https://twitter.com/cjsnowdon/status/578909327999762432
….
A.J.P. Taylor said something similar
15 Oct 2016 Leave a comment
in economic history, international economic law, international economics, labour economics, labour supply Tags: age of empires, age of migration, economics of immigration, George Orwell, great migrations
Do trade and investment sanctions against a dictator work?
24 Sep 2016 Leave a comment
in constitutional political economy, international economics, International law, Public Choice
Sanctions only work at all if there is trade and investment to sanction – think of North Korea. This means the autocrat has already liberalised first for there to be trade and investment to sanction. But if the dictator, be it a tin-pot dictator or a totalitarian, has liberalised, it must build loyalty around that liberalisation quickly or risk a coup. All revolutions are palace coups.
Source: Ronald Wintrobe (2002) Dictatorship.
A dictator who agrees to liberalise puts himself in danger of being deposed, and it is no surprise that dictators like Castro, Hussein and Milosevic were all reluctant to do so. The Austro-Hungarian emperor opposed the introduction of railways because he thought they would bring revolution with them.
Neither trade sanctions nor airstrikes worked against Afghanistan under the Taliban. There is nothing to destroy or degrade.
@Greens @PaulineHansonOz are peas in a pod
15 Sep 2016 1 Comment
in international economics, politics - Australia
This chart from coming on 20 years ago by Lyndon Rowe illustrates that the Australian Greens, Pauline Hanson’s One Nation and a now-defunct Australian political party of self-proclaimed do-gooders have plenty in common and still do.
Pauline Hanson and the Australian Greens will vote the same way many times despite the Greens self-righteously boycotting the maiden speech of a fellow economic nationalist.
A pro-poor bias of trade in every country #TPPANoWay @Oxfamnz
26 Aug 2016 Leave a comment
in international economics Tags: free trade
Poor consumers spend relatively more on sectors that are more traded, while high-income individuals consume relatively more services, which are among the least traded sectors.
Source: Pro-poor bias of trade: New research on the expenditure channel | VOX, CEPR’s Policy Portal.
Alchian and Allen on the superfluousness of economic principles to civilisation
13 Aug 2016 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, Armen Alchian, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, economic history, industrial organisation, international economics Tags: industrial revolution, The Great Enrichment, The Great Escape, The Great Fact
Milton Friedman Speaks – Free Trade: Producer vs. Consumer
27 Jul 2016 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, international economics, Milton Friedman Tags: free trade
Yes Prime Minister on a minister of manufacturing @jamespeshaw @julieannegenter
21 Jul 2016 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, economics, economics of bureaucracy, economics of media and culture, industrial organisation, international economics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, rentseeking, survivor principle, television Tags: corporate welfare, industry policy, New Zealand Greens, picking losers, picking winners, Yes Prime Minister
Six-foot tall man found inside a suitcase trying to cross Italy-Switzerland border
07 Jul 2016 Leave a comment
in economics, international economics Tags: economics of immigration
The Brexit vote is about the supremacy of Parliament
30 Jun 2016 Leave a comment
in economics, international economic law, international economics, International law Tags: British economy, British politics, Common market, European Union
Why did voters vote to Leave or Remain? @JulieAnneGenter @Income_Equality
28 Jun 2016 Leave a comment
in constitutional political economy, international economic law, international economics, International law, Public Choice Tags: British economy, British politics, Common market, European Union, pessimism bias, single market, Twitter left, voter demographics
There were few difference across the political spectrum as to why voters voted to Remain or Leave. This is according to Lord Ashcroft’s survey on referendum day of over 12,000 voters.
Source: How the United Kingdom voted on Thursday… and why – Lord Ashcroft Polls
Labour and Tory voters voted to leave to regain control over immigration and sovereignty.
Labour and Tory voters who wanted to remain thought the EU and its single market was a good deal not worth putting at risk. It is all about identity politics, not inequality.
Vote Leave voters are a grumpy lot who think things have been getting worse for 30 years:
Leavers see more threats than opportunities to their standard of living from the way the economy and society are changing, by 71% to 29% – more than twice the margin among remainers…
By large majorities, voters who saw multiculturalism, feminism, the Green movement, globalisation and immigration as forces for good voted to remain in the EU; those who saw them as a force for ill voted by even larger majorities to leave.
% difference between UK’s GDP per capita and EU founding members since 1950
25 Jun 2016 Leave a comment
in economic growth, economic history, international economics, International law
Eurosclerosis started in the 1970s while the British disease came to an end with the election of the Thatcher government so the chart paper is misleading.
Source: Britain’s EU membership: New insight from economic history | VOX, CEPR’s Policy Portal.
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
Recent Comments