At the age of about 60, my wife began having terrible pain in her hip. For about a year, this greatly limited her ability to walk longer distances. One of her great joys, exploring new places on foot, was suddenly impossible to pursue. And then the pain got so bad that she could barely sleep,…
Everything is Pretty Damn Awesome
Everything is Pretty Damn Awesome
21 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in economic growth, economic history, liberalism, macroeconomics Tags: The Great Enrichment
Behind on vaccines blogging
21 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in economic history, health economics Tags: anti-vaccination movement, regressive left, The Great Escape, vaccines
‘Mystery Volcano’ that Lowered Global Temperatures Nearly 2 degrees Fahrenheit in 1831 Identified
21 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of natural disasters, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming Tags: volcanoes
To find the volcano, researchers compared the chemistry of microscopic shards of ash extracted from ice cores drilled in Greenland with samples from the Zavaritskii caldera. They determined it was a perfect match.
‘Mystery Volcano’ that Lowered Global Temperatures Nearly 2 degrees Fahrenheit in 1831 Identified
Good Riddance, Joe Biden
20 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, budget deficits, economic growth, economic history, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, fiscal policy, global warming, industrial organisation, labour economics, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking, survivor principle Tags: 2024 presidential election, regressive left
This is the last full day of Joe Biden’s dismal presidency, so let’s do what we did with Justin Trudeau and reflect on his pathetic legacy. I’ve already provided my own economic assessment of Biden’s record, so now let’s review how he is seen by others. We’ll start with the American people. According to a […]
Good Riddance, Joe Biden
Quotation of the Day…
19 Jan 2025 1 Comment
in Adam Smith, applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, development economics, economic history, economics of love and marriage, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, poverty and inequality, property rights, unemployment
Tweet… is from page 53 of the late, great Harold Demsetz’s excellent 2008 book, From Economic Man to Economic System: Adam Smith and Thomas Malthus differed in their forecasts of mankind’s future. Smith (1776), in his Wealth of Nations, offered an optimistic view, basing this on his understanding of the new economic system that began…
Quotation of the Day…
Assassination Attempt on Lenin – Chaos in Romania I THE GREAT WAR Week 182
18 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economic history, Marxist economics, war and peace Tags: Russian revolution, World War I
#vaccines work
17 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in economic history, environmental economics, health economics Tags: anti-vaccination movement, child mortality, infant mortality, life expectancies, The Great Escape, vaccines
Margaret Thatcher, Michael Curley, and the 19th Theorem of Government
16 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, Austrian economics, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economic growth, economic history, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, financial economics, fiscal policy, human capital, income redistribution, international economics, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, liberalism, libertarianism, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, regulation, rentseeking
In this 12-second video, Margaret Thatcher is talking about the Labour Party in the United Kingdom, but her warning has universal application. And when I say her warning has universal application, I’m not joking. Politicians generally can’t resist the temptation to buy votes. And I fear that this can and will happen at all levels […]
Margaret Thatcher, Michael Curley, and the 19th Theorem of Government
Bad leaders solicit bad advice
16 Jan 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, economic history, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, politics - New Zealand, poverty and inequality, unemployment, welfare reform Tags: child poverty, family poverty
When Jacinda Ardern became Prime Minister, she was determined to increase income for children in welfare-dependent families – her magic bullet for solving child poverty. The Welfare Expert Advisory Group, led by Cindy Kiro, was convened to make the desired recommendations. A number of evidence briefs were provided to the group, one concerned the “likely…
Bad leaders solicit bad advice
Winston Peters: “Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi – Deletion” Bill…
15 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, discrimination, economic history, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: constitutional law
The New Zealand Centre for Political Research dipped into the Parliamentary archives and retrieved Winston Peters’ speech on the first reading of New Zealand First’s “Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi – Deletion” Bill on 8 June 2005 Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) : I move, That the Principles of the Treaty […]
Winston Peters: “Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi – Deletion” Bill…
Martha
15 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of crime, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, law and economics
Martha (Netflix): A compelling bio on Martha Stewart. Her divorce from Andrew Stewart happened more than 30 years ago so the intensity of her anger and bitterness comes as a surprise. With barely concealed rage, she recounts his affairs and how poorly he treated her. “But didn’t you have an affair before he did?” asks […]
Martha
Climatists Make Their Case by Omitting Facts
15 Jan 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, economic history, economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, politics - USA Tags: climate activists, climate alarmism
One of the world’s top economists has written an expert court report that forcefully supports a group of children and young adults who have sued the federal government for failing to act on climate change. (Source: Inside Climate News here) Excerpts in italics with my bolds. Stiglitz, a Columbia University economics professor and former World […]
Climatists Make Their Case by Omitting Facts
Horse Manure, Climate Change, and Nuclear Energy
14 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, health economics, politics - USA, transport economics, urban economics Tags: climate alarmism
The “Great Manure Crisis” of the late 19th century offers some serious lessons for those worried about the “existential threat” of global warming from CO2 emissions.
Horse Manure, Climate Change, and Nuclear Energy
Some Links
12 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, budget deficits, development economics, economic growth, economic history, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, fiscal policy, global financial crisis (GFC), great recession, growth disasters, growth miracles, human capital, income redistribution, industrial organisation, international economics, job search and matching, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, monetary economics, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, rentseeking, survivor principle, unemployment
TweetGMU Econ alum Holly Jean Soto busts the myth of “greedflation.” Scott Lincicome identifies an interesting contrast between the facts and opinion about China. George Will decries the spinelessness of the modern U.S. Congress. A slice: The incoming president will be able, on a whim, to unilaterally discombobulate international commerce — and the domestic economy…
Some Links
Mr. Haltiwanger and the Austrians
11 Jan 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, Austrian economics, economic history, entrepreneurship, history of economic thought, Israel Kirzner
In November, I chided Austrian economists for neglecting the John Haltiwanger’s empirical work on creative destruction:Around 2000, I discovered that John Haltiwanger, a very mainstream economist, had a pile of empirical evidence vindicating the importance of Schumpeterian creative destruction. That pile is now a mountain. At the time, I tried to get Austrians to start…
Mr. Haltiwanger and the Austrians
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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