Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
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
16 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: racial discrimination
The Herald reports: Te Pāti Māori MP Tākuta Ferris has doubled down on social media comments he made last week which led to “racist” allegations and an apology from his party. In a new Instagram video, Ferris said it is “unacceptable” for people of other ethnicities to campaign to “take a Māori seat from the […]
Ferris doubled down on his racism
16 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of education, gender, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, gender gap, political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination
Reading time: Whatever. . . You’ll probably guess from the title of this short (150-page) book by Agustín Fuentes (Princeton University Press) that I am not keen on its thesis, and you’d be right. In fact, the thesis is nothing new, even if you have read Fuentes’s article about it in Natural History and Scientific […]
Short (?) review: “Sex is a spectrum”
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
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
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
11 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of education, gender, population economics Tags: evolutionary biology
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?
09 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in labour economics, labour supply, population economics Tags: ageing society, economics of fertility, population bust
07 Sep 2025 1 Comment
in discrimination, economics of education, economics of religion, gender Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination
You may recall that Richard Dawkins, Steve Pinker, and I resigned from the Honorary Board of the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) because they canceled a post I wrote for the FFRF—a statement they first vetted, approved, and published but then removed—without telling me or answering my email inquiries. (My canceled piece is archived here, […]
A schism between secular organizations
06 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of education, gender, health economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination
The American Humanist Association (AHA) is among the most prominent humanist/atheist/skeptical organizations in America, but it’s been getting increasingly “progressive” (read “woke”). You may remember that in 2021 the AHA revoked its “Humanist of the Year” award given to Richard Dawkins 15 years earlier, saying this: Regrettably, Richard Dawkins has over the past several years […]
American Humanist vigorously endorses “affirmative care” with no lower age limit
03 Sep 2025 1 Comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, discrimination, economics of bureaucracy, income redistribution, labour economics, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking
It’s hard to get too much enthusiasm for the Tamaki Makaurau by-election. The Maori roll and seats have become more politicised than ever before, as they are no longer an exercise in ensuring a core level of Maori representation in Parliament, but rather an expression of Maori nationalism. It used to be that the Maori…
The by-election without much choice
01 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of crime, gender, law and economics Tags: crime and punishment, Germany, law and order, political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination, useful idiots
The Herald reports: A German neo-Nazi will be allowed to start serving an 18-month sentence in a women’s prison after he used a new government policy to register a change in gender. Sven Liebich, who has been photographed at far-right rallies wearing a Nazi-style uniform, will be sent to the Chemnitz women’s prison in Saxony, […]
A cunning neo-nazi
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
30 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in economic history, labour economics Tags: economics of slavery
Rewriting History: The truth about slavery and the British Empire Ani O’Brien writes – You’d think from the way some people talk that the British Empire invented slavery, ran it single-handedly, and then quietly slunk away in shame. That’s the cartoon version of history pushed by activists who want every discussion of colonisation to be […]
Slavery: A human crime, not a British one
Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
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