We do not know whether technological unemployment swept across England in the wake of the British Industrial Revolution. In this paper, I propose an approach to quantify jobs lost to, and created by, creative destruction in the 19th century. Using over 170 million individual records from the full-count British census (1851–1911), I generate sub-industry “task”…
Technological unemployment in Victorian Britain
Technological unemployment in Victorian Britain
29 Apr 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, economic history, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice Tags: creative destruction
The Washington Post vs Elizabeth Warren
25 Apr 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of media and culture, fiscal policy, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, politics - USA, Public Choice, public economics Tags: taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment, taxation and labour supply
People sometimes will get excited about big-picture tax fights – whether politicians should raise taxes, whether they should add a VAT, or whether they should scrap the IRS for a flat tax. On the other had, there are a handful of tax issues that induce drowsiness but are nonetheless very important for purposes of tax […]
The Washington Post vs Elizabeth Warren
Does this have implications for higher ed in particular?
20 Apr 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of education, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, population economics
Declining fertility and population loss pose significant challenges for state and federal local governments responsible for providing a range of services to citizens, including education, health care, and infrastructure. Indeed, many areas are already experiencing outright population decline, with roughly half of U.S. counties losing population between 2010 and 2020. This paper examines how shrinking…
Does this have implications for higher ed in particular?
The Laffer Curve and Limits to Class Warfare Tax Policy, Part II
19 Apr 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, entrepreneurship, fiscal policy, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, public economics Tags: taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment, taxation and labour supply
In Part I of this series back in 2014, we looked at some academic research from Canada showing that the revenue-maximizing tax rate on the richest taxpayers was 27.5 percent. A key insight from that research is that high-income taxpayers have considerable control over the timing, level, and composition of their income (just like in […]
The Laffer Curve and Limits to Class Warfare Tax Policy, Part II
Interview with Ellen McGrattan: Business Cycles and Intangible Capital
17 Apr 2026 Leave a comment
in business cycles, Edward Prescott, entrepreneurship, financial economics, global financial crisis (GFC), great recession, history of economic thought, human capital, labour economics, macroeconomics, monetary economics, occupational choice, Robert E. Lucas
Tim Sablik of the Richmond Fed interviews “Ellen McGrattan: On measuring what businesses do, developing effective tax policy, and searching for answers beyond the lamppost” (Econ Focus: Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, First/Second Quarter 2026). Here are a few of the comments that caught my eye: How did McGrattan become interested in business cycles? In…
Interview with Ellen McGrattan: Business Cycles and Intangible Capital
Why “Gini Coefficients” Are Meaningless
09 Apr 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of education, entrepreneurship, financial economics, history of economic thought, human capital, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, poverty and inequality
I created the 8th Theorem of Government because it’s important to distinguish between people who want to help the poor and people who want to punish the rich. The former group has good motives while the latter group has ignoble motivations. Envy (common among the leftist intelligentsia) Public choice (common among leftist politicians) Zero-sum illiteracy […]
Why “Gini Coefficients” Are Meaningless
Claudia Goldin and the WNBA
30 Mar 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, gender, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, managerial economics, occupational choice, organisational economics, personnel economics, sports economics Tags: gender wage gap
After Claudia Goldin became the first woman to win a solo Nobel in economics in 2023, she received hundreds of invitations and requests. She accepted just three. One of them was advising the WNBA players union as the women prepared to negotiate a new labor deal with the league. When Goldin replied via email to Terri Carmichael Jackson,…
Claudia Goldin and the WNBA
Bet On It Book Club: For a New Liberty, Chapter 7
28 Mar 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, economics of education, human capital, labour economics, libertarianism, Murray Rothbard, Public Choice Tags: signaling
SummaryIn this chapter, Rothbard makes the case for the abolition of public schooling. While he somewhat surprisingly views Friedman’s voucher system as “a great improvement over the present system in permitting a wider range of parental choice and enabling the abolition of the public school system,” Rothbard will settle for nothing less than the separation…
Bet On It Book Club: For a New Liberty, Chapter 7
A worthwhile trade off
25 Mar 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, occupational choice, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: employment law, offsetting behavior, unintended consequences
Susan Hornsby-Geluk writes: Among the most controversial aspects of the recently enacted Employment Relations Amendment Act 2026 is the introduction of a high-income threshold for personal grievance claims. Under the new provisions, employees earning $200,000 or more in annual remuneration will lose the right to bring a personal grievance for unjustified dismissal, or an unjustified…
A worthwhile trade off
The taboo idea you can’t discuss in academia
21 Mar 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of education, human capital, labour economics Tags: free speech, IQ, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
My friend the Belgian philosopher Maarten Boudry is writing about what he calls, correctly, “the most dangerous idea in academia”—an idea that can get you banned or even fired if you even suggest it. It is, of course, the notion that different “races” differ on average in IQ or intelligence. It’s such a hot potato…
The taboo idea you can’t discuss in academia
Medical Council proposes striking off doctors who disagree with their political views
17 Mar 2026 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of education, economics of regulation, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, liberalism, Marxist economics, occupational choice, occupational regulation, politics, politics - New Zealand
The Medical Council has proposed a statement on cultural competence that is basically a political litmus test. It is outrageous overreach, and an example of why Parliament needs to rein in all these regulatory bodies. No one would object to a statement that doctors must be respectful of all cultures and beliefs, while undertaking their…
Medical Council proposes striking off doctors who disagree with their political views
Fleecing Rich Taxpayers: Europe vs. the United States
13 Mar 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, entrepreneurship, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, politics - USA, Public Choice, public economics Tags: taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment, taxation and labour supply
I frequently make the point that America’s tax system is more progressive than European tax systems. But not because the United States imposes higher tax rates on upper-income households. Instead, the big difference is that lower-income and middle-class households in the United States face much lower tax burdens than their European counterparts. In those columns, […]
Fleecing Rich Taxpayers: Europe vs. the United States
Eat the Rich: Sanders and Khanna Introduce Federal Billionaires Tax
12 Mar 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic growth, entrepreneurship, financial economics, fiscal policy, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, liberalism, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment, taxation and labour supply
Below is my column on Fox.com on the new push by Democrats to impose a wealth tax nationally. While the…
Eat the Rich: Sanders and Khanna Introduce Federal Billionaires Tax
Will Denmark and/or the Netherlands Copy Norway’s Failed Wealth Tax?
02 Mar 2026 1 Comment
in fiscal policy, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, public economics Tags: Denmark, taxation and entrepreneurship
Class-warfare tax policy is always a bad idea. Economists generally don’t like class-warfare policies because it is foolish to impose high marginal tax rates on productive behaviors such as investment and entrepreneurship. Politicians should not like class-warfare policies because of the negative impact on jobs and wages for ordinary people as well as the potential negative […]
Will Denmark and/or the Netherlands Copy Norway’s Failed Wealth Tax?
Eat the Rich: California Democrats Trigger a Reverse Gold Rush with a Wealth Tax
16 Feb 2026 Leave a comment
in entrepreneurship, fiscal policy, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, public economics Tags: California, regressive left, rule of law, taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment, wealth tax
Below is my column in the California Post and New York Post on the exodus of wealthy taxpayers from the state as Democrats seek to trap them with a retroactive wealth tax. They are engineering a type of reverse Gold Rush as up to a trillion dollars leave the state with a line of U-Hauls […]
Eat the Rich: California Democrats Trigger a Reverse Gold Rush with a Wealth Tax
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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