I’ve written a couple of times about information interventions designed to attract more female students to study economics (see here and here). The results have generally been disappointing. That shouldn’t be too much of a surprise. If it was really simple to get people to change their behaviour with information, then advertising would be far…
Some weak evidence in favour of an information intervention in economics to close the gender gap
Some weak evidence in favour of an information intervention in economics to close the gender gap
05 May 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, econometerics, economics of education, experimental economics, gender, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice Tags: gender gap, sex discrimination
Sex is binary
03 May 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of education, gender, health economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: conjecture and refutation, free speech, philosophy of science, political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination
Trans activists and their supporters have confused feelings with facts in trying to convince themselves, and others, that sex isn’t binary. Science disproves that: Here’s why sex is binary, explained in 5 minutes. pic.twitter.com/DuX7Yk7Z0f — Zachary Elliott (@zaelefty) April 26, 2025
Sex is binary
Auckland Uni students react to Treaty ‘indoctrination’
29 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economic history, economics of education, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
Compulsory first-year courses come under fire. Graham Adams writes – This year, the University of Auckland launched mandatory courses focused on a particular view of New Zealand history, Te Tiriti, and indigenous “knowledge systems”— which is to say mātauranga Māori — for all first-year students. It doesn’t matter whether you’re studying engineering, accounting, science or arts, you […]
Auckland Uni students react to Treaty ‘indoctrination’
Weak Essay? Student Rejected by Top Universities Despite Near Perfect Scores and $30 Million App
27 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of education, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, politics - USA Tags: affirmative action, free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left

After the Supreme Court declared an end to the use of race criteria in college admissions, many administrators pledged to find a way around the decision. Schools are using essay prompts to flag race while rejecting the use of standardized testing to boost diversity in admissions. In the meantime, these schools are rejecting students with […]
Weak Essay? Student Rejected by Top Universities Despite Near Perfect Scores and $30 Million App
Supreme Court Hears Major Parental Rights Case Over LGBT Readings
26 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of education, economics of religion, gender, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: sex discrimination

Today, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on a major parental rights case in Mahmoud v. Taylor, a challenge to Montgomery County (Md.) requiring their children to participate in instruction that includes LGBTQ+ themes. It is a case that could produce sweeping changes across the county as parents object to the use of public […]
Supreme Court Hears Major Parental Rights Case Over LGBT Readings
Crimson Chide: Harvard Makes the Case Against Itself
24 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of education, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left

Below is my column in The Hill on Harvard faculty organizing in opposition to the Trump Administration’s measures targeting the university for failure to protect Jewish students and its lack of diversity of viewpoints on campus. Despite being a vocal critic of Harvard’s culture of orthodoxy, I have encouraged the Administration to moderate some of […]
Crimson Chide: Harvard Makes the Case Against Itself
Where Britain has gone
23 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of crime, economics of education, gender, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, sports economics Tags: sex discrimination
Ele Ludemann writes – New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill to define the biological definition of man and woman in law. . . . “This is not about being anti-anyone or anti-anything. This is about ensuring we as a country focus on the facts of biology and protect the term ‘woman’ in law”, says New Zealand First Leader […]
Where Britain has gone
University backs down in sex-gender debate
21 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of education, gender, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: free speech. academic bias, political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination
Graham Adams writes – As Auckland University continues down the path of transforming itself into a seminary for Māori nationalists and others with “progressive left” views, it is perhaps inevitable that it would try to force fashionable views about sex onto academic staff members. Unfortunately, it made a tactical error by trying to bully Elizabeth […]
University backs down in sex-gender debate
Paper Tigers? Princeton Faces Test Over Free Speech Following Disruption of Bennett Speech
10 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economics of education, International law, law and economics, laws of war, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, property rights, war and peace Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, political correctness, regressive left

In sports, many are saying that it is a “great year to be a Princeton tiger.” The question this week is whether the same is true for free speech at Princeton. For years, we followed free speech controversies at the school over the investigation of dissenting faculty, the targeting of critics, and general intolerance for […]
Paper Tigers? Princeton Faces Test Over Free Speech Following Disruption of Bennett Speech
The Regulation Review Committee’s tikanga decision
07 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of education, economics of regulation, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, occupational regulation, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
The Committee probably went as far as it could Gary Judd writes – What the Committee did The Regulation Review Committee decided (1) that making tikanga a compulsory subject for law students did not unduly trespass on personal rights and liberties, but (2) requiring tikanga to be incorporated in the other compulsory subjects was an […]
The Regulation Review Committee’s tikanga decision
Colin Wright gives a history of the gametic definition of biological sex
04 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of education, gender, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: Age of Enlightenment, evolutionary biology, free speech, political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination

As everyone knows, I adhere to the gametic definition of sex, in which individuals are classified as male or female (or, as in hermaphroditic plants, both sexes in one individual) based on whether their bodies are set up to produce small, mobile gametes (the “males”) or large, immobile gametes (the “females”). I’ve explained why I […]
Colin Wright gives a history of the gametic definition of biological sex
Judith Butler on Trump’s EOs, with an emphasis on sex and gender
04 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of education, gender, health economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination

The latest issue of the London Review of Books contains a long essay by Judith Butler attacking Trump’s Executive Orders, particularly 14168, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.” You can read her piece by clicking on the title below: The piece constitutes good news, bad news, […]
Judith Butler on Trump’s EOs, with an emphasis on sex and gender
Uneducated vs educated
03 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economics of bureaucracy, economics of education, economics of information, economics of media and culture, international economics, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics, property rights, Public Choice Tags: Brexit, British politics, political psychology
Political battles historically have been framed as contests between left-wing and right-wing ideologies, with clear distinctions based on policy preferences and socio-economic class interests. However, contemporary political dynamics reveal a new axis of conflict: the division between the educated and the uneducated. This emerging distinction marks a significant departure from traditional political alignments, reshaping electoral […]
Uneducated vs educated
Cultural Apartheid
03 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of education, health economics, human capital, income redistribution, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: affirmative action, free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
Muriel Newman writes – King’s Counsel Gary Judd has been at the forefront of a battle to defend New Zealand from the actions of Maori tribal leaders attempting to force their cultural apartheid onto our country. He’s defending the Rule of Law from attack by those pushing for ‘decolonisation’ by arguing that since ‘tikanga’ is an ‘amorphous […]
Cultural Apartheid
Now it’s Trump vs. the Smithsonian, and a NYT piece about human races
03 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of education, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: conjecture and refutation, free speech, philosophy of science, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left

On March 17 Trump issued a new executive order, “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” And its goal is largely to prevent the dissemination of divisive or negative views of American history, instantiated, for Trump, in the Smithsonian Institution’s new exhibit on sculpture and identity. Here’s the “purpose” of the EO: Purpose and Policy. […]
Now it’s Trump vs. the Smithsonian, and a NYT piece about human races
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