That is the topic of my latest Free Press column, here is one excerpt: Consider the special nature of Mexican politics. First and foremost, Mexico is still not a mature nation-state. By one estimate, drug gangs may control as much as one-third of its territory. That might sound bizarre, but from the standpoint of Mexican history,…
Safety and nation-building in Mexico
Safety and nation-building in Mexico
14 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic history, economics of crime, growth disasters, law and economics Tags: economics of prohibition, Mexico
Piketty’s Eco-Marxist Utopia: Why Degrowth and Global Redistribution Will Trap the Poor in Poverty
13 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, econometerics, economic growth, economic history, economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, fiscal policy, global warming, human capital, income redistribution, industrial organisation, international economics, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, Public Choice, public economics Tags: climate activists, climate alarmism, regressive left
The world’s poor deserve better than another utopia designed for them by the globalist intelligentsia. They deserve cheap energy, open markets, secure property rights, and the freedom to industrialise on terms they choose for themselves. That is what worked in East Asia. It is what will work in South Asia, Africa and Latin America. And…
Piketty’s Eco-Marxist Utopia: Why Degrowth and Global Redistribution Will Trap the Poor in Poverty
Dr Ruth—Holocaust Survivor, Sex Therapist and Sniper
13 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of education
Ruth Westheimer (June 4, 1928 – July 12, 2024), widely known as Dr. Ruth, was an American sex therapist, media personality, and author. The New York Times described her as a “Sorbonne-trained psychologist who became a cultural icon in the 1980s,” noting that she “ushered in a new age of freer, franker talk about sex […]
Dr Ruth—Holocaust Survivor, Sex Therapist and Sniper
Why Everything Feels More Expensive (hedonic adaptation)
12 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic growth, economic history, economics of media and culture, macroeconomics
Middle-class Americans have more income than they did 50 years ago, but the squeeze is realBy Roland Fryer. He is a professor of economics at Harvard. Excerpts: “Before indicting the economy, consider what 50 years of growth actually delivered. The car in your driveway is far less likely to kill you than its 1975 counterpart—traffic fatalities…
Why Everything Feels More Expensive (hedonic adaptation)
A weird way of slicing the stats
12 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, econometerics, economic history, economics of education, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice
Ages ago I supervised a superb Honours thesis, which turned into a Masters, looking at the lesbian wage premium. It showed up regularly in the US data: homosexual women earned more than heterosexual women – the opposite of the pattern that obtains for men. I was curious whether the difference could in part be due to…
A weird way of slicing the stats
U.S. colonies on the Moon and Mars are a waste of money: a guest post
08 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in economic history, transport economics Tags: Mars, moon, space
From PCC(E): After watching the explosion of Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin rocket last week, a rocket that is designed to help create the first human colony on the Moon, I thought to myself, “What is all this mishigass? Why do we need a human colony on the Moon? What will it tell us that unmanned…
U.S. colonies on the Moon and Mars are a waste of money: a guest post
A Grand Solar Minimum Has Arrived…Global Cooling Of At Least 1°C Is Expected by The 2030s, 2040s
05 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in econometerics, economic history, economics of climate change, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming Tags: global cooling
Using pattern analysis, it may be assumed that the onset of the next GSM has arrived, and global cooling will be realized over the next few decades. The post A Grand Solar Minimum Has Arrived…Global Cooling Of At Least 1°C Is Expected by The 2030s, 2040s appeared first on Watts Up With That?.
A Grand Solar Minimum Has Arrived…Global Cooling Of At Least 1°C Is Expected by The 2030s, 2040s
Inclusion of UNDRIP in India FreeTrade Agreement
03 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in constitutional political economy, economic history, economics of regulation, international economics, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: constitutional law
Oral submissions to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee
Inclusion of UNDRIP in India FreeTrade Agreement
How the Nazis Justified Murdering Innocent Lives
03 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economic history, economics of crime, law and economics, war and peace Tags: Nazi Germany, The Holocaust, World War II
The one thing that really intrigues me about the Holocaust and other horrific events throughout history is, how people justify killing and torturing fellow human beings. It will take an awful lot before I would hurt another human being, only when I would be physically threatened would I resort to physical defence. The Nazis didn’t […]
How the Nazis Justified Murdering Innocent Lives
Absurdity Alert: Writing About Germany’s Economic Decline Without Mentioning Green Energy Policies
02 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, economic growth, economic history, economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, income redistribution, industrial organisation, labour economics, macroeconomics, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: Argentina, Germany
I was astounded in 2020 when I read an article in the New York Times about the economic catastrophe in Venezuela and there was not a single mention of socialism. And I was even more astounded in 2024 when the NYT published another article about Venezuela’s economic misery and once again didn’t mention socialism. Today’s […]
Absurdity Alert: Writing About Germany’s Economic Decline Without Mentioning Green Energy Policies
Jamieson Greer’s Ignorance of Economics and History Is Alarming
02 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, Austrian economics, economic history, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, international economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking, survivor principle Tags: free trade, tarrifs
TweetHere’s a letter to F&D Magazine, a publication of the IMF. Editor: U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer wrote more than 2,100 words about trade yet managed to get correct approximately nothing (“Economics for the Real Economy,” June 2026). Just listing his errors would take nearly as many words, so I here address only one of…
Jamieson Greer’s Ignorance of Economics and History Is Alarming
Brazil’s Google News Case and the Art of Not Letting Go
01 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of regulation, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: competition law
Some legal cases age like wine. Others age like browser tabs left open too long. Brazil’s Google News inquiry belongs firmly in the latter category. On April 3, Brazil’s Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) announced that its Tribunal had unanimously decided to send a seven-year-old administrative inquiry concerning Google’s use of journalistic content—whether for…
Brazil’s Google News Case and the Art of Not Letting Go
Bet On It Book Club: For a New Liberty, Chapter 14
30 May 2026 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economic history, liberalism, libertarianism, Murray Rothbard, war and peace
SummarySome libertarians argue that the implications of libertarianism for foreign policy are unclear. In this chapter, Rothbard argues that libertarianism implies strict “isolationism”:Pending the dissolution of States, libertarians desire to limit, to whittle down, the area of government power in all directions and as much as possible… In foreign affairs, the goal is the same:…
Bet On It Book Club: For a New Liberty, Chapter 14
Absurd Cost Overruns Are a Bipartisan Problem
30 May 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic history, industrial organisation, managerial economics, organisational economics, survivor principle, theory of the firm
Regarding the pervasive problem of cost overruns (defined as government programs and projects that wind up costing far more than initial estimates), I’ve always appreciated this image sent by a reader. It nicely captures a key reason for cost overruns, which is that there is no bottom-line incentive for bureaucrats and politicians to monitor costs. […]
Absurd Cost Overruns Are a Bipartisan Problem
The 1947 Heatwave, Which The Met Office Keeps Quiet About
29 May 2026 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of climate change, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming Tags: climate alarmism
This week’s heatwave is an exceptionally rare event for this time of year, but it is not unprecedented, even during the few brief years our temperature records date back. The post The 1947 Heatwave, Which The Met Office Keeps Quiet About appeared first on Watts Up With That?.
The 1947 Heatwave, Which The Met Office Keeps Quiet About
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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