Making do with less: “… We can repair and recreate our relationships with the Earth and the consumption that has gotten us to this point. …”
Claim: Social Science can Solve the Climate Crisis
TV layoffs not a threat to democracy
10 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of information, economics of media and culture, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, income redistribution, industrial organisation, managerial economics, market efficiency, organisational economics, personnel economics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking, survivor principle, theory of the firm Tags: media bias
A few weeks ago I joined some contemporaries by abandoning the near sixty year habit of watching nightly TV news. I dropped it because I felt it did not give me real information that I had not acquired from other media sources, including some I pay for – The Economist, the NZ Herald, The Atlantic […]
TV layoffs not a threat to democracy
The tohunga suppression myth that won’t die
08 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of regulation, health economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: Age of Enlightenment, cranks, free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
Graham Adams writes — Jonathan Swift’s observation in 1710 that “Falsehood flies, and the Truth comes limping after it” seems entirely apt for last week’s parliamentary debate on disestablishing the Māori Health Authority. No fewer than three MPs — MPs Cushla Tangaere-Manuel (Labour), Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke (Te Pāti Māori), and Steve Abel (Greens) — referred to […]
The tohunga suppression myth that won’t die
Even Lowerer Hutt
07 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, income redistribution, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, regulation, urban economics Tags: housing affordability, land supply, zoning
One annoying thing about writing a Saturday column for the Stuff papers is never knowing whether a piece will show up in print.I’d thought this one was a banger. I’ll be talking about related issues tomorrow night as part of a panel for A City for People. 🟨🟪 Our speaker line up has dropped! 🟪🟨Join us on…
Even Lowerer Hutt
Gaelic Price Control
05 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, Public Choice, urban economics Tags: rent control
Here is a nice video on the experience with price control in Ireland and Scotland. Hat tip: Marginal Revolution
Gaelic Price Control
The US Housing Market Is Very Quickly Becoming Unaffordable
27 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic history, economics of regulation, politics - USA, urban economics Tags: land supply, zoning
In a post from July 2021, I discussed housing affordability and “zoning taxes” — in other words, how land use restrictions such as zoning were driving up the cost of housing in some US cities. San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, and New York stood out as the clear outliers, with “zoning taxes” adding several multiples […]
The US Housing Market Is Very Quickly Becoming Unaffordable
Statewide Rent Control Being Considered in Washington
27 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, economics of regulation, politics - USA, urban economics Tags: rent control
Five things to know about WA proposal to limit rent hikes | The Seattle Times Isn’t rent control one of the most studied economic experiments? And hasn’t it been shown to be, over the long term, a disaster for everyone involved? What does economic evidence tell us about the effects of rent control? | Brookings […]
Statewide Rent Control Being Considered in Washington
ROBERT MacCULLOCH: Former PM Hipkins & Profs Bloomfield & Baker should be held accountable for quoting statistics that have now been shown to be wrongly estimated
27 Feb 2024 1 Comment
in applied welfare economics, econometerics, economic history, economics of regulation, health economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: economics of pandemics
Why are we still talking about Covid when many countries – like the US – have moved on? Well the US economy is currently booming and ours is stuck in the mud. The reason has emerged over time. Although our response to the virus was to be commended in early 2020 when no-one knew what…
ROBERT MacCULLOCH: Former PM Hipkins & Profs Bloomfield & Baker should be held accountable for quoting statistics that have now been shown to be wrongly estimated
Government Intervention and Relative Prices
25 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, macroeconomics
I periodically share Mark Perry’s famous “Chart of the Century” to show that government intervention is a recipe for rising relative prices.* Since economic principles don’t change when you cross national borders, one might expect to see similar patterns in other countries. And we do. Here’s a chart from Matthew Lesh of the Institute for […]
Government Intervention and Relative Prices
Greens explained
24 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, environmental economics, environmentalism
Tino Rangatiratanga and localism
20 Feb 2024 1 Comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, economics of regulation, law and economics, property rights Tags: Canada
My piece for the Saturday papers weekend before last, and now ungated here, went back to a theme that Richard Harman had noticed in the Waitangi speeches. Minister Shane Jones argued fuller debate on the meaning of Tino Rangatiratanga is inevitable, saying, “There is a deep, committed view from Pita Tipene and others that article two…
Tino Rangatiratanga and localism
Congress and Courts enable Energy and Climate Fantasy and Tyranny
15 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, economics of bureaucracy, economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice Tags: constitutional law
Supreme Court should end “Chevron deference” to restore checks, balances and reality
Congress and Courts enable Energy and Climate Fantasy and Tyranny
The California Energy Scam: Newsom’s Actions Of “Leaking” Emissions To Poorer Developing Countries.
14 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in development economics, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, politics - USA Tags: California, climate alarmism
By “leaking” emissions to other countries, California successfully reduces its in-state emissions, but effectively induces net increases to the world’s emissions!
The California Energy Scam: Newsom’s Actions Of “Leaking” Emissions To Poorer Developing Countries.
Some Links
06 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, economic history, economics of regulation, health economics, history of economic thought, labour economics, law and economics, macroeconomics
TweetWriting in the Wall Street Journal, David Henderson and Charley Hooper explain why we should be thankful for high drug prices. Two slices: For Americans, paying for the discovery and development of new drugs rests on our shoulders. If we pay, we get new lifesaving medicines. If we don’t, we don’t. Almost all new drugs…
Some Links
Flying in America Has Actually Never Been Safer
05 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, health and safety, transport economics Tags: air accidents, air crash investigations
U.S. airlines have gone nearly 15 years without a fatal crash—and it’s not just luck. The revolution in the skies began with an innovative program that has become a model for the rest of the world.By Ben Cohen of The WSJ. I used the book The Economics of Public Issues in my micro classes. It had…
Flying in America Has Actually Never Been Safer
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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