AASLE 2021 Bob Gregory Lecture – Claudia Goldin
23 Nov 2023 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, discrimination, econometerics, economic history, economics of education, economics of information, gender, health and safety, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice Tags: gender wage gap, sex discrimination
My Chris Williamson Interview
23 Nov 2023 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, discrimination, economic history, economics of education, gender, health and safety, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, liberalism, occupational choice, poverty and inequality Tags: gender wage gap, sex discrimination
Several good friends warned me not to publish Don’t Be a Feminist. I appreciate their concern, but I’m glad I kept my own counsel. Here’s my interview with Chris Williamson on the book and beyond. Apparently he’s kind of a big deal…
My Chris Williamson Interview
America’s top one percent has not been seeing a rising income share
18 Nov 2023 Leave a comment
in economic history, entrepreneurship, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, public economics Tags: top 1%
That is the topic of my latest Bloomberg column. The opener is this: Can a single self-published paper really refute decades of work by three famous economists? If the paper is the modestly titled “Income Inequality in the United States: Using Tax Data to Measure Long-Term Trends,” then the answer — with qualifications — is yes. And…
America’s top one percent has not been seeing a rising income share
Queensland University of Technology completely ditches merit-based hiring, favoring gender, “looks”, and personality
18 Nov 2023 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of education, gender, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, poverty and inequality Tags: affirmative action, sex discrimination

This gem of a story is about how one Aussie university went to the logical endpoint of the diversity-trumps-merit controversy: Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane is apparently about to hire solely on the basis of diversity, and has erased any mention of the word “merit” in its hiring policy. This of course is ridiculous, […]
Queensland University of Technology completely ditches merit-based hiring, favoring gender, “looks”, and personality
On the 50th anniversary of the DPB
16 Nov 2023 Leave a comment
in economics of education, gender, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, poverty and inequality, welfare reform Tags: economics of fertility, marriage and divorce
The Domestic Purposes Benefit has been variously described as a “disaster” (David McLoughlin 1995), an “economic lifeline” (Jane Kelsey 1995) and “an unfortunate experiment” (Muriel Newman 2009).Its effect on family formation can never be definitively ascertained. But the growth of the sole parent family dependent on welfare has correlated with more poverty, more child abuse…
On the 50th anniversary of the DPB
Police versus Prisons
13 Nov 2023 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic history, economics of crime, Gary Becker, history of economic thought, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, occupational choice

Here’s a remarkable graph from the Council of Economic Advisers report on incarceration and the criminal justice system. The graph shows that the United States employs many more prison guards per-capita than does the rest of the world. Given our prison population that isn’t surprising. What is surprising is that on a per-capita basis we employ 35% […]
Police versus Prisons
Econ Duel: Is Education Signaling or Skill Building?
11 Nov 2023 Leave a comment
in economics of education, economics of information, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice Tags: signaling
Roland Fryer on Race, Diversity, and Affirmative Action
11 Nov 2023 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, discrimination, economic history, economics of education, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, poverty and inequality Tags: affirmative action, racial discrimination
Still under-policed and over-imprisoned
07 Nov 2023 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, economics of crime, Gary Becker, labour economics, law and economics, occupational choice, Public Choice Tags: crime and punishment, criminal deterrence, law and order
A new paper, The Injustice of Under-Policing, makes a point that I have been emphasizing for many years, namely, relative to other developed countries the United States is under-policed and over-imprisoned. …the American criminal legal system is characterized by an exceptional kind of under-policing, and a heavy reliance on long prison sentences, compared to other […]
Still under-policed and over-imprisoned
Caplan-Singer Debate Video
05 Nov 2023 Leave a comment
in economic growth, economics of education, entrepreneurship, history of economic thought, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, occupational choice, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, public economics Tags: taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment, taxation and labour supply
A year ago, Jonah Franks, who runs Public Intellectuals for Charity, organized a debate between me and Peter Singer on “Do the rich pay their fair share?” I already posted my opening statement, my reflections on the debate, along with two follow-ups on Singer’s “Noble Lie.” The debate video itself, however, was gated for paying…
Caplan-Singer Debate Video
Walter Block on Sexual Discrimination & the Pay Gap(Uncut)
02 Nov 2023 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, Austrian economics, discrimination, econometerics, economic history, economics of education, gender, health economics, history of economic thought, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice Tags: gender wage gap, sex discrimination
Claudia Goldin with Kiana Scott: The Century-Long Fight to Close the Gen…
31 Oct 2023 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, discrimination, economic history, economics of information, gender, health and safety, history of economic thought, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, poverty and inequality Tags: gender wage gap, sex discrimination
Book Review: Race and Culture by Thomas Sowell
29 Oct 2023 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, discrimination, economic history, gender, growth disasters, growth miracles, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, Marxist economics, minimum wage, occupational choice, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, Thomas Sowell

Thomas Sowell is a skilled writer with a powerful ability to combine historical, social science and free-market perspectives. He cuts through the noise and doesn’t mince his words on the sensitive topics of race and culture. In Race and Culture Sowell argues against two common social science doctrines: 1) that all races are equal and […]
Book Review: Race and Culture by Thomas Sowell
A Conflict of Visions by Thomas Sowell
28 Oct 2023 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, economic history, economics of education, gender, history of economic thought, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, liberalism, Marxist economics, occupational choice, poverty and inequality, Thomas Sowell

Another brilliant piece of work by the master, Thomas Sowell. Quite a theoretical book but an incredibly useful framework. I’ve observed numerous recent events through Sowell’s visions since I started reading the book. The ability for ideas to immediately infiltrate one’s framework and lexicon is a true hallmark of greatness. A vision is our natural […]
A Conflict of Visions by Thomas Sowell
Sowell Exposes Social Justice Fallacies
27 Oct 2023 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, discrimination, economic history, economics of crime, gender, history of economic thought, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, occupational choice, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, Thomas Sowell, urban economics Tags: gender wage gap, racial discrimination, sex discrimination

Matthew Lau reviews Thomas Sowell’s latest book Social Justice Fallacies in a Financial Post article: No sacred cows in Thomas Sowell’s takedown of social justice fallacies. Excerpts in italics with my bolds and added images. In his latest book, renowned economist and author demolishes the myths that underpin the social justice movement. Thomas Sowell, age […]
Sowell Exposes Social Justice Fallacies
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