The Australian Green party has proposed cancelling all student debt in Australia, as part of an aim for government to provide “free education for life”. However, free education is not free. In an article in The Conversation earlier this month, Bruce Chapman (Australian National University) makes a case against the claim that cancelling student debt…
Try as they might, the Australian Green party can’t make university education free
Try as they might, the Australian Green party can’t make university education free
25 Nov 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of education, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, liberalism, Marxist economics, occupational choice, politics - Australia, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking Tags: College premium, regressive left
Who Matters More in a Move: You or Your Spouse?
04 Nov 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, econometerics, economics of love and marriage, gender, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, occupational choice, poverty and inequality Tags: gender wage gap, marriage and divorce, sex discrimination
New research finds couples are more likely to move for a job when it benefits the man, even when the woman’s career stands to benefit more by movingBy Dalvin Brown of The WSJ. Excerpts:”Couples are moving again for better job opportunities. They are more likely to make those moves when the husband’s earnings stand to…
Who Matters More in a Move: You or Your Spouse?
Aus Deputy PM Chief of Staff resigns due to bullying
19 Oct 2024 Leave a comment
in health and safety, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, politics - Australia, unions
News.com.au reports: Richard Marles’ chief of staff says she is “being bullied out” of her dream job after reporting misbehaviour directly to the Deputy Prime Minister. In a press conference on Thursday morning, Jo Tarnawsky said she “loved” her job working for Mr Marles, whom she had known for “more than 10 years”. But she […]
Aus Deputy PM Chief of Staff resigns due to bullying
The gender gap that dare not speak its name
18 Oct 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, econometerics, economic history, economics of education, gender, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, poverty and inequality Tags: gender wage gap, racial discrimination
Dearth of Green Jobs in UK
15 Oct 2024 Leave a comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice Tags: solar power, wind power
Chris Morrison provides the analysis in his Daily Sceptic article ONS Reveals the Pitiful Number of New Green Jobs Being Created in the U.K. Economy. Excerpts in italics with my bolds and added images. The problem with the green U.K. economy, and its associated destruction of the hydrocarbon environment, is that there are very few […]
Dearth of Green Jobs in UK
In 1900, when most U.S. women baked their own bread and did the laundry by hand, maintaining a home was a full-time job.
07 Oct 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economic history, gender, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice Tags: The Great Enrichment
Rockonomics Highlights
05 Oct 2024 Leave a comment
in labour economics, labour supply, Music, occupational choice
I missed Alan Kreuger’s 2019 book on the economics of popular music when it first came out, but picked it up recently when preparing for a talk on Taylor Swift. It turns out to be a well-written mix of economic theory, data, and interviews with well-known musicians, by an author who clearly loves music. Some […]
Rockonomics Highlights
Creative destruction again
28 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, managerial economics, occupational choice, organisational economics, personnel economics Tags: creative destruction, economics of pandemics
Debunking Hate-and-Envy Tax Policy
27 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic growth, economic history, entrepreneurship, financial economics, fiscal policy, health and safety, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, macroeconomics, occupational choice, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, property rights, Public Choice, public economics Tags: envy, regressive left, taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment
On tax policy, our friends on the left are motivated by envy and hatred. As shown in this Stossel video, Robert Reich is a sad example of this mindset. John Stossel understates his argument. It’s not that Reich is wrong. He’s wildly wrong. There are four points in the video that deserve attention. It is […]
Debunking Hate-and-Envy Tax Policy
Should we keep the wealthy non-diversified? (from my email)
27 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic history, entrepreneurship, history of economic thought, human capital, income redistribution, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, liberalism, Marxist economics, occupational choice, poverty and inequality, Public Choice Tags: top 1%
Byrne Hobart writes to me: One of the purposes of inheritance taxes is to avoid compounding intergenerational wealth. But The Missing Billionaires points out that if all of America’s millionaires had put their money in broad market indices in 1900, their heirs would number 16,000 billionaires, even accounting for taxes, splitting estates among multiple children, etc. So […]
Should we keep the wealthy non-diversified? (from my email)
Equality Act 2010
18 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economic history, history of economic thought, human capital, job search and matching, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, occupational choice, poverty and inequality Tags: British politics, compensating differences, pay equity
The UK’s Orwellian sounding Equality Act 2010 is strikingly Marxist. It demands equal pay for work of equal value where these are defined as follows: A’s work is equal to that of B if it is like B’s work, rated as equivalent to B’s work, or of equal value to B’s work. A’s work is […]
Equality Act 2010
The Economic Consequences of the French Wealth Tax
17 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, economic history, entrepreneurship, fiscal policy, 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
By Eric Pichet, here is the abstract: Despite attempts to ‘unwind’ the Impôt de Solidarité sur la Fortune (‘Solidarity Wealth Tax,’ the French wealth tax) during the last legislature (2002-2007), ISF yields had soared by 2006, jumping from €2.5 billion in 2002 to €3.6 billion. Analysis of the economic consequences of this ISF wealth tax […]
The Economic Consequences of the French Wealth Tax
Tax-Motivated Domestic Migration
17 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic growth, entrepreneurship, Federalism, fiscal policy, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, occupational choice, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, public economics Tags: capital gains tax, taxation and investment taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and labour supply
I’m a big fan of tax competition. I cheer when jobs, investment, and people (or even booze) move from high-tax jurisdictions to low-tax jurisdictions. This increases the rewards for good policy and also increases the punishment for bad policy. Given my interest in the topic, I obviously can’t resist sharing this chart, which shows the […]
Tax-Motivated Domestic Migration
Uber messy
11 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, occupational choice, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, transport economics, urban economics Tags: employment law, Uber
Caught a fun phone call from an accountant after this week’s column over at the Dom Post (and Christchurch Press, etc) on the court’s decision in the Uber case.If Uber drivers are employees, rather than contractors, as the Court sees things, how will depreciation on their cars be handled? Contractors can count all those expenses…
Uber messy
Uber ruling – driving in the wrong direction
09 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, occupational choice, occupational regulation, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, transport economics, urban economics Tags: employment law, Uber
Dr Oliver Hartwich writes – Last week, an Uber driver surprised me in a conversation about the recent Court of Appeal decision classifying four Uber drivers as employees rather than contractors. My driver was blunt. He has no desire to be an employee. He values his flexibility to take breaks and drive when and where […]
Uber ruling – driving in the wrong direction
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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