An interesting research note from Eric Crampton and at the NZ Initiative on the benefits of devolution on development. It details how Canadian First Nations have transformed their economic fortunes and have built thousands of new homes after gaining powers for planning, zoning, tax, and infrastructure finance. A couple of examples: The Squamish Nation’s 6,000-apartment […]
Devolution and Development
Devolution and Development
18 Oct 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, economics of regulation, labour economics, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, urban economics Tags: Canada
State very expensive landlord
17 Oct 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, industrial organisation, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, urban economics
A report by the New Zealand Initiative shows that the state is a very expensive landlord: Why does the government need to continue owning or managing more than 77,000 housing units, given its poor track record in this area, especially when state assistance can be provided without extensive government ownership? And why does it not […]
State very expensive landlord
Ten Modest Proposals to End the Gender Pay Gap
17 Oct 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, economics of crime, economics of education, gender, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, occupational choice, politics - USA Tags: gender wage gap
An anonymous Swiftian guest essay
Ten Modest Proposals to End the Gender Pay Gap
The Question of Disproportionate Black Imprisonment
16 Oct 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, economics of crime, labour economics, law and economics
One of the most persistent concerns in contemporary criminal justice debates is the disproportionately high number of black people in prison, particularly in countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. At first glance, this imbalance is often assumed to indicate systemic bias or racial discrimination within courts and law enforcement. Yet […]
The Question of Disproportionate Black Imprisonment
French facts of the day
14 Oct 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, fiscal policy, law and economics, macroeconomics, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, urban economics Tags: France
Macron’s government consistently spent more as a share of total output than any other OECD member, with the public sector accounting for over 57% of GDP in 2024. The telling trend is France’s divergence from its neighbors. When Macron took office, France’s debt-to-GDP ratio was 11 percentage points above the Eurozone average; by 2024, that gap […]
French facts of the day
More judicial activism
11 Oct 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: constitutional law, crime and punishment, law and order, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
Roger Partridge writes: When Parliament says gang insignia “is forfeited to the Crown,” citizens are entitled to assume those words mean what they say. Yet on 11 August the District Court ruled otherwise. Judge Lance Rowe directed that a Mongrel Mob vest, seized under the Government’s new Gangs Act 2024 and forfeited following a guilty plea, should nevertheless […]
More judicial activism
We do actually have a transformational government
09 Oct 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic growth, economics of regulation, law and economics, macroeconomics, politics - New Zealand, property rights
Governments of the left like to claim they are transformational, when they’re not. The Ardern Government achieved so little it was the opposite. They used wellbeing as a slogan, and did a couple of disastrous mergers. They spent a lot of money. To be fair the Clark Government did actually achieve some major stuff such […]
We do actually have a transformational government
Two tier justice
09 Oct 2025 1 Comment
in economics of crime, law and economics Tags: British politics, law and order
Guido Fawkes points out: The same judge who spared jail for a man who attacked someone burning a Quran with a knife gave a man a prison sentence for sending nasty email to John Bercow. Rule of lawyers in action… Judge Adam Hiddleston gave Moussa Kadri a 20-week prison sentence, suspended for 18 months. In Knightsbridge […]
Two tier justice
The Green Party Calls for the Abolishment of Private Landlords in the United Kingdom
08 Oct 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, income redistribution, industrial organisation, law and economics, Marxist economics, property rights, Public Choice Tags: British politics
On Sunday, the Green Party in the United Kingdom voted to “abolish” private landlords in a move that reaffirms the…
The Green Party Calls for the Abolishment of Private Landlords in the United Kingdom
UN, EU, ICJ, Climate Cabal want to keep world’s poor impoverished
07 Oct 2025 1 Comment
in development economics, economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, law and economics Tags: climate alarmism
Poor and developing nations need to band together, finance their own energy infrastructure, development, health and prosperity – and tell the carbon colonialists to take a hike.
UN, EU, ICJ, Climate Cabal want to keep world’s poor impoverished
Cassandra Somers-Joce: A New Chapter for Governmental Candour? The Public Office (Accountability) Bill
07 Oct 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of crime, health and safety, health economics, labour economics, law and economics, Public Choice Tags: British constitutional law, British politics, Internet
The Public Office (Accountability) Bill was introduced into the House of Commons on 16 September 2025. It gives effect to the Labour Party’s 2024 Manifesto commitment to introduce a ‘Hillsborough Law’ which will ‘place a legal duty of candour on public servants and authorities and provide legal aid for victims of disasters or state-related deaths’. As the Government’s ‘Duty of […]
Cassandra Somers-Joce: A New Chapter for Governmental Candour? The Public Office (Accountability) Bill
Thursday: Hili dialogue
04 Oct 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, economics of education, law and economics, laws of war, war and peace Tags: evolutionary biology
Welcome to Thursday, October 2, 2025, and Yom Kippur, which occupies all day and ends at sundown (it began at sunset yesterday). Considered the holiest day of the year by religious Jews, it’s the Day of Atonement, marked by fasting, praying, and confessing. There is no work for the very observant: no turning on ovens […]
Thursday: Hili dialogue
Unbeatable: The Brutally Honest Case for Free Markets | Bryan Caplan
04 Oct 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economic growth, economic history, income redistribution, industrial organisation, labour economics, law and economics, liberalism, libertarianism, macroeconomics, Public Choice Tags: The Great Enrichment
Carole Hooven in Tablet on binary sex
03 Oct 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of education, gender, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: free speech, gender gap, political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination
Dr. Hooven (“Carole” to me) has a new piece in Tablet (click headline below to read for free) explaining why all sensible biologists see sex as a binary defined by two (and only two) types of gametes. Perhaps you’ll already be familiar with some of her arguments in the article below (click to read), as […]
Carole Hooven in Tablet on binary sex
Historical omissions plague BBC ‘Palestinian state’ explainer
02 Oct 2025 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economic history, International law, law and economics, property rights, war and peace Tags: Gaza Strip, Israel, Middle-East politics, regressive left, war against terror, West Bank
On July 30th 2025 the BBC News website published an ‘explainer’ article by Paul Adams under the headline “What does recognising a Palestinian state mean?”. Since its initial publication, that article – which currently appears on the website’s ‘Middle East’ page – has been updated several times, including a recent amendment to its introduction: Original […]
Historical omissions plague BBC ‘Palestinian state’ explainer
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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