Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
23 Mar 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, Austrian economics, budget deficits, business cycles, development economics, economic growth, economic history, growth disasters, liberalism, libertarianism, macroeconomics, Marxist economics Tags: Argentina
Given my enthusiasm for Javier Milei and his libertarian reforms, I’m excited to be in Buenos Aires for a week-long program on “Understanding Argentina’s Transformations Under Milei.” This means a heavy does of Milei-ism this week. For today’s column, I’m going to share some slides from a presentation by Alejandro Rodriguez on the “Inheritance” Milei […]
Javier Milei Week, Part I: Inheriting an Economic Crisis
20 Mar 2026 1 Comment
in constitutional political economy, economic history, Public Choice Tags: British constitutional law, British history, British politics
The retirement of Lord Salisbury in 1902 marked the end of the last premiership undertaken from the House of Lords, but in the nineteenth century, more prime ministers led governments from the Lords than the Commons. In this article, Dr Kathryn Rix, of our House of Commons, 1832-1945 project, explores the history and significance of…
Prime Ministers in the House of Lords
18 Mar 2026 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic history, environmentalism, growth disasters, growth miracles, labour economics, labour supply, population economics Tags: pessimism bias, population bomb, population bust
His famous 1968 book, “The Population Bomb,” changed the world. He famously predicted that human “overpopulation” would soon outstrip food supplies, leading to catastrophic famines, and societal collapse. He predicted that hundreds of millions of people would starve to death in the 1970s and 1980s, that India would be unable to feed its population by 1980, and…
‘Ever-wrong Ehrlich’s’ Greatest Hits (er, misses)
18 Mar 2026 Leave a comment
in constitutional political economy, economic history, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice
Professor Anaru Eketone claims the Māori electorates were a cynical device to suppress Māori political influence.(paywalled) The historical record suggests the opposite: the Māori seats were created to bring Māori into the parliamentary system and guarantee representation, rather than exclude them. By 1867, when the Māori Representation Act 1867(1) passed, Europeans outnumbered Māori roughly four to one. […]
The Māori Seats – History, Not Myth
18 Mar 2026 Leave a comment
in economic history, growth disasters, growth miracles
17 Mar 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, economic history, entrepreneurship, growth disasters, growth miracles, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply Tags: creative destruction, The Great Enrichment
Tweet… is from page 103 of Historical Impromptus, a 2020 collection of some of Deirdre McCloskey’s work on economic history; this quotation, specifically, is from McCloskey’s 2000 review, in the Minnesota Journal of Global Trade, of Thomas Friedman’s The Lexus and the Olive Tree and John Gray’s False Dawn [original emphasis]: Globalization encourages the capitalist…
Quotation of the Day…
15 Mar 2026 Leave a comment
in economic history, international economics, International law, law and economics Tags: economics of borders, maps
14 Mar 2026 Leave a comment
in macroeconomics, economics of regulation, economic growth, applied price theory, economic history Tags: European Union
Since I’m currently in Europe as part of the Free Market Road Show, I’m going to share some more data (for other examples, see here, here, here, and here) on why the United States should not become more like Europe. As I noted a few years ago, people in the United States enjoy much higher levels […]
Don’t Copy Europe
14 Mar 2026 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic history, growth disasters, growth miracles Tags: China, Indonesia
11 Mar 2026 1 Comment
in defence economics, economic history, politics - USA, war and peace Tags: Nazi Germany, The Holocaust, World War II
The above photograph is from October 1938 of Lindbergh receiving a Silver Cross from Herman Göring, the then-second-highest Nazi official. Below is part of the timeline of the Holocaust up to that point. 1933January 30Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany March 22Dachau concentration camp opens April 1Boycott of Jewish shops and businesses April 7Laws […]
Lindbergh’s Loyalties
09 Mar 2026 Leave a comment
in Adam Smith, applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, development economics, economic history
TweetIn today’s National Post I celebrate the 250th anniversary – which is this coming Monday, March 9th – of the publication of Adam Smith’s An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. A slice: Smith then inquired into wealth’s causes. He didn’t inquire into the causes of poverty. Smith understood that…
The Wealth of Nations: Happy 250th Birthday!
07 Mar 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic growth, economic history, entrepreneurship, fiscal policy, income redistribution, liberalism, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, public economics Tags: taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment, taxation and labour supply
Is it time to pack our belongings and head to Argentina, where Javier Milei is dramatically improving economic policy and cultural attitudes? I’m joking, but also not joking. The reason I’m not joking is that there’s a very depressing scenario for America’s near-term economic outlook. It involves these six potential developments. Thanks in part to […]
The Nightmare Scenario Leading to a Wealth Tax
06 Mar 2026 Leave a comment
in Austrian economics, comparative institutional analysis, economic history, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, law and economics, organisational economics, politics - Australia, technological progress, theory of the firm Tags: competition law, creative destruction
Ask anyone in Australia’s competition law community what transformed the economy, and you will hear a familiar story. Australia was once a cartelised, complacent place where businesses divided up markets and consumers paid the price. Then came the Trade Practices Act in 1974, and competition law forced firms to compete. This is not a fringe […]
Dismantling the competition myth
05 Mar 2026 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economic history, transport economics, war and peace Tags: World War II
At the start of World War II, the US economy relied almost exclusively on imported rubber as the key material for making, among other things, tires for cars and airplanes. The dependency was well-known, but in April 1942, when Japan cut off the foreign supply, the US was unprepared. Synthetic rubber ended up being part…
When Rubber Was the Critical Imported Good
03 Mar 2026 Leave a comment
in defence economics, discrimination, economic history, gender, labour economics, liberalism, Marxist economics Tags: Age of Enlightenment, Iran, sex discrimination
I put something like this up years ago, but it’s a good way to see, with just a few clicks, what happened to Iran after the “Revolution”. Let’s taken women’s dress, a touchstone of misogyny and theocratic oppression. Before the Islamic Revolution of 1979, it was a pretty free country in that respect, and everyone…
Iranian women: 1970 vs. 2020
Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
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Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
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