All About Tariffs
31 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic history, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, international economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: tarrifs
I have made no secret of me deep skepticism about President Trump’s tariff policies since he announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs in April 2025. My first-blink “Thoughts on the Trump Tariffs” from a few days after the announcement has held held up reasonably well, and I have posted follow-ups on the subject a number of…
All About Tariffs
I like maps
23 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in economic history, international economics, International law Tags: economics of borders, maps
The blockade is working
18 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in defence economics, energy economics, international economics, resource economics, war and peace Tags: Iran, Middle-East politics
Erick Erickson writes: Crude exports from the Persian Gulf are back at pre-war levels. J.P. Morgan puts the 10-day average at 17.5 million barrels a day, which is 98 percent of where it stood before the war. Goldman Sachs estimates the region exported 19 million barrels a day over the past week. Brent has come…
The blockade is working
War Provides Arbitrage Opportunities
12 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, defence economics, energy economics, industrial organisation, international economics
Arbitrageurs profit by buying where prices are low and selling where prices are high. But what happens when transporting the product is dangerous? According to The Wall Street Journal, oil producers in the Persian Gulf are paying $30–$40 million for tankers to make dangerous trips through the Strait of Hormuz. The tankers carry oil out…
War Provides Arbitrage Opportunities
Why did efficiency wages fall out of favour – AI explanation part 1
29 Sep 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic history, history of economic thought, human capital, industrial organisation, international economics, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, poverty and inequality, survivor principle, unemployment Tags: efficiency wage
President Trump Stubbornly Clings to Archaic Mercantilist Economics
22 Sep 2026 Leave a comment
in Adam Smith, applied price theory, economic history, history of economic thought, income redistribution, industrial organisation, international economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: free trade, tarrifs
He who dies with the most hoarded cash does not, in fact, win.
President Trump Stubbornly Clings to Archaic Mercantilist Economics
The unfair competition argument and the push for a ‘Temu tax’
21 Sep 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, international economics Tags: free trade, tariffs
There are many arguments put forward for why trade should be restricted. In my ECONS102 class last week, as part of our topic on international trade and globalisation we covered five of the most common, each of which has a little story that goes along with it:The jobs argument: Trade with other countries will lower…
The unfair competition argument and the push for a ‘Temu tax’
Our New Amicus Brief in the Section 301 Tariff Case
15 Sep 2026 Leave a comment
in international economics, law and economics, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: child labour, free trade, tarrifs
The Cato Institute, Michael McConnell, and I filed an amicus brief in litigation challenging Trump’s massive Section 301 tariffs, which use “forced labor” as a pretext for sweeping protectionism.
Our New Amicus Brief in the Section 301 Tariff Case
The case for unilateral recognition
11 Sep 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of information, economics of regulation, industrial organisation, international economic law, international economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, regulation
Bilateral, plurilateral, and multilateral are words that New Zealand’s civil service love. There is nothing that can’t be improved by doing it in concert with others. Sometimes there’s good reason for just doing stuff. New Zealand made the right decision when it unilaterally slashed all of its tariffs. It also progressed all the other trade agreements that helped…
The case for unilateral recognition
Quotation of the Day…
06 Sep 2026 Leave a comment
in David Friedman, international economics
Tweet… is from page 179 of David Friedman’s superb 1996 book, Hidden Order: A capital inflow occurs because foreign investors can get a higher real interest rate here than at home. If the reason the interest rate is high is, as sometimes asserted, that Americans have become increasingly impatient, unwilling to give up present utility…
Quotation of the Day…
Quotation of the Day…
05 Sep 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, industrial organisation, international economics
Tweet… is from page 213 of Menzie Chinn’s and Douglas Irwin’s superb 2025 textbook, International Economics: The past few decades have been an era of globalization. Most countries have moved to reduce trade barriers and take advantage of growing world trade. How have they done so? One way a country can reduce its tariff and…
Quotation of the Day…
The power of incentives with illegal migration
08 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in Economics of international refugee law, international economic law, international economics, International law, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: economics of immigration
At the end of June the Spanish Supreme Court ruled that migrants arriving by sea could not be summarily deported. A few weeks later 60,000 people from Morocco crossed in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, almost doubling their population in a few days. People smugglers exploit situations. This is why you need harsh preventive measures.…
The power of incentives with illegal migration
Ancient Clay Tablets Show Markets Worked 4,000 Years Before Economists Explained Them
21 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, Austrian economics, development economics, economic history, history of economic thought, international economics, law and economics, property rights
Clay tablets unearthed in Asia Minor reveal a sophisticated commercial order emerging spontaneously nearly four thousand years before economists explained how markets work. By Surse Pierpoint of The American Institute for Economic Research.”A clay tablet from Kanesh, in what is now central Turkey, contains the founding charter of a twelve-partner trading company. Twelve merchants pooled thirty-three…
Ancient Clay Tablets Show Markets Worked 4,000 Years Before Economists Explained Them
Greg Ip Is Mistaken Again About U.S. Trade Deficits
15 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, growth miracles, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, international economics, politics - USA Tags: free trade
TweetHere’s a letter to the Wall Street Journal. Editor: Writing about U.S. trade deficits, Greg Ip declares that “by exporting so much, China effectively forces its trading partners to run deficits” (“The Global Economy Is Threatened Again by Trade Imbalances,” June 12). Wrong. U.S. trade deficits occur whenever foreigners sell more to us than they…
Greg Ip Is Mistaken Again About U.S. Trade Deficits
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