The House believes that the Sun should never have set on the British Empire Don Brash says – Mr/Madame President, I speak in opposition to the motion. But I also want to acknowledge at the outset that the British Empire did more good things for more people than any other empire in human history.
Don Brash’s Oxford Union speech
Don Brash’s Oxford Union speech
11 Nov 2025 1 Comment
in defence economics, development economics, economic history, history of economic thought, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: economics of colonialism
*Violent Saviors*
11 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, development economics, economic history, growth disasters, growth miracles, history of economic thought, international economics Tags: economics of colonialism 0
That is the new William Easterly book, and the subtitle is The West’s Conquest of the Rest. I liked this book very much, but found the title and also book jacket and descriptions misleading. I think of this work as a full-throated examination and study of the classical liberal anti-imperialist tradition. We have been needing […]
*Violent Saviors*
How advanced was Māori civilisation?
07 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
in economic history, politics - New Zealand Tags: anthropology
David Farrar writes – Something I have been interested in is trying to get a better understanding of what life was like for Maori in New Zealand before Abel Tasman made contact in 1642. By then Maori had been in New Zealand for around 400 years. Some people dismiss Maori civilisation back then as Stone […]
How advanced was Māori civilisation?
Economists on the Trump Tariffs Supreme Court Case
07 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, income redistribution, international economic law, international economics, International law, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: free trade, tarrifs
It seems as if a few times every week, I see a headline about President Trump announcing a new tariff or repealing a tariff, sometimes involve many countries and sometime just a few. However, it is not at all clear that any president has a right to alter tariffs. This question was raised before Trump…
Economists on the Trump Tariffs Supreme Court Case
The Great Escape
01 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
in economic history, health economics Tags: anti-vaccination movement, child mortality, The Great Escape, vaccines
The scramble for Africa
29 Oct 2025 Leave a comment
in economic history, international economics, International law Tags: Age of Discovery, age of empires
The Great Enrichment
29 Oct 2025 Leave a comment
in economic history, health economics Tags: life expectancies, The Great Escape
What does a Nobel Prize on ‘innovation-driven economic growth’ actually reward?
21 Oct 2025 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic growth, economic history, history of economic thought, macroeconomics
A historian’s perspective on how to deal with the Nobel frenzy I generally try to stay away from the Economics Nobel frenzy, if only because the hyper-personalization of scientific achievements it entails it at odds with how we historians understand credit dynamics in science. Economics research has become increasingly collective, drawing on expertise in theory, […]
What does a Nobel Prize on ‘innovation-driven economic growth’ actually reward?
The Costs and Benefits of British Colonialism
20 Oct 2025 1 Comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, economic history, growth disasters, growth miracles Tags: age of empires, economics of colonialism
The British Empire, which at its height ruled over a quarter of the world’s population and landmass, remains one of the most consequential forces in global history. Its legacy is deeply contested: defenders emphasize the spread of law, education, and infrastructure, while critics highlight the violence, exploitation, and cultural destruction it entailed. A balanced assessment […]
The Costs and Benefits of British Colonialism
My excellent Conversation with George Selgin
19 Oct 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, business cycles, economic history, fiscal policy, great depression, history of economic thought, macroeconomics, monetary economics Tags: monetary policy
Here is the audio, video, and transcript. Here is part of the episode summary: Tyler and George discuss the surprising lack of fiscal and monetary stimulus in the New Deal, whether revaluing gold was really the best path to economic reflation, how much Glass-Steagall and other individual parts of the New Deal mattered, Keynes’ “very […]
My excellent Conversation with George Selgin
A Nobel for Innovation-Driven Economic Growth: Aghion, Howitt, and Mokyr
14 Oct 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, economic growth, economic history, history of economic thought, macroeconomics
The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2025 was awarded this morning for “for having explained innovation-driven economic growth.” The award was divided between Joel Mokyr ““for having identified the prerequisites for sustained growth through technological progress” to Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt “for the theory of sustained growth through…
A Nobel for Innovation-Driven Economic Growth: Aghion, Howitt, and Mokyr
Germany’s Reckoning – Bulgarian Armistice I THE GREAT WAR Week 219
06 Oct 2025 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economic history, war and peace Tags: World War I
Unbeatable: The Brutally Honest Case for Free Markets | Bryan Caplan
04 Oct 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economic growth, economic history, income redistribution, industrial organisation, labour economics, law and economics, liberalism, libertarianism, macroeconomics, Public Choice Tags: The Great Enrichment
No Right to Stable Climate in Our Holocene Epoch
02 Oct 2025 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of climate change, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming
Leszek Marks explains how warming and cooling alternated throughout the last 12,000 years and how our modern period is no different in his paper Contemporary global warming versus climate change in the Holocene. Excerpts in italics with my bolds and added images. H/T No Tricks Zone Leszek Eugeniusz Marks is a Polish geologist, professor ordinarius, […]
No Right to Stable Climate in Our Holocene Epoch
Historical omissions plague BBC ‘Palestinian state’ explainer
02 Oct 2025 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economic history, International law, law and economics, property rights, war and peace Tags: Gaza Strip, Israel, Middle-East politics, regressive left, war against terror, West Bank
On July 30th 2025 the BBC News website published an ‘explainer’ article by Paul Adams under the headline “What does recognising a Palestinian state mean?”. Since its initial publication, that article – which currently appears on the website’s ‘Middle East’ page – has been updated several times, including a recent amendment to its introduction: Original […]
Historical omissions plague BBC ‘Palestinian state’ explainer
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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