Quotation of the Day…

Tweet… is from page 53 of the late, great Harold Demsetz’s excellent 2008 book, From Economic Man to Economic System: Adam Smith and Thomas Malthus differed in their forecasts of mankind’s future. Smith (1776), in his Wealth of Nations, offered an optimistic view, basing this on his understanding of the new economic system that began…

Quotation of the Day…

Margaret Thatcher, Michael Curley, and the 19th Theorem of Government

In this 12-second video, Margaret Thatcher is talking about the Labour Party in the United Kingdom, but her warning has universal application. And when I say her warning has universal application, I’m not joking. Politicians generally can’t resist the temptation to buy votes. And I fear that this can and will happen at all levels […]

Margaret Thatcher, Michael Curley, and the 19th Theorem of Government

Bad leaders solicit bad advice

When Jacinda Ardern became Prime Minister, she was determined to increase income for children in welfare-dependent families – her magic bullet for solving child poverty. The Welfare Expert Advisory Group, led by Cindy Kiro, was convened to make the desired recommendations. A number of evidence briefs were provided to the group, one concerned the “likely…

Bad leaders solicit bad advice

Winston Peters: “Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi – Deletion” Bill…

The New Zealand Centre for Political Research dipped into the Parliamentary archives and retrieved Winston Peters’ speech on the first reading of New Zealand First’s “Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi – Deletion” Bill on 8 June 2005   Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) : I move, That the Principles of the Treaty […]

Winston Peters: “Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi – Deletion” Bill…

The Acemoglu arguments against high-skilled immigration

Here is Daron Acemoglu’s Project Syndicate piece, mostly critical on high-skilled immigration. Here is the first argument from Acemoglu: …one would expect corporate America’s growing need for skilled STEM workers to translate into advocacy for, and investments in, STEM education. But an overreliance on the H-1B program may have broken this link and made American […]

The Acemoglu arguments against high-skilled immigration

Some Links

TweetGMU Econ alum Holly Jean Soto busts the myth of “greedflation.” Scott Lincicome identifies an interesting contrast between the facts and opinion about China. George Will decries the spinelessness of the modern U.S. Congress. A slice: The incoming president will be able, on a whim, to unilaterally discombobulate international commerce — and the domestic economy…

Some Links

Willis on targeting vs universality

The Herald reports: She said the current system was problematic in that many entitlements were claimed by wealthy people and paid for by hiking taxes on workers of all income levels. “There are a lot of entitlements and support that have crept into the middle and upper class, and I would prefer to have a […]

Willis on targeting vs universality

Evolving Returns to Personality

Weanalyze trends in labor-market returns to psychological traits using data from half a million Finnish men from 2001 to 2015. Cognitive skills’ value declined, while noncognitive skills’ value increased. Our novel findings show that extraversion drives this rise, while conscientiousness remains stable. Extraversion’s rising returns are most pronounced for lower earners and those on the […]

Evolving Returns to Personality

Left-Wing Economists Were Wildly Wrong about Javier Milei and his Libertarian Agenda for Argentina

It’s easy to mock economists. Consider the supposedly prestigious left-leaning academics who asserted in 2021 that Biden’s agenda was not inflationary. At the risk of understatement, they wound up with egg on their faces.* Today, we’re going to look at another example of leftist economists making fools of themselves. It involves Argentina, where President Javier […]

Left-Wing Economists Were Wildly Wrong about Javier Milei and his Libertarian Agenda for Argentina

JOHN MENDZELA: Submission on the Treaty Principles Bill

4 January, 2025 Justice Committee Parliament of New Zealand Dear Committee Members, I wish to make a submission on the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill that you will be considering in the near future. As the map below demonstrates, I have independently consulted on governance and management in dozens of diverse nations. Many…

JOHN MENDZELA: Submission on the Treaty Principles Bill

Ruth Richardson on the Treaty Principles Bill

Ruth Richardson’s submission on the Treaty Principles Bill is excellent. I’ve copied it below.

Ruth Richardson on the Treaty Principles Bill

DON BRASH: DAME TARIANA TURIA – MAY SHE REST IN PEACE

I didn’t have the privilege of working with Dame Tariana in any substantive way but I developed a very high regard for her integrity and commitment to the wellbeing of New Zealanders, and especially Maori New Zealanders of course. The National Party did very well in the 2005 general election, increasing its Parliamentary representation from…

DON BRASH: DAME TARIANA TURIA – MAY SHE REST IN PEACE

Quotation of the Day…

Tweet… is from page 496 of the 2011 revised and enlarged edition of Thomas Sowell’s 2009 book Intellectuals and Society (original emphasis): Another common tactic and flaw in the arguments of the intelligentsia is eternalizing the transient. Thus statistical trends in the share of the nation’s income going to “the rich” (however defined) and “the…

Quotation of the Day…

Stuff refusing to run ads on the Treaty

Hobson’s Pledge reports: We attempted to book the Sunday Star Times, The Post, the Christchurch Press, and The Southland Times. It would have been a tidy sum of money for the financially beleaguered media outlet… Our ad was very simple. Just words on a page communicating what is at the heart of the debate – equal rights. Vote […]

Stuff refusing to run ads on the Treaty

Atheist Orthodoxy: The Freedom From Religion Foundation Censors Scientist Over Transgender Views

The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) is under fire this week after it censored a leading scientist, atheist, and board member, Jerry Coyne, a professor emeritus of ecology at the University of Chicago. The FFRF took down a column in which Coyne published a column titled “Biology is not bigotry,” a critique of an earlier […]

Atheist Orthodoxy: The Freedom From Religion Foundation Censors Scientist Over Transgender Views

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