Introduction Throughout history, territories have frequently changed hands through war, conquest, and annexation. However, the shift in sovereignty—the legal authority to govern and control a territory—should not be conflated with the transfer of private land ownership within that territory. Sovereignty concerns public law and political authority, whereas land ownership is a matter of private law […]
Sovereignty and Land Ownership: Distinct Legal Domains
Sovereignty and Land Ownership: Distinct Legal Domains
11 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in constitutional political economy, economic history, law and economics, property rights Tags: constitutional law
Inciting abuse
08 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights
An email from Don Brash of Hobson’s Pledge explains the plan for its campaign against Māori wards on councils ran into trouble when they used a stock photo of a woman who supports the wards and was very upset when her image was used on billboards. When they learned of her distress they instructed the […]
Inciting abuse
The Indian Wedding
08 Aug 2025 1 Comment
in economics of love and marriage, law and economics Tags: India, marriage and divorce
Another great piece by Samir Varma on Indian marriages—where deep traditions endure, even as subtle revolutions unfold around the edges.. It starts with this kicker: When I told my mother I was marrying my girlfriend, an Italian Jew, she called all my friends in the US asking them to break us up. When that failed, […]
The Indian Wedding
Did the Minnesota housing reform lower housing costs?
07 Aug 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, urban economics Tags: housing affordability, land supply, zoning
Yes: In December 2018, Minneapolis became the first U.S. city to eliminate single-family zoning through the Minneapolis 2040 Plan, a landmark reform with a central focus on improving housing affordability. This paper estimates the effect of the Minneapolis 2040 Plan on home values and rental prices. Using a synthetic control approach we find that the […]
Did the Minnesota housing reform lower housing costs?
Peters and Seymour tussle over ‘Maorification’
07 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in constitutional political economy, economics of regulation, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice Tags: constitutional law
Graham Adams writes – After NZ First leapfrogged Act last month in a Taxpayers’ Union-Curia poll — which led to much media excitement about the party’s rising fortunes — it seemed odd for Winston Peters to be quite so tetchy with journalists seeking his opinion on David Seymour’s views on karakia, traditional Māori prayers or incantations […]
Peters and Seymour tussle over ‘Maorification’
The Reveal: The Public is Finally Learning How Democrats Pulled Off the Greatest Political Trick in History
02 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: 2016 presidential election
Below is my column in Fox.com on the release of the last declassified material on the origins of the Russian collusion investigation. After the release, former CIA Director John Brennan and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper wrote in the New York Times insisted that they never relied on the Steele dossier. The column […]
The Reveal: The Public is Finally Learning How Democrats Pulled Off the Greatest Political Trick in History
El Salvador lengthens future presidential terms, abolishes term limits
02 Aug 2025 1 Comment
in constitutional political economy, development economics, law and economics Tags: El Salvador
Constitutional changes have been approved in El Salvador that will increase the length of the presidential term from five to six years and remove (any pretense) of presidential term limits (AP news). Incumbent President Nayib Bukele is already serving a second term, despite the existing constitution supposedly prohibiting immediate presidential reelection. He was elected initially […]
El Salvador lengthens future presidential terms, abolishes term limits
Mamdani’s unworkable proposal for NYC-owned grocery stores
31 Jul 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economics of regulation, income redistribution, law and economics, Marxist economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, transport economics, urban economics Tags: economics of socialism, regressive left, rent control, useful idiots
Democrat Zohran Mamdani is likely to be the next mayor of NYC, as he proffered a number of campaign promises that delighted progressives young and old. (This is besides his pro-Palestinian stand on the Gaza war, which is irrelevant to his actions as NYC mayor but still delighted the benighted.) Here are a few of […]
Mamdani’s unworkable proposal for NYC-owned grocery stores
Labour always backs the crims
30 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: crime and punishment, criminal deterrence, law and order
Stuff reports: With a new trial for court bailiffs to seize cars if their owners haven’t paid fines, the Labour Party says innocent families could be left “stranded”. The Government is trialling new technology for bailiffs to scan number plates as they search for people who have unpaid fines. They will then clamp or seize […]
Labour always backs the crims
North Carolina School District Settles Case After Suspending Teen for Using Term “Illegal Alien”
30 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of education, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left
Christian McGhee, 17, has secured a significant victory for free speech in North Carolina after the Davidson County Board of Education settled a case over his suspension for using the term “illegal alien.” What is disturbing is that, once again, the school officials themselves appear to have escaped any accountability for their abusive treatment of […]
North Carolina School District Settles Case After Suspending Teen for Using Term “Illegal Alien”
The judicial revolution
30 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice Tags: constitutional law
An excellent article by Roger Partridge on an analysis by Emeritus Professor Peter Watts KC on the Supreme Court’s actions in Ellis vs R. I recommend you read the whole thing, but a key extract is: Before Ellis, tikanga’s role in New Zealand law was clearly defined and limited. As Watts shows, courts recognised tikanga within […]
The judicial revolution
French President Macron: a blockhead whose ignorance will harm Israel
30 Jul 2025 1 Comment
in defence economics, economics of crime, International law, law and economics, laws of war, population economics, war and peace Tags: Gaza Strip, Israel, Middle-East politics, regressive left, war against terror, West Bank
A fair number of countries have decided to recognize Palestine as a sovereign state (the U.N. can’t as it requires Security-Council approval, and the U.S. is on that council). This has had little effect as simple declarations like this have no force in international law (see reference to Natasha Hausdorff below). Now, however, another state […]
French President Macron: a blockhead whose ignorance will harm Israel
BBC portrays terrorist as ‘Pro-Palestinian convict’ and ‘teacher’
29 Jul 2025 1 Comment
in defence economics, economics of crime, law and economics, war and peace Tags: France, Gaza Strip, Israel, Middle-East politics, regressive left, useful idiots, war against terror, West Bank
On July 25th the BBC promoted a report by its Paris correspondent Hugh Schofield: Readers of Schofield’s article – headlined “Pro-Palestinian convict freed by France after 41 years” and tagged “Israel and the Palestinians” and “Palestinian territories” despite the story having no direct connection to either of those topics – are told that: [emphasis added] […]
BBC portrays terrorist as ‘Pro-Palestinian convict’ and ‘teacher’
Revolution by Judicial Decree: A Review of Professor Peter Watts KC’s “Ellis v R, A Revolution in Aotearoa New Zealand, Welcome or Not”
24 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice Tags: constitutional law
Roger Partridge writes – Revolutions conjure images of violent uprisings, the storming of institutions, and the forcible overthrow of existing orders. But constitutional foundations can be destroyed through more subtle means. When judges discard long-established constitutional principles and remake the law according to their preferences, they engage in a revolution that may be no less […]
Revolution by Judicial Decree: A Review of Professor Peter Watts KC’s “Ellis v R, A Revolution in Aotearoa New Zealand, Welcome or Not”
The Milei Miracle, Part II
23 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, budget deficits, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, economic growth, fiscal policy, growth disasters, growth miracles, law and economics, liberalism, libertarianism, macroeconomics, property rights Tags: Argentina
I almost feel sorry for the 108 leftist economists who predicted back in 2023 that Argentina would suffer if Javier Milei won the presidential election. Not only were they disappointed when he enjoyed a landslide victory, but the subsequent events in Argentina have shown that they were wildly wrong (all of which is discussed in […]
The Milei Miracle, Part II
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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