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.
Housing affordability in Auckland is just getting worse
06 Sep 2016 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, politics - New Zealand, urban economics
#Seinfeld: The Apartment (#RentControl) @Maori_Party @FoxMarama
06 Sep 2016 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, economics of regulation, television Tags: rent control, Seinfeld
Seatbelt usage must have gone up big time in Japan since I live there
03 Sep 2016 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, transport economics
You cannot even find that seatbelt in taxis because they have been pushed under the seat so that the locals did not have to sit on them. Not much point wearing a seatbelt if the passenger in the rear comes flying past you in the accident.
Nanny state protects us from late-night fast food
28 Aug 2016 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, economics, economics of regulation Tags: nanny state
.@NZGreens do not understand business: minimum wage for contractors version
25 Aug 2016 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, economics of regulation, industrial organisation, labour economics, politics - New Zealand, poverty and inequality, survivor principle Tags: expressive voting, market process, New Zealand Greens, price signals, rational irrationality, The meaning of competition
The Greens are most upset that a Labour party private members bill to specify a minimum wage for contractors was voted down by one vote in parliament yesterday.
If you earn than the minimum wage as a contractor, that is a signal wrapped in an incentive. Your poor hourly earnings is a signal to you that maybe you should get out of that contracting business and go back to being an employee where you will be paid at least the minimum wage.
Many small businesses make no profits at all in the first year or so as they build the business. The founders of the business get by on savings, which they anticipated when they drew up their business plan. No one expects a business to make an immediate profit or always be profitable.
Contractors are entrepreneurs chancing their arm. They need crisp signals about whether they are succeeding, failing or could succeed if they try harder or do something different. A minimum wage for contractors masks those important market signals of success and failure.
If your dream of owning your own business is not even paying the minimum wage, maybe it is time to get out of the contracting business.
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