As Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham wanted to slash hydrocarbon use by 90% in 10 years. Now the new Energy Minister is making similar noises. Chris Morrison wonders if destroying modern society is still the plan. The post New UK PM Andy Burnham Has Supported a 90% Cut in Hydrocarbon Use Within 10 Years appeared first…
New UK PM Andy Burnham Has Supported a 90% Cut in Hydrocarbon Use Within 10 Years
New UK PM Andy Burnham Has Supported a 90% Cut in Hydrocarbon Use Within 10 Years
31 Jul 2026 1 Comment
in economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming Tags: British politics
The Endangered Species Act Reduces Housing
31 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, economics of regulation, environmental economics, environmentalism, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, urban economics
Max Tabarrok’s paper on the Endangered Species Act and housing (WP) has just been published in the Journal of Public Economics! It’s a clever paper: Max observed that the moment an animal is put on the endangered species list, developers face enhanced compliance costs and liability risk. But what’s important for an empirical economist is…
The Endangered Species Act Reduces Housing
Criminal “Villification”: Australia Court Upholds Conviction, Massive Fine, and Compelled Speech in Transgender Case
29 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of regulation, gender, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - Australia, politics - USA, property rights Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination
We have followed the evisceration of free speech values in the United Kingdom and other Western nations. Australia has been…
Criminal “Villification”: Australia Court Upholds Conviction, Massive Fine, and Compelled Speech in Transgender Case
The Apples and Oranges Tribunal
28 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, economics of education, economics of regulation, gender, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, poverty and inequality, property rights Tags: gender wage gap, sex discrimination
Suppose that apples sell for more than oranges and Parliament in it’s wisdom decides that, at last, apples and oranges must be compared. Not by shoppers — shoppers are biased, they merely reveal what they are willing to pay — but by a tribunal, which will determine whether apples and oranges are of truly equal…
The Apples and Oranges Tribunal
Is Britain’s New Energy Secretary Even Crazier than Mad Ed?
27 Jul 2026 1 Comment
in economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, Marxist economics Tags: British politics
Energy secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh wants full Net Zero by 2030. The post Is Britain’s New Energy Secretary Even Crazier than Mad Ed? appeared first on Watts Up With That?.
Is Britain’s New Energy Secretary Even Crazier than Mad Ed?
NZ First and the oil and gas ban
26 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, energy economics, politics - New Zealand
Audrey Young writes: The ban was not in the NZF coalition agreement with Labour. They could have simply refused to back it, and there would not have been the votes for it. But they decided to back it. That is a fact. The post NZ First and the oil and gas ban first appeared on…
NZ First and the oil and gas ban
Occupational Licensing: US and International
25 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of information, economics of regulation, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, occupational regulation, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking
The potential benefit of having the government require that certain jobs require an official license is quality control and protection. Personally, I rather like knowing that my nurse or doctor or dentist has gone through courses and training. The potential cost is that requirement to have a government license can become a way for those…
Occupational Licensing: US and International
Just fix industrial allocations
25 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, politics - New Zealand Tags: carbon tax, carbon trading
New Zealand’s Emissions Trading Scheme includes industrial allocations of carbon credits aimed at avoiding inefficient carbon leakage.But the formula is wrong. Imagine that you’re a domestic firm producing stuff that generates CO2 emissions. You correctly have to surrender NZU – one for each tonne of emissions. But if competitors in foreign markets do not face a…
Just fix industrial allocations
Let them build: electricity and datacentres edition
24 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, energy economics, entrepreneurship, politics - New Zealand
New Zealand’s electricity companies know how to stick a pipe into the ground in the Taupo Volcanic Zone and generate electricity. They’ve been doing it for decades, and there is enormous untapped potential. America’s hyperscalers are currently willing to pay a large premium for immediacy. They are sticking expensive off-grid generators beside datacentres that would have…
Let them build: electricity and datacentres edition
Occupational Licensing Around the World
18 Jul 2026 1 Comment
in economics of regulation, labour economics, labour supply, occupational regulation, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA
Hartley and Kleiner have a new Fed Minneapolis working paper surveying workers around the world to measure occupational licensing by country. In the United States, occupational licensing has increased substantially over time, so one might expect licensing to rise with income. Their headline result is the opposite: occupational licensing is negatively correlated with GDP per…
Occupational Licensing Around the World
The Equal Pay Madness Just Got Madder
17 Jul 2026 1 Comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, economics of regulation, gender, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice Tags: gender wage gap
In my post Equality Act 2010 I discussed the UK’s absolutely insane wage policy: In short, supply and demand have been replaced by judges and labor boards with the authority to deem which jobs are “equal” and therefore should be paid equally….No one is alleging that male and female warehouse workers were paid unequally or…
The Equal Pay Madness Just Got Madder
More academic censorship
14 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand, law and economics, economics of regulation, property rights, health economics
The FSU released: A peer-reviewed paper by a Māori clinical psychologist has been removed from her profession’s journal on the grounds that keeping it accessible could harm Māori. It was not retracted for error, fraud or misconduct, which are ordinarily the only reasons for such an action. Censorship knows no bounds. How dare she have…
More academic censorship
Germany Needs Milei-ism but Is Getting Romney-ism
13 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in economic growth, economic history, economics of regulation, fiscal policy, macroeconomics Tags: Germany
In the past year, I’ve written about Germany’s fiscal deterioration and its costly fixation on net-zero environmentalism. As illustrated by the chart, these policies have contributed to malaise and economic stagnation (and were caused by – or contributed to – eroding societal capital). The good news is that Friedrich Merz, the country’s chancellor, wants economic […]
Germany Needs Milei-ism but Is Getting Romney-ism
Renewable Energy Will Impoverish Humanity
11 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming
A wholly or predominantly wind and solar fuelled economy will not be able to sustain those corrective technologies and at the same time provide a generous margin for other uses. So the system will shrink, energy consumption itself will fall and the human niche will narrow. General health will decline, rates of mortality will rise,…
Renewable Energy Will Impoverish Humanity
BREAKING: Trump Admin Hires Skeptic to Run National Climate Assessment…Mann Clutches Pearls
11 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: climate alarmism
Scrutiny of a government assessment by someone inclined to question it is not a threat to the science. It is a stress test. The post BREAKING: Trump Admin Hires Skeptic to Run National Climate Assessment…Mann Clutches Pearls appeared first on Watts Up With That?.
BREAKING: Trump Admin Hires Skeptic to Run National Climate Assessment…Mann Clutches Pearls
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
Recent Comments