Labour leader can no longer pretend to be the Man Who Wasn’t There Graham Adams writes – When Chris Hipkins replaced Jacinda Ardern as Prime Minister in January 2023, the legacy media preposterously promoted him as a new broom. By promising a “policy bonfire” of some of the issues that had led to Labour’s plunging […]
Hipkins’ role as Covid czar thrust into spotlight
Hipkins’ role as Covid czar thrust into spotlight
16 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in health economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: anti-vaccination movement, economics of pandemics
ORIGINAL SIN: PRESIDENT BIDEN’S DECLINE, ITS COVERUP, AND HIS DISASTROUS DECISION TO RUN AGAIN by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson
14 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in health economics, politics - USA

(Biden family photos sat behind President Joe Biden as he delivered his address to the nation) Ever since the Anita Hill hearings in October 1991 I have had little respect for Joseph Biden. As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, he was responsible for her receiving a fair and respectful hearing – a task that […]
ORIGINAL SIN: PRESIDENT BIDEN’S DECLINE, ITS COVERUP, AND HIS DISASTROUS DECISION TO RUN AGAIN by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson
Technology Transfer and Development Economics
14 Jul 2025 1 Comment
in development economics, health economics, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, international economics Tags: technology diffusion

Willis Carrier invented modern air conditioning around 1904 but technological innovations often take a long time to travel to less developed regions of the world. FT.
Technology Transfer and Development Economics
#TheGreatEscape
11 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic history, growth disasters, growth miracles, health economics Tags: India, Pakistan
Why do Māori have to rely on deceased kidney donors?
08 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in health economics, politics - New Zealand

Systemic racism or an inconveniently multifaceted set of problems requiring uncomfortable conversations Ani O’Brien writes – It is a fact that the life expectancy of Māori is lower than New Zealanders of European descent. It is also a fact that the life expectancy of New Zealanders of European descent is lower than that of Asian […]
Why do Māori have to rely on deceased kidney donors?
Ouch
06 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in health economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: economics of pandemics
Sir Ian Taylor starts his open letter to Jacinda Ardern with praise for the initial Covid response but then he gets critical: . . . People put politics aside and tried to help. Offering real solutions, safe, proven ways to save both lives and livelihoods. Business-led initiatives, technology-enabled tracking, controlled pilot programs. These were not […]
Ouch
US Health Care Expenditures: An Ominous Trend Returns?
04 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in health economics, politics - USA Tags: health insurance
In the 2010s, it appeared that US health care expenditures as a share of GDP had peaked. But there group at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that continually carries out and updates these estimates and forecasts. Their most recent projections suggest that US health spending is about to start rising again as a…
US Health Care Expenditures: An Ominous Trend Returns?
Vaccines matter
29 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in economic history, health economics Tags: anti-vaccination movement, cranks, vaccines
Vaccines rule
28 Jun 2025 1 Comment
in health economics Tags: anti-vaccination movement, The Great Escape, vaccines
An important article by Andrew Sullivan
27 Jun 2025 1 Comment
in discrimination, gender, health economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination
Before I leave for the airport, I wanted to call people’s attention to this new, long op-ed piece by Andrew Sullivan in the NYT. Click to read, or find it archived for free here: Sullivan’s thesis is that extreme trans-activism has not only been inimical for society in several ways, but has also eroded respect […]
An important article by Andrew Sullivan
The Great Escape
25 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in economic history, health economics Tags: cancer survival rates, The Great Escape
Racial Disparities in Mortality by Sex, Age, and Cause of Death
25 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, econometerics, health economics, politics - USA Tags: cancer survival rates, life expectancies, racial discrimination
Racial differences in mortality are large, persistent and likely caused, at least in part, by racism. While the causal pathways linking racism to mortality are conceptually well defined, empirical evidence to support causal claims related to its effect on health is incomplete. In this study, we provide a unique set of facts about racial disparities […]
Racial Disparities in Mortality by Sex, Age, and Cause of Death
Polio
24 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in economic history, health economics Tags: anti-vaccination movement, vaccines
Is ‘by Maori for Maori’ shifting the dial?
21 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of bureaucracy, health economics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice Tags: racial discrimination
On June 18, 2025, Health New Zealand published extensive data (March 2025 quarter) in a two-page spread contained in The Post. I assume this was replicated in other New Zealand newspapers. Included were childhood immunisation rates. At the bottom of the table for full immunisation at 24 months are Northland and Tairawhiti districts (improving trend) followed…
Is ‘by Maori for Maori’ shifting the dial?






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