Here is one link. Of course the proposal is not easy to understand. If it is a Jason Bourne movie, do they add up the number of scenes shot abroad and consider those as a percentage of the entire movie? Does one scene shot abroad invoke the entire tariff? o3 guesstimates that about half of […]
Trump proposes 100% tariff on movies shot outside the United States
Trump proposes 100% tariff on movies shot outside the United States
05 May 2025 1 Comment
in industrial organisation, international economics, movies, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election
Twisted Illogic
02 May 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, international economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: 2024 presidential election, free trade, tarrifs
TweetHere’s a letter to The Hill. Editor: Pres. Trump said that “China probably will eat those tariffs” (“Trump says China ‘probably will eat those tariffs’,” April 29). So the president believes that the tariffs will be ‘eaten’ by China – meaning, he believes the tariffs won’t result in higher prices in America of Chinese goods.…
Twisted Illogic
Can Trump’s Tariff Offensive Deliver New American Jobs?
28 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, international economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election, free trade, tariffs
By Lauren Weber of The WSJ. Excerpts:”Most economists and other experts are skeptical that job creation will happen on a large scale because planning and building new factories is an incredibly complex and lengthy process. Businesses will be reluctant to do that unless they’re sure the investment is worth it over the long term. A fairly…
Can Trump’s Tariff Offensive Deliver New American Jobs?
My debate with Dani Rodrik about tariffs and free trade
22 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, development economics, economic history, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, international economic law, international economics, labour economics, politics - USA, unemployment Tags: 2024 presidential election, free trade, tariffs
This occurred in Knoxville, you can watch it here. Lots of fun, and p.s. I am more of a free trader than he is. We did have some disagreements.
My debate with Dani Rodrik about tariffs and free trade
Ronald Reagan in 1982 on Free Trade
20 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic history, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, international economic law, international economics, liberalism, libertarianism, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: free trade, tariffs
TweetWhen President Ronald Reagan delivered this address in November 1982, I was a 24-year-old graduate student. Radically libertarian at that point for almost six years, I was sufficiently astute enough to know that Reagan wasn’t terrible on most of the issues that I cared about, but I was nevertheless insufficiently mature and astute enough to…
Ronald Reagan in 1982 on Free Trade
Victor Davis Hanson Should Stick to the Classics
18 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economic history, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, international economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election, free trade, tarrifs
TweetHere’s a letter to The Daily Signal. Editor: Suppose I submitted to you an essay in which Thucydides is described as a first-century Roman senator who wrote a biography of Charlemagne – would you publish it? Of course not. The ignorance of such an essay would be palpable. But I would never write such a…
Victor Davis Hanson Should Stick to the Classics
Some Links
14 Apr 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, international economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election, free trade, tarrifs
TweetBob Graboyes masterfully exposes many of the fallacies that fuel Trump’s destructive trade ‘policy.’ Three slices: In 2016, Donald Trump promised, “We’re gonna win so much that you may get tired of winning.” His advisors must have reached that point, as evidenced by the bizarre, incoherent “Liberation Day” tariff policy they helped craft. Trump supporters have…
Some Links
Some Links
13 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, industrial organisation, international economics Tags: 2024 presidential election, free trade, tarrifs
TweetTunku Varadarajan’s “Weekend Interview” in the Wall Street Journal is with the great Dartmouth trade economist and economic historian Doug Irwin. Three slices: In effect, Mr. Trump also slapped tariffs on 10005, Wall Street’s ZIP Code, for America’s markets cowered in horror. Dollar assets experienced such a rout that Mr. Trump himself took notice of…
Some Links
Why Tariffs Don’t Cause and Won’t Fix Trade Deficits
12 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, international economics, politics - USA Tags: free trade, tarrifs, unintended consequences

There’s a fundamental misconception at the root of President Trump’s tariff policies, which is the mistaken claim that the existence of a US trade deficit proves that trade is unfair. There are two related mistaken claims. One is a claim that if tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade were removed, then trade would be balanced.…
Why Tariffs Don’t Cause and Won’t Fix Trade Deficits
Daniel Hannan on the Logical Contradictions in the Case for Trump’s Tariffs
06 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic history, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, international economics, liberalism, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: 2024 presidential election, free trade, tariffs
Tweet The post Daniel Hannan on the Logical Contradictions in the Case for Trump’s Tariffs appeared first on Cafe Hayek.
Daniel Hannan on the Logical Contradictions in the Case for Trump’s Tariffs
Trump’s tariff claims are even stupider than anyone thought
04 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic history, income redistribution, industrial organisation, international economic law, international economics, International law, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: 2024 presidential election, free trade, tariffs
The White House released a list of countries and the tariff rates they charged the US. It was clearly wrong as NZ has an average tariff of around 1.7% on US imports and the list said 20%. I thought it was because they were including our GST of 15%. That would have been very dumb, […]
Trump’s tariff claims are even stupider than anyone thought
Two Questions and Four Ironies About Trump’s Tariffs
03 Apr 2025 1 Comment
in history of economic thought, international economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election, free trade, tariffs
The tariffs also bring to mind several ironies: I only have the time, and frankly the stomach, to put down these few quick thoughts on this one. More later. ** Postscript: Tariffs rather than immigration is the topic of the day, but I was reminded in perusing the Declaration of Independence for this post that…
Two Questions and Four Ironies About Trump’s Tariffs
Uneducated vs educated
03 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economics of bureaucracy, economics of education, economics of information, economics of media and culture, international economics, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics, property rights, Public Choice Tags: Brexit, British politics, political psychology
Political battles historically have been framed as contests between left-wing and right-wing ideologies, with clear distinctions based on policy preferences and socio-economic class interests. However, contemporary political dynamics reveal a new axis of conflict: the division between the educated and the uneducated. This emerging distinction marks a significant departure from traditional political alignments, reshaping electoral […]
Uneducated vs educated
The Protectionism Edition of Economics Humor
01 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, economic history, history of economic thought, income redistribution, industrial organisation, international economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking, survivor principle Tags: 2024 presidential election, free trade, tarrifs

It appears that Trump wants to repeat the mistakes of the 1930s with a global trade war. That is going to be very bad news for workers, consumers, taxpayers, manufacturers, farmers, and exporters. But there are two bits of good news. At least for small slices of the populations First, lobbyists will get rich as […]
The Protectionism Edition of Economics Humor
U.S. Trade Deficit Do Not Mean that We Americans Are Living Beyond Our Means
31 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, Austrian economics, industrial organisation, international economics, labour supply Tags: free trade, tariffs
TweetHere’s a note to a new correspondent. Mr. P__: Thanks for your feedback on Phil Gramm’s and my piece, in yesterday Wall Street Journal, on trade deficits. You believe that I “and Sen. Gramm omit that every US trade deficit means Americans are consuming more than they are producing, a habit that is unsustainable.” With…
U.S. Trade Deficit Do Not Mean that We Americans Are Living Beyond Our Means
Recent Comments