her back in 2021). Goldin starts by providing…
Babies and the Macroeconomy
…And the Really Stupid Sh*t Begins
02 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, income redistribution, industrial organisation, international economic law, international economics, International law, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: 2024 presidential election, Canada, China, free trade, Mexico, tariffs

Trump’s first few weeks have been a mix of good and bad for this libertarian, all against a backdrop of horror at how Imperial the presidency has become. But as of today, perhaps the most destructive and stupid initiative has begun: Because we are all tired of those fentanyl-toting Canadians crossing the border illegally. I…
…And the Really Stupid Sh*t Begins
THE LUMUMBA PLOT: THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE CIA AND A COLD WAR ASSASSINATION by Stuart A. Reid
01 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in defence economics, development economics, economic history, economics of crime, growth disasters, International law, law and economics, politics - USA, war and peace Tags: Congo, economics of colonialism

The early 1960s was a period of decolonization in Africa. European countries had come to the realization that the burden of empire no longer warranted the cost and commitment to maintain them, except in the case where it was suspected that the Soviet Union was building a communist base. One of the countries which was […]
THE LUMUMBA PLOT: THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE CIA AND A COLD WAR ASSASSINATION by Stuart A. Reid
The capitalist revolution Africa needs
31 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in development economics, growth disasters, growth miracles, history of economic thought Tags: Africa
Economist: In the coming years Africa will become more important than at any time in the modern era. Over the next decade its share of the world’s population is expected to reach 21%, up from 13% in 2000, 9% in 1950 and 11% in 1800. As the rest of the world ages, Africa will become…
The capitalist revolution Africa needs





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