The population bust
02 Oct 2025 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic history, growth miracles, labour economics, labour supply, population economics Tags: ageing society, China, population bust
Part I: Yes, Taxes Change Behavior
26 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic growth, entrepreneurship, fiscal policy, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, Public Choice, public economics Tags: taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment, taxation and labour supply
From a big-picture economic perspective, I worry most about the damage of high tax burdens on innovation, entrepreneurship, and investment. Those are things that generate enormous benefits for society, yet also things that are very sensitive to bad tax policy (specifically high marginal tax rates and the tax code’s bias against saving and investment). Sadly, […]
Part I: Yes, Taxes Change Behavior
Newsflash! The super-rich are mobile, and higher taxes incentivise them to move away
25 Sep 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, Public Choice, public economics Tags: taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment
The super-rich are super-mobile. So, if a country decides to increase taxes on the super-rich (for example, with a wealth tax), some (but not all) of the super-rich will simply move elsewhere. This should not be a surprise to anyone. And yet, simplistic proposals to tax the super-rich are a favourite policy for some political…
Newsflash! The super-rich are mobile, and higher taxes incentivise them to move away
Michael Clemens on H1-B visas
24 Sep 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, economic growth, economic history, entrepreneurship, human capital, international economics, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, politics - USA Tags: economics of immigration
From 1990 to 2010, rising numbers of H-1B holders caused 30–50 percent of all productivity growth in the US economy. This means that the jobs and wages of most Americans depend in some measure on these workers. The specialized workers who enter on this visa fuel high-tech, high-growth sectors of the 21st century economy with skills like computer […]
Michael Clemens on H1-B visas
The evolution of the economics job market
24 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of education, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, managerial economics, occupational choice, organisational economics, personnel economics
In the halcyon days of 2015-19, openings on the economics job market hovered at around 1900 per year. In 2020, Covid was a major shock, but the market bounced back quickly in 2021 and 2022. Since then, though, the market has clearly been in a funk. 2023, my job market year, saw a sudden dip […]
The evolution of the economics job market
Pro-worker changes to Holidays Act
23 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in labour economics, labour supply, politics - New Zealand
Labour, Greens and the media would have you believe the changes to Holidays Act are some sort of assault on workers. In fact, they generally improve things for employees. The CTU, to be fair, has been quite balanced with their comments – unlike the hysteria from Labour and Greens. The case for change is massive. […]
Pro-worker changes to Holidays Act
German political parties remain too far from the median voter
21 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in international economic law, international economics, International law, labour economics, labour supply, politics, Public Choice Tags: economics of immigration, Germany
Our estimates indicate that the AfD’s vote share would shrink by as much as 75% if the CDU adopted its immigration stance. These results suggest that the electoral success of populist parties is strongly linked to genuine policy preferences, rather than being driven solely by dissatisfaction with political elites or protest voting. That is from […]
German political parties remain too far from the median voter
The United States vs. Europe, Part IV
17 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic growth, economic history, economics of regulation, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: European Union
I put a lot of focus on “convergence” and “divergence” because economic theory says rich countries should not grow faster than poor countries. So when there are examples of divergence, especially when looking at decades of data, we can learn very important lessons about economic policy. Those lessons, in every single case, teach us that […]
The United States vs. Europe, Part IV
Predistribution, Not Redistribution, in the Nordic Countries
15 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic growth, economics of education, fiscal policy, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking Tags: Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden
Maybe it’s just because I live in Minnesota, a state where the differences between immigrants from Sweden, Norway, and Finland are still apparent in the names of towns and the surnames of people. But when I run into people who would prefer that the US distribution of income be more equal, they often point to…
Predistribution, Not Redistribution, in the Nordic Countries
A labour law reform that works for workers
14 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, personnel economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: employment law
Roger Partridge writes – Every day, New Zealand workers clock longer hours than their peers in most developed nations yet produce far less value per hour worked. This productivity paradox has haunted our economy for decades, condemning workers to lower wages and longer working days. Now, Parliament has a chance to help change this cycle. […]
A labour law reform that works for workers
Red Tape and Unintended Consequences
13 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, environmental economics, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, occupational regulation, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: France
I’ve written endlessly about the negative effect of high tax rates on productive behavior, as well as some quirky examples of how taxes lead to some unintended consequences. Today, let’s consider how government regulations distort behavior. We’ll start with a video from Reason about government policies that backfire. In this case, note the second example. […]
Red Tape and Unintended Consequences
Why Do Americans Work So Many Hours?
10 Sep 2025 1 Comment
in health economics, labour economics, labour supply, politics - USA
Compared to workers in most other high-income countries, Americans tend to work more hours per year. Here’s a figure from the OECD, which is based on taking the total number of hours worked in an economy and dividing it by the number of workers for the most recent year available. Because different countries will measure…
Why Do Americans Work So Many Hours?
Population bust
09 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in labour economics, labour supply, population economics Tags: ageing society, economics of fertility, population bust
David Splinter on how much tax billionaires pay
30 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, entrepreneurship, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, public economics Tags: taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment
Here is his comment on the paper presented here: Summary: The U.S. tax system is highly progressive. Effective tax rates increase from 2% for the bottom quintile of income to 45% for the top hundredth of one percent. But rates may be lower among those with the highest wealth. This comment starts with the “top 400” […]
David Splinter on how much tax billionaires pay
The smallest gender pay gap in history
28 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, econometerics, economic history, gender, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, politics - New Zealand, poverty and inequality Tags: gender wage gap, sex discrimination
Stats NZ reports: The gender pay gap was 5.2 percent in the June 2025 quarter, down from 8.2 percent in the June 2024 quarter, according to figures released by Stats NZ today. “The June 2025 quarter gender pay gap of 5.2 percent is the lowest since the series began in 1998,” labour market spokesperson Abby […]
The smallest gender pay gap in history
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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