The Government announced: The Coalition Government will support at risk regional air routes with up to $30 million in loans from the Regional Infrastructure Fund for small passenger airlines, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones and Associate Transport Minister James Meager say. “Reliable air services are critical for the economic and social wellbeing of regional New […]
More corporate welfare for airlines
More corporate welfare for airlines
18 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, politics - New Zealand, survivor principle, transport economics
Greens say taxing supermarkets more will lower food prices!
10 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, industrial organisation, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, public economics Tags: competition law
Radio NZ reports: But the Greens’ commerce and consumer affairs spokesperson Ricardo Menéndez March told RNZ that was only “one part of the puzzle” and the government needed to explore all its options – including breaking up the supermarket duopoly. “While we support having new players in the market, Nicola Willis is banking on big […]
Greens say taxing supermarkets more will lower food prices!
Shell abandons huge biofuel project in Netherlands
04 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, industrial organisation, transport economics Tags: biofuels
By Paul Homewood Another one bites the dust: From AFP: British oil giant Shell announced Wednesday it has abandoned construction of one of Europe’s largest biofuel plants in the Netherlands, as it focuses on its fossil fuels business. Faced with weak market conditions, the company last year suspended construction of the […]
Shell abandons huge biofuel project in Netherlands
The Ongoing Tragedy of Cuban Socialism
30 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, econometerics, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, growth disasters, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, law and economics, Marxist economics, property rights, Public Choice Tags: Cuba
I’ve written several articles about the failure of Cuban socialism (2024, 2022, 2021, 2019, and 2016). My leftist friends almost always respond by claiming that U.S.-imposed trade restrictions are the primary reason for Cuba’s terrible economy. Since I like free trade, I certainly agree that trade restrictions are bad for growth (a lesson I wish […]
The Ongoing Tragedy of Cuban Socialism
Why Are Electricity Prices So High?–Dieter Helm
29 Aug 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, industrial organisation Tags: British politics, climate activists, wind power
By Paul Homewood Why is the price of electricity so high? It’s a puzzle, because successive politicians (Blair, Cameron, May, Johnson and now Starmer and Miliband) and lots of lobbyists have told us we should have expected quite the opposite: cheap energy, to be achieved by getting out of fossil fuels. First exit […]
Why Are Electricity Prices So High?–Dieter Helm
World War II Liberty Ships and the Law of Increasing Opportunity Cost
27 Aug 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, defence economics, economic history, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, war and peace Tags: World War II
See ‘Launching Liberty’ Review: Shipyard Victory The U.S. quickly constructed a fleet of vessels to carry vital war supplies across the oceans. Did the rush to build so fast affect quality? by Marc Levinson. He reviewed the book Launching Liberty: The Epic Race to Build the Ships That Took America to War by Doug Most.The Liberty…
World War II Liberty Ships and the Law of Increasing Opportunity Cost
More On Alleged Chinese Dumping
24 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, economic history, entrepreneurship, growth miracles, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, international economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: free trade, tariffs
TweetHere’s a second note to a commenter at my Facebook page. Mr. Schlomach: Commenting on my Facebook page, you allege that China ‘dumps’ goods in the U.S. and, in doing so, “has used our love of cheap stuff to suck our country of strategically critical technology/industry.” By suggesting that your fellow Americans buy stuff simply…
More On Alleged Chinese Dumping
Mad Miliband’s British Net Zero Industrial Collapse
23 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, industrial organisation, survivor principle Tags: British politics
Another steel mill just entered administration.
Mad Miliband’s British Net Zero Industrial Collapse
An attempt to lower NZ electricity prices could end up doing the opposite – here’s why
23 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in energy economics, industrial organisation, politics - New Zealand Tags: competition law
Richard Meade writes – In its quest to lower electricity prices for New Zealand households, the Electricity Authority may inadvertently make the situation worse. This week, the authority announced plans to require New Zealand’s “gentailers” – firms that both generate electricity and retail it to consumers – to offer the same supply terms to independent retailers as […]
An attempt to lower NZ electricity prices could end up doing the opposite – here’s why
Milei’s Achievements…and Challenges
17 Aug 2025 1 Comment
in development economics, economic growth, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, fiscal policy, growth disasters, income redistribution, industrial organisation, labour economics, law and economics, liberalism, libertarianism, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, monetary economics, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking, unemployment Tags: Argentina
I’m back in Argentina, the South American country with the world’s best leader. What Javier Milei has accomplished is amazing. And the economic effects have been wonderful. One of my meetings earlier this week was with Marcelo Elizondo, the head of the International Chamber of Commerce for Argentina. He shared a presentation with me that […]
Milei’s Achievements…and Challenges
For a de minimus threshold for mergers
16 Aug 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, industrial organisation, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice Tags: competition law, merger law enforcement
I’ve spent the last couple of days at the Competition Law and Policy Institute’s annual workshop.Webb-Henderson’s Lucy Wright made a good case for a de minimus threshold for merger controls. Small mergers could have a safe harbour, or mergers in markets of insufficient NZ importance.If we need to set a monetary threshold for a market…
For a de minimus threshold for mergers
A Final Attempt to Explain My Disagreement With John Lott on Trump’s Tariffs
13 Aug 2025 1 Comment
in applied welfare economics, industrial organisation, international economics, politics - USA Tags: tarrifs
TweetHere’s a follow-up letter to a new correspondent. Mr. K__: Thanks for your follow-up email, and no need to apologize for what you call your “continued confusion about tariffs as taxes.” It’s I who apologize for communicating unclearly. So, especially because you’re not the only person who I managed to confuse, I’ll take one more…
A Final Attempt to Explain My Disagreement With John Lott on Trump’s Tariffs
Is anyone worth a billion dollars?
12 Aug 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation Tags: superstar wages
That is the topic of my latest Free Press column. Excerpt: …in recent years they [Meta] have moved into AI in a big way. Over that same time period, the valuation of the company has risen from about $236 billion in November 2022 to almost $2 trillion at the end of this July. The reasons for […]
Is anyone worth a billion dollars?
The US Auto Industry: Evolving, not Evaporating
09 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in economic history, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, survivor principle, transport economics, urban economics
One of those facts that “everyone knows” is that the US auto industry has been crushed by foreign competition. As Adam Ozimek points out in “Myths and Lessons from a Century of American Automaking” (Economic Innovation Institute, August 1, 2025), while the US car industry certainly no longer features large manufacturing plants in the city…
The US Auto Industry: Evolving, not Evaporating
The economics of the U.S. auto industry, a brief history
03 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in economic history, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, survivor principle
From Adam Ozimek: The economic value of the cars being made has climbed substantially through the years. As a result, real value added and industrial production — two different ways of measuring actual output — are now at all-time highs. And this: What about jobs? The auto industry today employs 1 million workers. Between 1950 and […]
The economics of the U.S. auto industry, a brief history
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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