Michael Johnston writes – The way the government went about rolling back 33 pay equity claims lodged under the last government’s Pay Equity legislation was clumsy at best. The changes were made under urgency and applied retrospectively. It was not a good look. Predictable howls of rage and furious accusations ensued. Critics say the government […]
Govt fiscal constraints are the elephant in the pay equity room
Govt fiscal constraints are the elephant in the pay equity room
11 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, fiscal policy, gender, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking Tags: gender wage gap, pay equity, sex discrimination
“An Evolving Economic Force,” A Conversation with Claudia Goldin
03 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, econometerics, economic history, gender, health and safety, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, poverty and inequality Tags: gender wage gap, sex discrimination
The gender wage gap uses bogus statistics | FACTUAL FEMINIST
02 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, econometerics, economics of regulation, gender, health and safety, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: gender wage gap, sex discrimination
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 Supreme Court Delivers a Blow to Transgender Cases
21 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of regulation, gender, health economics, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination
Yesterday, the Supreme Court issued its 6-3 ruling upholding a Tennessee ban on transgender medical treatments for adolescents. The ruling has major implications for pending transgender cases, particularly the concurrence of Justice Amy Coney Barrett rejecting the claim that transgender status qualifies as a group entitled to heightened scrutiny under the Constitution. One of those […]
The Supreme Court Delivers a Blow to Transgender Cases
U. S. Supreme Court affirms Tennessee’s ban on medical “gender-affirming care”
20 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in gender, health economics, politics - USA
In 2023, Tennessee passed a bill to restrict access of minors to “affirmative care”, though only minors who wanted blockers or hormones to assume the identity of his/her non-natal sex or to relieve gender dysphoria. Tennessee is now one of 15 states that has passed laws restricting affirmative care. Note, though, that hormones and blockers […]
U. S. Supreme Court affirms Tennessee’s ban on medical “gender-affirming care”
What Explains Growing Gender and Racial Education Gaps?
16 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, econometerics, economic history, economics of love and marriage, gender, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, occupational choice, poverty and inequality Tags: gender wage gap, racial discrimination, sex discrimination
In the 1960 cohort, American men and women graduated from college at similar rates, and this was true for Whites, Blacks and Hispanics. But in more recent cohorts, women graduate at much higher rates than men. Gaps between race/ethnic groups have also widened. To understand these patterns, we develop a model of individual and family […]
What Explains Growing Gender and Racial Education Gaps?
Counting the Cost
01 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, gender, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, politics - New Zealand, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: constitutional law, gender wage gap, sex discrimination
For all the gravitas which Dame Marilyn’s involvement has conferred upon PSCPE, it is important not to lose sight of the fact that it represents a deliberate attempt to morally overpower what is now the law of the land. Chris Trotter writes – The People’s Select Committee on Pay Equity (PSCPE) is looking for evidence. […]
Counting the Cost
US State-Level Abortion Regulations: Causes and Effects
23 May 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, econometerics, economic history, gender, health economics, labour economics, politics - USA, population economics Tags: abortion law reform
Regulations about abortion are often wildly controversial. But what effects to they actually have? Caitlin Myers addresses these issues in “From Roe to Dobbs: 50 Years of Cause and Effect of US State Abortion Regulations” (Annual Review of Public Health 2025, pp. 433-446). As a starting point, consider the years before and after the 1973 US Supreme Court…
US State-Level Abortion Regulations: Causes and Effects
The cost of Labour’s botched pay equity scheme
23 May 2025 1 Comment
in discrimination, gender, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, politics - New Zealand, poverty and inequality Tags: gender wage gap, sex discrimination
The Herald reports: During her Budget presentation, Willis said that pay equity costs in 2020 were initially expected to reach $3.7b but there had since been a “blowout” with costs rising steeply, especially due to Labour’s 2022 decision to fund claims in the “funded sector”. The exact figure isn’t known, but as they have announced […]
The cost of Labour’s botched pay equity scheme
Stuff’s hypocrisy laid bare
16 May 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, gender, politics - New Zealand Tags: media bias, sex discrimination
They have published numerous articles decrying sexist abuse of MPs, and then they turn around and publish a column by one of their own journalists calling female Ministers a bunch of cu**s. The greatest sign of their hypocrisy is from this note by then then Dominion Post editor: So the Editor of the DP explicitly…
Stuff’s hypocrisy laid bare
Willis responds to Vance celling her a c**t
12 May 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, gender, health and safety, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, politics - New Zealand, poverty and inequality Tags: gender wage gap, sex discrimination
Nicola Willis writes: Having the C-word directed at me by a journalist in a mainstream publication wasn’t on my bingo-list for Mother’s Day 2025. Nor was being accused of “girl-math”. But there you have it, that’s what was thrown at me and my female colleagues in a recent newspaper column as hopelessly devoid of facts as it […]
Willis responds to Vance celling her a c**t
Does he know what a woman is now?
07 May 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, economics of education, gender, health and safety, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, politics - New Zealand, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: gender wage gap, sex discrimination
Labour leader Chris Hipkins has joined the chorus of those opposing changes to pay equity legislation. Does this mean he knows what a woman is now? It is easy for opposition parties and their allies to criticise proposed changes but Heather du Plessis-Allan points out the problem with existing legislation: . . . Those pay […]
Does he know what a woman is now?
Some weak evidence in favour of an information intervention in economics to close the gender gap
05 May 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, econometerics, economics of education, experimental economics, gender, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice Tags: gender gap, sex discrimination
I’ve written a couple of times about information interventions designed to attract more female students to study economics (see here and here). The results have generally been disappointing. That shouldn’t be too much of a surprise. If it was really simple to get people to change their behaviour with information, then advertising would be far…
Some weak evidence in favour of an information intervention in economics to close the gender gap
Misguided branch of British Medical Association rejects UK’s Supreme Court decision that “woman” is defined by biological sex
04 May 2025 1 Comment
in discrimination, gender, law and economics, property rights Tags: free speech, gender gap, political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination
As I reported two weeks ago, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom voted unanimously to affirm that the term “woman” under the legal Equality Act refers only to biological women and not trans-identified men. That means that a biological male holding a gender reassignment certificate would not have the same legal status as a […]
Misguided branch of British Medical Association rejects UK’s Supreme Court decision that “woman” is defined by biological sex
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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