The House voted on the first reading of the bill by Kieran McAnulty’s bill to allow businesses that are allowed to open on public holidays to have normal alcohol sale conditions apply. It is a very common sense bill and passed 67 to 54. It is a personal vote, but it was interesting where the […]
Strange alliances on alcohol vote
Strange alliances on alcohol vote
13 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, health economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: economics of prohibition
NZ workplace safety experiment a breath of fresh air
12 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, health and safety, labour economics, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights
Oliver Hartwich writes – One of the pleasures of my job as Executive Director of The New Zealand Initiative is hosting events with Ministers explaining their new policies to our members. Last week, we hosted Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden at our annual retreat. I was impressed by the range of policies […]
NZ workplace safety experiment a breath of fresh air
Climate Change Weekly # 540 — ‘Cheap’ Wind and Solar Raise Electricity Prices
12 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming Tags: solar power, wind power
Multiple studies have demonstrated wind and solar power remain more expensive than historically traditional sources of electricity, such as coal, natural gas, nuclear, and hydropower, and Energy Information Administration data back that up—disproving claims by renewable energy profiteers and their lobbying groups. As coal plants have been prematurely retired and replaced by wind and solar, prices have risen and reliability has declined. The greater the forced (through renewable mandates) or incentivized (through subsidies, tax breaks, and tax credits) incursion of wind and solar into a state’s electric power supply, the higher and faster the costs rise.
Climate Change Weekly # 540 — ‘Cheap’ Wind and Solar Raise Electricity Prices
Finally common sense for drug approvals
12 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, health economics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice
David Seymour announced: Associate Health Minister David Seymour is welcoming Cabinet’s decision to enable medicines to be approved in less than 30 days if the product has approval from two recognised overseas jurisdictions. This change is included in the Medicines Amendment Bill (the Bill), which amends the Medicines Act 1981. The pathway will be in […]
Finally common sense for drug approvals
When Genius Failed
10 Apr 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, business cycles, economic growth, economics of information, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, financial economics, global financial crisis (GFC), history of economic thought, industrial organisation, macroeconomics, politics - USA
Myron Scholes was on top of the world in 1997, having won the Nobel Prize in economics that year for his work in financial economics, work that he had applied in the real world in a wildly successful hedge fund, Long Term Capital Management. But just one year later, LTCM was saved from collapse only […]
When Genius Failed
Resource Management and Property Rights
08 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic history, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, environmental economics, industrial organisation, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: housing affordability, land supply
Brian Easton writes – While there have been decades of complaints – from all sides – about the workings of the Resource Management Act (RMA), replacing is proving difficult. The Coalition Government is making another attempt. To help answer the question, I am going to use the economic lens of the Coase Theorem, set out […]
Resource Management and Property Rights
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
Good principles for RMA reform
05 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, environmental economics, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, regulation, rentseeking, resource economics, urban economics Tags: housing affordability, land supply
Chris Bishop and Simon Court announced principles for the RMA replacement, and they generally look very good (but not perfect). Some key aspects: The new system will be based on the economic concept of “externalities”. Effects that are borne solely by the party undertaking the activity will not be controlled by the new system (for […]
Good principles for RMA reform
Argentina’s DOGE
27 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, economics of information, economics of regulation, growth disasters, health economics, industrial organisation, labour economics, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, property rights, regulation Tags: Argentina
Cato has a good summary of Deregulation in Argentina: The end of Argentina’s extensive rent controls has resulted in a tripling of the supply of rental apartments in Buenos Aires and a 30 percent drop in price. The new open-skies policy and the permission for small airplane owners to provide transportation services within Argentina has […]
Argentina’s DOGE
Exposing the out of control deep state in NZ
26 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of education, economics of regulation, environmental economics, health economics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: housing affordability, land supply, nanny state, political correctness, regressive left, zoning
The NZ version of the deep state appears to be the NZ Public Health Service. They regards themselves as having a divine right to opine on every issue of the day from capitalism to building design. They have been allowed to do this for far too long, and it is great to see the Minister […]
Exposing the out of control deep state in NZ
Stop waiting for a foreign hero: NZ’s supermarket sector needs competition from within
21 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, industrial organisation, law and economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: competition law
Lisa M. Katerina Asher, Catherine Sutton-Brad and Drew Franklin write – New Zealand’s concentrated supermarket sector is back in the spotlight after Finance Minister Nicola Willis said she was open to offering “VIP treatment” to a third international player willing to create competition. However, New Zealanders hoping for a foreign hero to break up the […]
Stop waiting for a foreign hero: NZ’s supermarket sector needs competition from within
EPA questions 31 major energy regulations
17 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in 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: 2024 presidential election
What is certain is that 31 big fights lie ahead making this EPA combined action a truly breathtaking event. Stay tuned to CFACT as this supreme battle unfolds.
EPA questions 31 major energy regulations
SEC Climate Risk Rule is Entrapment
11 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of climate change, economics of regulation, environmental economics, environmentalism, financial economics, global warming, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: climate activists, efficient markets hypothesis
Stone Washington and William Happer explain the nefarious and ill-advised decree in their article SEC’s Climate Risk Disclosure Rule Would Compel Companies to Make Scientifically False and Misleading Disclosures. Excerpts in italics with my bolds and added images. In March last year, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued its climate risk disclosure rule, called “The […]
SEC Climate Risk Rule is Entrapment
Driving a Stake Through Stakeholder Capitalism
07 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, entrepreneurship, environmental economics, environmentalism, financial economics, global warming, politics - USA Tags: climate activists, greenwashing, regressive left
E, S, G does not cover core financial risks. We’re looking to assess financially-relevant environmental, social and governance factors, not financially-relevant financial factors.” Got that? Yup. It’s total hogwash.
Driving a Stake Through Stakeholder Capitalism
Climate Crusade Is a Dead End
06 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in econometerics, economic history, economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming Tags: climate activists, climate alarmism
This post presents the main points and exhibits from Professor de Lange’s presentation February 26, 2025. Most images are self explanatory, with some excerpts in italics lightly edited from captions, and some added images as well. H/T Bud Bromley. Prof. de Lange demonstrates that there is no credible climate crisis, and that there is much […]
Climate Crusade Is a Dead End
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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