In my post Affordable Housing is Almost Pointless, I highlighted how point systems for awarding tax credits prioritize DEI, environmental features, energy efficiency, and other secondary goals far more than low cost. A near-comic example comes from D.C., where so-called affordable housing units now cost between $800,000 and $1.3 million dollars each! One such unit […]
Very Expensive Affordable Housing
Very Expensive Affordable Housing
10 Jun 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, urban economics Tags: housing affordability, offsetting behavior, The fatal conceit, unintended consequences
Hard Landing: The Return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia
09 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: economics of immigration

Below is my column at Fox.com on the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia and what lies ahead in the case. Regardless of the outcome of the criminal prosecution, one thing seems virtually certain: Abrego Garcia will eventually go home . . . to El Salvador. Here is the column:
Hard Landing: The Return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia
A CALCULATED RESTRAINT: WHAT ALLIED LEADERS SAID ABOUT THE HOLOCAUST by Richard Breitman
08 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, war and peace Tags: Nazi Germany, The Holocaust, World War II

(Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin at Yalta 2/1945) The most frequent question concerning the Holocaust centers on what allied leaders knew about the genocide against the Jews and what they spoke about it in public and private. In previous monographs, FDR AND THE JEWS and OFFICIAL SECRETS: WHAT THE NAZIS PLANNED AND […]
A CALCULATED RESTRAINT: WHAT ALLIED LEADERS SAID ABOUT THE HOLOCAUST by Richard Breitman
British Blasphemy Prosecution: London Man Convicted After Burning Qur’an
05 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics Tags: Blasphemy, British constitutional law, British politics, free speech, political correctness, regressive left

We recently discussed how the United Kingdom has continued its erosion of free speech by pushing an effective blasphemy law. Now, a London man has been convicted of a “religiously aggravated public order offence.” Hamit Coskun, 50, a Turkish-born Armenian-Kurdish atheist was arrested after burning a Qur’an.
British Blasphemy Prosecution: London Man Convicted After Burning Qur’an
No Exit, No Entry
05 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, growth disasters, growth miracles, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, property rights, Public Choice, survivor principle Tags: employment law, India
In our textbook, Modern Principles, Tyler and I contrast basic U.S. labor law, at-will employment—where employers may terminate workers for any reason not explicitly illegal (e.g., racial or sexual discrimination), without notice or severance—with Portugal’s “just cause” regime, which requires employers to prove a valid reason, give advance notice, pay severance, and endure extensive regulatory […]
No Exit, No Entry
The Ultra Vires Reach of the Resource Management Act: Te Tiriti Obligations, Private Citizens, and the Erosion of Legal Boundaries
05 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: constitutional law
Zoran Rakovic writes – This essay argues that the New Zealand government has acted ultra vires by interpreting and applying the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) in ways that impose Te Tiriti o Waitangi obligations upon private citizens and resource consent applicants without express statutory authority or due compensation. The practice violates foundational principles of […]
The Ultra Vires Reach of the Resource Management Act: Te Tiriti Obligations, Private Citizens, and the Erosion of Legal Boundaries
The Execution of Anne Boleyn: A Turning Point in Tudor History
04 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of love and marriage Tags: British history

Anne Boleyn, the second of Henry VIII’s six wives, is arguably the most famous. In 1523, she was betrothed to Henry Percy, the son of the Earl of Northumberland, but the engagement was abruptly called off. At the time, Anne was serving as a maid of honor to Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII’s first wife. […]
The Execution of Anne Boleyn: A Turning Point in Tudor History
Again, There is No Right to a Stable Climate
04 Jun 2025 1 Comment
in constitutional political economy, economics of bureaucracy, economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, resource economics Tags: climate activists, climate alarmism, nuisance suits

Announced this week was this from Inside Climate News: Trump Executive Orders Violate Young People’s Rights to a Stable Climate, a Lawsuit Alleges. Excerpts in italics with my bolds. Twenty-two young people from across the country sued the Trump administration over the executive orders, which prioritize the expansion of fossil fuels. The complaint, filed Thursday […]
Again, There is No Right to a Stable Climate
SCOTUS Slaps Down Green Overreach: 8-0 Ruling Frees Infrastructure from NEPA Shackles
03 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, environmental economics, environmentalism, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice
he fact that the project might foreseeably lead to the construction or increased use of a separate project does not mean the agency must consider that separate project’s environmental effects
SCOTUS Slaps Down Green Overreach: 8-0 Ruling Frees Infrastructure from NEPA Shackles
Bill Maher’s latest rule
01 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA, television, TV shows
Here’s the latest comedy/news stint from Bill Maher’s “Real Time” show, a “New Rule” segment called “Freak-end update”, referring of course to Diddy’s “Freak offs,” his drug-fueled sex orgies often involving prostitutes. Diddy is very likely to be convicted (you’ve seen the tape, right?), and it will be a huge come-down from his status as […]
Bill Maher’s latest rule
The Eminent Domain Racket: New Jersey Move to Condemn Church Could Put Court in a Pickle
31 May 2025 Leave a comment
in law and economics, politics - USA, property rights

This week, The New York Times reported that the town of Toms River, New Jersey, is moving to condemn the Christ Episcopal Church through eminent domain to build pickleball courts and a park. Church members claim that the move was retaliation for a planned homeless shelter at the site. The case could raise one of the […]
The Eminent Domain Racket: New Jersey Move to Condemn Church Could Put Court in a Pickle
Impressions of Buchenwald—A Hell on Earth
30 May 2025 1 Comment
in defence economics, economics of crime, International law, law and economics, war and peace Tags: Nazi Germany, The Holocaust

When people hear or read the name of a concentration camp, they often assume there is only one camp. In fact, most main Camps had subcamps—Buchenwald had approximately 100 subcamps. (You can find the list of the camps at the end of this post.) This piece will show photographs of Buchenwald and some testimonies from […]
Impressions of Buchenwald—A Hell on Earth
Jesus ‘n’ Mo ‘n’ blasphemy
30 May 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, economics of religion, law and economics Tags: Blasphemy, British politics, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
The latest Jesus and Mo cartoon, called “sky,” came with the caption, “Important court case today.” It’s this, from the National Secular Society: The prosecution of a man on trial tomorrow for burning a Quran could edge the UK “dangerously close to a prohibition on blasphemy”, the National Secular Society has warned. Hamit Coskun will stand […]
Jesus ‘n’ Mo ‘n’ blasphemy
Liability for Climate Change: An Inequitable Economic Disaster
29 May 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: climate alarmism, nuisance suits
What is already clear are the serious and senseless economic consequences that will follow if states are allowed to punish fossil fuel companies for their lawful past production.
Liability for Climate Change: An Inequitable Economic Disaster
Amon Göth—Pure Evil
25 May 2025 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economics of crime, law and economics, laws of war, war and peace Tags: Nazi Germany, The Holocaust, World War II

Amon Göeth was sentenced to death and was hanged on 13 September 1946 at the Montelupich Prison in Kraków, not far from the site of the Płaszów camp, the camp he had been in charge of until two years, to the date, prior to his execution. On 13 September 1944, he was relieved of his […]
Amon Göth—Pure Evil
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