As the rest of the world wakes up from the trans fever dream, our media and political class continue to trundle along with their fingers in their ears and their eyes firmly shut. Radio New Zealand has avoided the topic for a while, but a couple of weeks ago treated us to a pantomime story…
CITIZEN SCIENCE: Govt continues to be captured by trans ideology
CITIZEN SCIENCE: Govt continues to be captured by trans ideology
07 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of crime, gender, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: free speech, law and order, political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination
Stopping people dying on the job – Brooke van Velden on workplace safety…
07 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, health and safety, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, politics - New Zealand
More on how trans female athletes damage women’s sports
06 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, gender, law and economics, sports economics Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination
Quillette has a published a “case study” showing how one transgender female athlete can wreak substantial damage not just on one woman, or on one sport, but on a ton of women and in five sports (basketball, rowing, volleyball, tae kwon do, and track). I won’t belabor this, for I’ve already written a lot about […]
More on how trans female athletes damage women’s sports
Cuba Libre
05 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of crime, growth disasters, history of economic thought, human capital, income redistribution, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking Tags: Cuba
Martin Gurri has a very good, deep-dive on the current situation in Cuba. The wreckage of the Cuban economy really can’t be exaggerated. The perpetual blackouts are an apt symbol of a country that is headed for the dark ages. For the first time since the revolution, Cuba is begging the United Nations for food aid. Nearly […]
Cuba Libre
Unfettered: Fishback 25 Years Later
04 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, discrimination, economic history, health and safety, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, occupational choice, poverty and inequality, unemployment, unions Tags: racial discrimination
A quarter century ago, economist Price Fishback published “Operations of ‘Unfettered’ Labor Markets: Exit and Voice in American Labor Markets at the Turn of the Century” 1,762 more words
Unfettered: Fishback 25 Years Later
The Big Lie Behind DEI
04 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, gender, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, occupational choice, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, Public Choice Tags: affirmative action, Age of Enlightenment, free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left, sex discrimination
Below is an article describing how the woke industry started and expanded by advancing a fundamental lie about human happiness and social fairness. The image above calls attention to the notion that sorts individuals into classes and attributes inequalities in status or prosperity to oppression by others. The lie is that any disappointment or disadvantage […]
The Big Lie Behind DEI
“#arrestme”: JK Rowling Dares Scotland to Enforce Anti-Free Speech Law
03 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of crime, economics of education, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, political correctness, regressive left, Scotland
We have previously discussed the growing anti-free speech movement in Scotland with the expanding criminalization of political and religious speech. The new Scottish law is a perfect nightmare for free speech, expanding the potential of a jail sentence for merely insulting language. In response, author JK Rowling has taken a stand and dared the Scottish […]
“#arrestme”: JK Rowling Dares Scotland to Enforce Anti-Free Speech Law
TODD STEPHENSON: FREE SPEECH GOES BOTH WAYS
03 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of crime, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left
Invercargill Mayor Nobby Clark recently found himself in a media furore as he asserted his right to use colourful racial terms. Ratepayers might regret the distraction from local concerns, but part of my job in Parliament is to consider speech issues in a serious way. And I’ve concluded that free speech is indeed under threat…
TODD STEPHENSON: FREE SPEECH GOES BOTH WAYS
TODD STEPHENSON: FREE SPEECH GOES BOTH WAYS
03 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of crime, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left
Invercargill Mayor Nobby Clark recently found himself in a media furore as he asserted his right to use colourful racial terms. Ratepayers might regret the distraction from local concerns, but part of my job in Parliament is to consider speech issues in a serious way. And I’ve concluded that free speech is indeed under threat…
TODD STEPHENSON: FREE SPEECH GOES BOTH WAYS
The crews bracing themselves for a rise in electric car fires
02 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, health and safety, labour economics, law and economics, property rights Tags: electric cars
Firefighter: “Our preferred approach is to let them burn themselves out”. EV fires ‘create a variety of toxic chemicals’. They ‘have to be “quarantined” away from other vehicles even after the fire appears to have been put out’, in case they re-ignite days or even 2-3 weeks later. Other types of car are still available, […]
The crews bracing themselves for a rise in electric car fires
Australia must be welcoming of migrants more than most
01 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in human capital, labour economics, labour supply, politics - Australia, population economics Tags: Australia, economics of immigration
MICHAEL BASSETT: LABOUR’S CRIME LEGACY OF THE LAST THREE YEARS
31 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of education, labour economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
The Labour Government lost the 2023 election when its support halved from 2020. It deserved to lose on economic grounds alone. Covid lockdowns that went beyond the prudent and wrecked livelihoods in the name of saving lives; an orgy of careless spending of borrowed money; and a failure to ensure that the 16,000 extra bureaucrats…
MICHAEL BASSETT: LABOUR’S CRIME LEGACY OF THE LAST THREE YEARS
Productivity Syndrome and the Investment Prescription
30 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, economic growth, economic history, growth miracles, history of economic thought, human capital, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics
Economic productivity is about growing the size of the pie. I sometimes point out that no matter what your goal–spending increases, tax cuts, greater support for the poor, environmental protection–that goal is easier when the economic pie is growing. When the economic pie isn’t growing, after all, then all priorities have to pit potential winners…
Productivity Syndrome and the Investment Prescription
The UK shows why it is one of the most tolerant countries there is
27 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination Tags: British politics, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
Vaughan Gething has just been elected as First Minister of Wales. He is black (his mother is Zambian) and this makes him the first black leader of a country in Europe. It also means that none of the four leaders of the UK are white men. And I (especially) have nothing against white men, but […]
The UK shows why it is one of the most tolerant countries there is
Universal Basic Income: The Freiman-Caplan Debate
27 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, fiscal policy, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, Public Choice Tags: child poverty, family poverty, negative income tax
As expected, I really enjoyed the Institute for Liberal Studies’ UBI debate between myself and Chris Freiman. Chris was definitely the least enthusiastic UBI supporter I’ve debated. All the way to the point of, “Given all the truly promising ideas we have, and the downside risks of the UBI, perhaps I shouldn’t even publicly defend…
Universal Basic Income: The Freiman-Caplan Debate
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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