The FSU released: A peer-reviewed paper by a Māori clinical psychologist has been removed from her profession’s journal on the grounds that keeping it accessible could harm Māori. It was not retracted for error, fraud or misconduct, which are ordinarily the only reasons for such an action. Censorship knows no bounds. How dare she have…
More academic censorship
More academic censorship
14 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, health economics, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights
Scientists on sex
09 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in health economics, politics - New Zealand
The Ad Hoc Working Group on sex denialism has submitted on the Legislation (Definitions of Woman and Man) Amendment Bill. Their stance is neither for nor against the Bill, it is to clarify the science.
Scientists on sex
One public servant we could survive without
03 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, health economics, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: economics of smoking
Stuff reports: A Government ministry has taken the time to threaten legal action against Stuff, all over a photo of a 45-year-old magazine used in a Stuff Quiz. On June 26, question five of the Stuff morning trivia quiz asked who appeared on the debut cover of Playboy magazine. To accompany the question, the quiz featured an archive image of a person…
One public servant we could survive without
Will future biomedical advances be low marginal cost?
30 Jun 2026 1 Comment
Most pharmaceuticals involve high upfront costs, to discover and test the drug, and very low marginal costs. Another pill can be printed almost for free. That cost structure favors health systems, such as that of Britain, that try to pay lower for services. They can end up getting a relatively good deal from price discrimination. …
Will future biomedical advances be low marginal cost?
The tobacco black market in NZ in 2025
24 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, health economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: black markets, economics of smoking
I’ve been sent a copy of a report by FTI Consulting on the tobacco black market in NZ. It is referenced here by Retail NZ. It is 63 pages long and full of data. It is produced for the three main tobacco companies in NZ (not surprisingly they are against their product being stolen). Some…
The tobacco black market in NZ in 2025
Should we recriminalize marijuana?
04 Jun 2026 1 Comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, health economics Tags: economics of prohibition
That is the topic of my latest Free Press column. Here is one excerpt: The present and also future of mankind is a world where reasonably high levels of self-discipline are needed to do well. The journalist Daniel Akst pointed this out in his 2011 book Temptation: Finding Self-Control in an Age of Excess, and we…
Should we recriminalize marijuana?
Supply is elastic, installment #1637
31 May 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of crime, economics of regulation, health economics, law and economics, transport economics
With deadly precision, the Trump administration has launched dozens of attacks on small boats in the waters off South America, killing nearly 200 people in a campaign U.S. officials say is meant to curb the flow of illicit drugs to the United States. But almost nine months into the operation, epidemiologists, addiction scientists and public…
Supply is elastic, installment #1637
Bigger than Ben Hur
16 May 2026 1 Comment
in Austrian economics, economics of regulation, health economics, industrial organisation, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand Tags: black markets, economics of smoking
Radio NZ reports: Deakin University associate criminology professor Dr James Martin told RNZ the Australian approach had relied on enforcement to suppress the black market. “This has been really ineffective,” he said. “We’ve got between 50-60 percent of all tobacco and nearly all vaping products in Australia now come from criminal suppliers, and it’s generated…
Bigger than Ben Hur
Grow the Pie, Skip the Sermon
08 May 2026 Leave a comment
in Adam Smith, applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economic history, health economics, history of economic thought, liberalism, Marxist economics
In a recent Substack essay, “The progress movement needs a better theory of progress,” Brink Lindsey argues that the progress movement has settled for too thin a vision. It focuses on wealth creation and technological advance, he says, when it should adopt a “fuller conception of progress”—one that promotes “spiritual welfare” and thicker accounts of…
Grow the Pie, Skip the Sermon
The supply-side story behind falling meth prices in New Zealand
08 May 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of crime, health economics, law and economics
Chris Wilkins, Marta Rychert, and Robin van der Sanden (all Massey University) wrote an article in The Conversation last month about the price of methamphetamine:Methamphetamine has become dramatically cheaper over the past seven years, even as authorities report record seizures, according to the latest New Zealand Drug Trends Survey.The annual online survey of over 8,800…
The supply-side story behind falling meth prices in New Zealand
The Tragic Hysteria of Abortion
06 May 2026 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of crime, gender, health economics, law and economics Tags: abortion law reform
The radical pro-life position — “Abortion is as immoral as murdering a baby” — is easily refuted with a simple thought experiment. Namely: If you could either save one human baby from a fire, or a dozen human embryos, what are you morally obliged to do? 2,263 more words
The Tragic Hysteria of Abortion
Forthcoming – Cuban Infant Mortality and Longevity: Health Care or Repression?
05 May 2026 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of regulation, health economics, Marxist economics, transport economics Tags: Cuba, life expectancies
I have received news that a short article submitted to Health Policy & Planning has been accepted for publication. In the article, I argue that the statistics regarding Cuba’s health care are distorted by the incentives generated by the target system under which physicians must operate (at the threat of penalties). To meet their targets, they re-categorize […]
Forthcoming – Cuban Infant Mortality and Longevity: Health Care or Repression?
Medsafe Delenda Est
01 May 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, health economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: drug lags
Excellent news out of the UK. Abrysvo, a vaccine for RSV administered to pregnant women, reduces infant hospitalisation by 80%. From the BBC:A vaccine during pregnancy which protects newborns against nasty chest infections is cutting hospital admissions of babies by more than 80%, UK health officials say.A virus, called RSV, affects many babies in the first…
Medsafe Delenda Est
This may come as no surprise
30 Apr 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, health economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: black markets
RNZ reports:An RNZ investigation into the tobacco blackmarket found packs of cigarettes and loose tobacco being sold brazenly over the counter at heavily discounted prices.By law, cigarettes have to include pictures and health warnings covering at least 75-percent of the front of the packs. But the cigarettes being sold on the blackmarket are a throw…
This may come as no surprise
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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