Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
05 Jul 2015 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, international economics, law and economics, property rights, survivor principle Tags: doing business, Eurosclerosis, Italy, rule of law, Russia, transitional economies
Figure 1: Doing Business rankings, Russia and Italy, 2014
Source: World Bank Doing Business 2015.
It is rather disturbing that it is a lot easier to register property and enforce contracts in Russia than in Italy and far harder to pay your taxes in Italy. Once again, Italy’s saving grace is the ability to trade across borders Because of its membership of the European Union.
05 Jul 2015 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, economics of crime, economics of regulation, growth disasters, industrial organisation, law and economics, property rights Tags: capitalism and freedom, Greece, rule of law, Russia
Figure 1: Index of Economic Freedom rankings for legal systems and property rights, Greece, Russia and USA, 2012
Source: Economic Freedom of the World – Annual Report 2014 | www.freetheworld.com.
Overall, there are not that many differences between Greece and Russia in the quality of their legal systems and property rights. Don’t go to the police in Russia and good luck trying to enforce contracts in Greece.
03 Jul 2015 1 Comment
in economics of crime, economics of regulation, health economics, law and economics, liberalism, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA Tags: marijuana decriminalisation, meddlesome preferences, medical marijuana decriminalisation, nanny state
Map of where Cannabis is legal (2014)
From: bit.ly/1uZ2uvq http://t.co/e0W7fJ8FZC—
Max Roser (@MaxCRoser) June 30, 2015
03 Jul 2015 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, currency unions, economic growth, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, Euro crisis, health and safety, income redistribution, industrial organisation, labour economics, law and economics, minimum wage, occupational regulation, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, survivor principle, unions, welfare reform Tags: cost of doing business, Eurosclerosis, Greece, Italy, PIGS, Portugal, Spain
Figure 1: Doing Business rankings, PIGS, 2014
Source: World Bank Doing Business 2015.
All in all, Italy and Greece are a dog of a place to enforce a contract. The long-suffering taxpayer is better off paying taxes in Greece than in Italy! Not surprisingly, trading across borders is the greatest strength in doing business in the PIGS. The European Union does have some benefits.
Figure 2: Doing Business rankings, Greece and Italy, 2014
Source: World Bank Doing Business 2015.
All in all, Italy and Greece are equally bad places to do business and Italy is much worse when it comes to taxes. About the only saving graces of Italy is the registration of property and the protection of minority interests in companies.
Figure 3: Doing Business rankings, Spain and Portugal, 2014
Source: World Bank Doing Business 2015.
Spain and in particular Portugal are much better places to do business than Italy and Greece.
01 Jul 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, health economics Tags: economics of smoking, expressive voting, meddlesome preferences, nanny state, rational irrationality
30 Jun 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, economics of education, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, health economics, industrial organisation, law and economics, survivor principle Tags: black markets, economics of prohibition, entrepreneurial alertness, food, nanny state, police, The fatal conceit, unintended consequences
29 Jun 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of crime, economics of regulation, industrial organisation, labour economics, law and economics, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: cost of doing business, Euroland, Greece, Russia, sovereign defaults, transitional economies, World Bank
Figure 1: Greek and Russian Doing Business sub-rankings, 2015
Source: World Bank Doing Business 2015.
As long as you’re not in a construction or export business, and don’t mind waiting for your electricity, it’s better to do business in Russia than in Greece! The main difference between Russia and Greece is its membership of the European Union makes it easy to export?
In Russia, it’s easier to start a business, register property and enforce contracts than it is in Greece!
28 Jun 2015 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, industrial organisation, Public Choice, rentseeking, survivor principle Tags: cost of doing business, endogenous growth theory, Eurosclerosis, Spain
28 Jun 2015 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of regulation, health economics Tags: alcohol regulation
Mad Men makes the 1960s seem like a nonstop booze-fest. This chart proves it wasn't. bit.ly/1EdM9qu http://t.co/1dE5SA5Kdc—
Ezra Klein (@ezraklein) May 06, 2015
26 Jun 2015 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economics of crime, economics of media and culture, economics of regulation, law and economics, liberalism, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice Tags: chilling effect, disorderly conduct, free speech, infotopia, Internet trolls, meddlesome preferences, nanny state, offsetting behaviour, The fatal conceit, The pretence to knowledge, unintended consequences
26 Jun 2015 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, health economics, politics - USA Tags: meddlesome preferences, nanny state, offsetting behaviour, The fatal conceit, The pretence to knowledge, unintended consequences
Starting in 2012, the University of Vermont began a process of requiring that all campus locations selling beverages provided 30% “healthy” beverages, and then that all locations phases out all sales of bottled water.
There were two hope: 1) reduced use of bottles, when bottled water was no longer available, and 2) that healthier beverages would be consumed.
The orange line that drops to zero shows bottled water being phased out. The rising line at the top shows the rise in sugar-sweetened beverages. The red line in the middle that rises sharply shows the rise in sugar-free beverages.
via CONVERSABLE ECONOMIST: Banning Bottled Water: Unintended Consequences.
22 Jun 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, urban economics Tags: Auckland, land supply, land use planning, RMA, zoning
Rising mortgage rates to test U.S. housing market rebound on.wsj.com/1IsKVde http://t.co/vHDJAdM292—
Pedro da Costa (@pdacosta) June 22, 2015
21 Jun 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, health economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, technological progress Tags: 9/11, anti-vaccination movement, antiscience left, conspiracy theories, expressive voting, GMOs, inspiriting theorists, rational ignorance, rational irrationality, risk risk trade-offs, vaccines
20 Jun 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of information, economics of media and culture, economics of regulation, environmental economics, health economics, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: antiscience left, expressive voting, food labelling, GMOs, product labelling, rational ignorance, rational irrationality
Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
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