Incentive Misalignment in Communism: the case of Vietnam
15 Aug 2026 1 Comment
in applied price theory, development economics, economic history, growth disasters, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, Marxist economics Tags: economics of central planning, Vietnam
Rainer Zitelmann writes in How Capitalism Beat Communism in Vietnam in Reason Magazine, The state collectives did not reward members for the amount of rice they produced, but instead counted how many days they had worked. 183 more words
Incentive Misalignment in Communism: the case of Vietnam
A rent control experiment
13 Aug 2026 1 Comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, economic history, economics of information, economics of regulation, law and economics, property rights Tags: offsetting behavior, rent control, unintended consequences
Immigration and Macroeconomic Outcomes in OECD Countries
10 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, economic history, human capital, labour economics, labour supply Tags: economics of immigration
OECD countries experienced declining native population growth and rising net immigration over 1990-2024. We compile a new dataset of net immigration rates to OECD countries from all origins and show that most of the increase came from non-OECD countries and was predominantly high-skilled. Push factors, network effects, and policy indices explain little of the large…
Immigration and Macroeconomic Outcomes in OECD Countries
How Socialist Were the Nazis Really?
10 Aug 2026 1 Comment
in economic history, liberalism, libertarianism, Marxist economics Tags: Nazi Germany
A conversation with Kristian Niemietz
How Socialist Were the Nazis Really?
A Pac-Man Defense Against Predatory Pricing?
08 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic history, history of economic thought, industrial organisation Tags: competition law
After the story of how Southwest Airlines broke an attempt at predatory pricing with booze, I learned of the Dow vs. Die Deutsche Bromkonvention episode. See here for an interesting narrative of events. To summarize, at the turn of the twentieth century, the German chemical industry was dominant and the various producers there had a comfortable cartel selling bromine…
A Pac-Man Defense Against Predatory Pricing?
Further progress in South America
08 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic history, growth disasters, growth miracles, health economics Tags: The Great Escape
The share of people who are hungry has been decreasing faster in South America than anywhere else in the world. It is down by one-third since 2020, according to a report published on July 21st by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). Just 3.5% of people in the region consume insufficient calories, the lowest…
Further progress in South America
The Lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith: A Dark Mirror of American History
07 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economic history, economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: racial discrimination
On the night of August 7, 1930, the small city of Marion, Indiana became the site of one of the most infamous and haunting episodes of racial violence in American history—the lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith. What makes this event particularly searing in the American consciousness isn’t just the brutality of the act. […]
The Lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith: A Dark Mirror of American History
New Zealand shows how to solve the equal pay crisis
07 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in labour economics, human capital, occupational choice, economics of regulation, gender, applied price theory, labour supply, economic history, discrimination, poverty and inequality Tags: gender wage gap
Outgoing governments often try to craft a legacy for themselves by introducing policy traps that incoming governments find hard to undo, such as Rishi Sunak’s National Insurance cuts in 2024 or Gordon Brown’s introduction of the 50p top rate of income tax in 2010. Keir Starmer just did something similar by initiating a huge expansion in the […]
New Zealand shows how to solve the equal pay crisis
The population bust
05 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic history, labour economics, labour supply, population economics
JFK & PT 109
02 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economic history, war and peace Tags: World War II
On the night of August 1-2, 1943, during World War II, Lieutenant John F. Kennedy, future President of the United States, experienced a defining moment in his military career when his patrol torpedo boat, PT-109, was destroyed in the Solomon Islands. This event not only showcased Kennedy’s leadership and bravery but also became a significant […]
JFK & PT 109
The common sense of Fareed Zakaria
28 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic growth, economic history, fiscal policy, labour economics, macroeconomics, unemployment
This is one of the best Op-Eds you will read this year, though it deliberately deemphasizes the personal (no one is attacked) in a manner that will result in less attention. Better to write the truth! Excerpt: Why has this [voter discontent} happened? Some of it is economic. Expensive housing, stagnant incomes and widening inequality have fueled public…
The common sense of Fareed Zakaria
Cataloging Growth: A Re-Evaluation of 1900–1990
25 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic growth, economic history, entrepreneurship, macroeconomics
From Verónica Bäcker-Peral and Benjamin Wittenbrink of MIT: Measuring real GDP growth requires distinguishing changes in prices from changes in product quality and composition, yet systematic quality adjustment of price indexes is unavailable for much of the twentieth century. We construct a new quality-adjusted price index for U.S. consumer goods using 5.1 million product listings…
Cataloging Growth: A Re-Evaluation of 1900–1990
Fixing Argentina’s Punitive Tax System
20 Jul 2026 1 Comment
in Austrian economics, development economics, macroeconomics, economic growth, applied price theory, economic history, fiscal policy, growth disasters Tags: Argentina
Almost exactly one year ago, the Center for Freedom and Prosperity released this short video as part of a series on the additional reforms Javier Milei should implement to maximize Argentinian prosperity. Let’s take a closer look at the country’s tax policy, and I’ll start today’s column with an analogy. When Milei took office, Argentina […]
Fixing Argentina’s Punitive Tax System
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
Recent Comments