By Tarnell Brown. At EconLog.”The Roman Empire was in trouble. During the fifty-plus years known as the Crisis of the Third Century (235-284 AD), the throne of Rome changed some 26 times, with the Roman Army engaging in a steady diet of crowning and removing claimants to the throne. These autocrats, known as “barracks emperors,”…
Diocletian, the Roman Empire, and Forever Failing Price Controls
Diocletian, the Roman Empire, and Forever Failing Price Controls
08 Aug 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, economic history, economics of regulation, history of economic thought Tags: price controls, Roman empire
A Great Enrichment
06 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic history, growth disasters, growth miracles, transport economics, urban economics Tags: India
The economics of the U.S. auto industry, a brief history
03 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in economic history, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, survivor principle
From Adam Ozimek: The economic value of the cars being made has climbed substantially through the years. As a result, real value added and industrial production — two different ways of measuring actual output — are now at all-time highs. And this: What about jobs? The auto industry today employs 1 million workers. Between 1950 and […]
The economics of the U.S. auto industry, a brief history
Revolution by Judicial Decree: A Review of Professor Peter Watts KC’s “Ellis v R, A Revolution in Aotearoa New Zealand, Welcome or Not”
24 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice Tags: constitutional law
Roger Partridge writes – Revolutions conjure images of violent uprisings, the storming of institutions, and the forcible overthrow of existing orders. But constitutional foundations can be destroyed through more subtle means. When judges discard long-established constitutional principles and remake the law according to their preferences, they engage in a revolution that may be no less […]
Revolution by Judicial Decree: A Review of Professor Peter Watts KC’s “Ellis v R, A Revolution in Aotearoa New Zealand, Welcome or Not”
Creative destruction
23 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in economic history, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation Tags: creative destruction
Woman of the day
18 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in defence economics, discrimination, economic history, gender, labour economics, labour supply Tags: France, gender wage gap, sex discrimination
OTD in 1965, France changed the law to allow married women the right to work without their husbands’ permission. Yes, really. To mark the occasion, Woman of the Day is journalist Madeleine Riffaud, French Resistance, who didn’t need any man’s permission to fight for her country.… pic.twitter.com/nlp3f2GIsK — The Attagirls (@TheAttagirls) July 13, 2025
Woman of the day
The Cross of Gold: Brazilian Treasure and the Decline of Portugal (due to the resource curse)
18 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, economic growth, economic history, growth disasters, international economics, law and economics, macroeconomics, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, resource economics Tags: Portugal, resources curse
By Davis Kedrosky and Nuno Palma. Published in The Journal of Economic History.In the book The Economics of Macro Issues which I used as a supplemental text, they mention that Russia has many resources but its per capita income is less than that of Luxembourg which has few resources. The book suggests that the economic…
The Cross of Gold: Brazilian Treasure and the Decline of Portugal (due to the resource curse)
The Timing of Abundance
18 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, environmental economics, income redistribution, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, urban economics Tags: housing affordability, land supply, zoning
In case you missed my *Build, Baby, Build* because of the 2024 election.
The Timing of Abundance
The population bust
15 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic history, labour economics, labour supply, population economics Tags: ageing society, economics of fertility, population bust
Is Progress Progressive?
14 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of education, economics of regulation, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: pessimism bias, The Great Enrichment
We should not assume that all adopted innovations are progressive. Jonathon Haidt’s ‘The Anxious Generation’ illustrates that sometimes they require social measures to enhance well being. Brian Easton writes – The Anxious Generation is a book which probably everyone engaging with adolescents should read. Haidt’s thesis is that smartphones replacing flip phones led to a marked […]
Is Progress Progressive?
Book review: Empire of Guns
13 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in defence economics, development economics, economic history Tags: industrial revolution
My ECONS101 class discussed the Industrial Revolution in class last week, focusing on why it happened first in England, rather than France or China or elsewhere. By coincidence, I was just finishing up reading the book Empire of Guns by Priya Satia. A conventional view of factors underlying the Industrial Revolution in England, such as the…
Book review: Empire of Guns
#TheGreatEscape
11 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic history, growth disasters, growth miracles, health economics Tags: India, Pakistan
The Weird and Lovely Surge of US Productivity Growth
04 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, economic growth, economic history, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, politics - USA
In the long run, a rising standard of living is always and everywhere based on productivity growth. Thus, Austan Goolsbee notedin a keynote address at the “Summit” conference held at the Stanford Institute of Economic Policy Research (SIEPR) in February (“Remarks on Productivity Growth and Monetary Policy,” February 28, 2025): As Goolsbee notes, annual productivity…
The Weird and Lovely Surge of US Productivity Growth
“An Evolving Economic Force,” A Conversation with Claudia Goldin
03 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, econometerics, economic history, gender, health and safety, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, poverty and inequality Tags: gender wage gap, sex discrimination
A interview with a “heterodox” New Zealand scientist: “Why Mātauranga Māori Isn’t Science:”
02 Jul 2025 1 Comment
in economic history, economics of education, environmentalism, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, Rawls and Nozick Tags: Age of Enlightenment, conjecture and refutation, cranks, philosophy of science, political correctness, regressive left
I’ve written a lot about the controversy in New Zealand involving whether the indigenous “way of knowing,” Mātauranga Māori (MM), is equivalent to modern science (often called “Western science”) and, as many maintain, should be taught alongside modern in science classes (see all my posts here). As I’ve noted, because MM does have elements of […]
A interview with a “heterodox” New Zealand scientist: “Why Mātauranga Māori Isn’t Science:”
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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