Amazon executives realized their very profitable data centers would fail if they kept posturing with renewable energy.
Reality Forces Reason into Power Choices
Reality Forces Reason into Power Choices
09 Dec 2024 2 Comments
in energy economics, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, politics - USA Tags: nuclear energy, solar power, wind power
How is the Russian war economy doing?
08 Dec 2024 1 Comment
in applied price theory, defence economics, development economics, economic growth, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, fiscal policy, growth disasters, income redistribution, industrial organisation, international economics, law and economics, macroeconomics, monetary economics, property rights, Public Choice, war and peace Tags: Russia, Ukraine
Here is a gloomy account from Vladimir Mirov: Ruble depreciation will contribute to inflation even further, as Russia is continued to be heavily reliant on imports – this is a kind of self-sustaining spiral. I also strongly disagree with those who say that cheaper ruble is “good” for exporters and the budget. Exporters have yet […]
How is the Russian war economy doing?
Why are no trillion dollar companies being created in Europe?
07 Dec 2024 1 Comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, human capital, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, occupational choice, poverty and inequality Tags: employment law
That is the theme of a new Substack by Pieter Garicano, here is one excerpt: These answers, according to a recent paper by Olivier Coste and Yann Coatanlem, two French investors, miss the point: the reason more capital doesn’t flow towards high-leverage ideas in Europe is because the price of failure is too high. Coste estimates that, […]
Why are no trillion dollar companies being created in Europe?
Why are no trillion dollar companies being created in Europe?
07 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, labour economics, law and economics, property rights
That is the theme of a new Substack by Pieter Garicano, here is one excerpt: These answers, according to a recent paper by Olivier Coste and Yann Coatanlem, two French investors, miss the point: the reason more capital doesn’t flow towards high-leverage ideas in Europe is because the price of failure is too high. Coste estimates that, […]
Why are no trillion dollar companies being created in Europe?
What is the price of production at nighttime?
05 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, entrepreneurship, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: solar power
The Missing Myths
04 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, discrimination, economic history, economics of climate change, economics of information, economics of media and culture, economics of regulation, energy economics, entrepreneurship, environmental economics, environmentalism, financial economics, gender, global warming, health economics, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, liberalism, libertarianism, Marxist economics, occupational choice, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: Age of Enlightenment, crime and punishment, criminal deterrence, free speech, gender wage gap, law and order, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left, sex discrimination
Michael Huemer’s Progressive Myths is the best book on wokeness. One of its many strengths is its focus on basic facts. As the author explains:I have selected beliefs that can be debunked fairly quickly and forcefully. Many other progressive beliefs require long argumentation and subjective judgment calls to assess. About these more difficult issues, I…
The Missing Myths
Paul Krugman Is Right…albeit Selectively and Hypocritically
04 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, income redistribution, industrial organisation, international economics, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking Tags: tarrifs
I like profits. But let me qualify that statement. I like profits that are the result of businesses providing goods and services that consumers value. Those profits are earned. By contrast, I don’t like it when businesses get in bed with government and get money via cronyism, bailouts, subsidies, protectionism, or industrial policy. Those profits […]
Paul Krugman Is Right…albeit Selectively and Hypocritically
The Consequences of Limiting the Tax Deductibility of R&D
03 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, entrepreneurship, fiscal policy, macroeconomics, Public Choice, public economics Tags: taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment
We study the tax payment and innovation consequences of limiting the tax deductibility of research and development (“R&D”) expenditures. Beginning in 2022, U.S. companies are required to capitalize and amortize R&D rather than immediately deduct these expenditures. We utilize variation in U.S. firms’ fiscal year ends to test the effects of the R&D tax change […]
The Consequences of Limiting the Tax Deductibility of R&D
Another corporate welfare failure
02 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, energy economics, entrepreneurship, environmental economics, financial economics, global warming, income redistribution, industrial organisation, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, rentseeking, survivor principle Tags: climate alarmism
The Herald reported: The Government has $115 million at risk from the collapse of SolarZero. Finance Minister Nicola Willis said she was seeking urgent advice on the SolarZero situation. She had no further comment. NZ Green Investment Finance – a “green investment bank” created by the previous Government to fund environmentally-friendly businesses – made a $145m…
Another corporate welfare failure
Bob Ekelund Remembered
23 Nov 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economics of bureaucracy, economics of information, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, health economics, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, law and economics, market efficiency, Milton Friedman, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, regulation, theory of the firm Tags: competition law, Product safety
TweetHere’s my just-published remembrance, in Public Choice, of my late teacher, dissertation advisor, co-author, and friend, Bob Ekelund. Three slices: The only textbook assigned for the course was Milton Friedman’s Price Theory. From some younger members of Auburn’s economics faculty, I heard a few cocktail-lubricated complaints that core theory courses in a modern economics Ph.D.…
Bob Ekelund Remembered
Another windfarm surpasses £1 billion in subsidy payments
18 Nov 2024 1 Comment
in energy economics, entrepreneurship, environmental economics, global warming Tags: British politics, wind power
By Paul Homewood London: 14 November 2024 Another windfarm surpasses £1 billion in subsidy payments
Another windfarm surpasses £1 billion in subsidy payments
Hedy Lamarr and ‘WiFi’ during WWII
10 Nov 2024 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economic history, entrepreneurship, movies, war and peace Tags: World War II
Hedy Lamarr, born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler in 1914 in Vienna, Austria, is best known for her work as a Hollywood actress during the Golden Age of cinema. However, her contributions to science and technology, particularly her co-invention of a technology that laid the groundwork for WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS, have garnered increasing recognition. Lamarr’s […]
Hedy Lamarr and ‘WiFi’ during WWII
Biden-Harris policies and their consequences were no surprise to those paying attention
30 Oct 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, budget deficits, business cycles, econometerics, economic growth, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, energy economics, entrepreneurship, environmental economics, financial economics, fiscal policy, global warming, health economics, income redistribution, industrial organisation, law and economics, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking Tags: 2024 presidential election, drug lags, taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment
Milton Friedman used to advise researchers to focus on large policy changes rather than attempting to separate a small change’s signal from the noise. In this sense, the “ambitious” policy agenda of the Biden-Harris administration was expected to be a gift to the research community. Accepting this gift, since 2020 I have been making forecasts…
Biden-Harris policies and their consequences were no surprise to those paying attention
Scott Alexander on the Progress Studies conference
25 Oct 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic growth, economic history, economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, entrepreneurship, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, liberalism, macroeconomics Tags: creative destruction
Here is one excerpt: Over-regulation was the enemy at many presentations, but this wasn’t a libertarian conference. Everyone agreed that safety, quality, the environment, etc, were important and should be regulated for. They just thought existing regulations were colossally stupid, so much so that they made everything worse including safety, the environment, etc. With enough political will, […]
Scott Alexander on the Progress Studies conference
What planet are they on?
09 Oct 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of media and culture, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, survivor principle Tags: creative destruction, legacy media
New Zealand’s newspaper chiefs’ views on how the Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill works is somewhat at odds with the text of the Bill. Google today, admirably, said they’ll stop linking to New Zealand news outlets in search if the Bill goes ahead. News Publishers’ Association’s Andrew Holden and Stuff’s Sinead Boucher aren’t happy about that. But…
What planet are they on?
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
Recent Comments