Who is More Phobic About Science–Conservatives or Liberals?
17 Oct 2016 Leave a comment
in economics of education, economics of media and culture, economics of regulation, environmental economics, global warming, health economics Tags: Anti-Science left
The #GMO body count @GreenpeaceNZ @Greenpeace
15 Oct 2016 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of regulation, environmental economics, health economics Tags: antiscience left, GMOs
#GMO the most regulated & tested product in agricultural history
08 Oct 2016 1 Comment
in economics of regulation, environmental economics, health economics Tags: antiscience left, cranks, GMOs, New Zealand Greens
While most African farms are organic @OxfamNZ @GreenpeaceNZ @SteffanBrowning
06 Oct 2016 3 Comments
in development economics, economics of regulation, environmental economics, environmentalism, growth disasters, health economics
We Should Not Be Subjecting Children’s Brains To Wi-Fi Screens @drjillstein
04 Oct 2016 Leave a comment
Where is it still illegal to insult religion?
29 Sep 2016 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, economics of religion, liberalism Tags: Blasphemy, free speech
#Uber and creative destruction in The Knowledge
21 Sep 2016 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, survivor principle Tags: creative destruction, entrepreneurial alertness, taxi regulation, Uber
I used Uber for the first time over the weekend. My car was towed away and a friend had the app on his phone. We used it to go to the tow away yard to pay the $275 release fee.
One of the things I noticed was the the driver could immediately use his GPS because it was pre-programmed by the booking.
When you book a regular cab, they do not know where you are going until they arrive. This is to stop drivers avoiding picking up short trips. It also means that they must know where they are going rather than waste time programming the GPS. Prior to the GPS, they simply had to know where everything was.
The Knowledge, knowledge of London streets necessary to qualify for a black cab License is so difficult that neurologists study the brains of black cabdrivers to see how they are different from others in memory capacity.
Uber destroyed the Knowledge in a wave of creative destruction by linking the app booking request to GPSs. No diver needs to know where anything because the destination and pickup points are both pre-programmed into their GPS.
The war on alcohol and the war on drugs were symbiotic campaigns
14 Sep 2016 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, economics, economics of regulation, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: economics of prohibition, war on drugs
Land affordability, not housing affordability is the problem to be solved
11 Sep 2016 1 Comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, politics - New Zealand, urban economics
The Greens and Labour both want to build 100,000 affordable houses over 10 years. Neither explain where the land will come from. Nor do the Greens explain how to make houses more affordability without making land cheaper.
Labour is the best of the two parties because they propose to abolish the Auckland urban limit and the constraint on land supply which that represents. 
The Greens propose to get to where they want to go with taxes and bans on foreign buyers. Those proposals of the Greens do not increase the amount of land available and therefore the number of houses that will be built.
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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