January 27, 2025 What is the best title given to any New Zealand legislation? My money is on the 1877 Education Act – ‘An Act to make Further Provision for the Education of the People of New Zealand’ – the People of New Zealand. So as early as the 1870s there’s the commitment to a…
ELIZABETH RATA: Oral Presentation to the Parliamentary Justice Committee on the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill
ELIZABETH RATA: Oral Presentation to the Parliamentary Justice Committee on the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill
28 Jan 2025 1 Comment
in economic history, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: constitutional law, racial discrimination
MICHAEL BASSETT: REFORMING THE WAITANGI TRIBUNAL
27 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in economic history, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: constitutional law, racial discrimination
So loud are the squeals from the likes of Debbie Ngarewa-Packer against the new appointments to the Waitangi Tribunal that I can only assume that Minister Tama Potaka has got things right. And that the new members are likely to shake the organisation into some sort of compliance with its mission that was set out…
MICHAEL BASSETT: REFORMING THE WAITANGI TRIBUNAL
A Wartime Natural Experiment About Copyright
26 Jan 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, defence economics, econometerics, economic history, economics of education, economics of information, economics of media and culture, economics of regulation, industrial organisation, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, war and peace Tags: patents and copyrights, World War II
One of the hardest questions in copyright policy is: “What would have happened otherwise?” When Disney lobbies for longer copyright terms or academic publishers defend high subscription fees, we struggle to evaluate their claims because we can’t observe the counterfactual. What would happen to creativity and innovation if we shortened copyright terms or lowered prices? […]
A Wartime Natural Experiment About Copyright
Trump’s new sex and gender policy
25 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, gender, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: free speech, law and order, political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination
If you want to see a compilation of all of Trump’s executive orders, you can find links here that will take you to the contents of the official orders. I’ve talked about the new rules on sex and gender before, but wanted to discuss them again, briefly. Click the screenshot below to see Trump’s EO […]
Trump’s new sex and gender policy
The Tennessee-BlackRock Settlement: A Win for Transparency and Investor Interests
24 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, financial economics, global warming, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: active investing, climate activists, climate alarmism, efficient markets hypothesis
While no settlement is perfect, this agreement represents a significant victory for transparency, accountability, and the integrity of financial markets. For Tennessee investors—and indeed, all investors across the country—it’s a step in the right direction.
The Tennessee-BlackRock Settlement: A Win for Transparency and Investor Interests
Trump Pardons and Commutations Included Violent Offenders Who Assaulted Police Officers
24 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: 2020 presidential election, 2024 presidential election, crime and punishment, law and order
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump stated that the roughly 1500 pardons and commutations for J6 defendants issued Monday night are not the final resolution of cases. The President indicated that some commutations may be converted into full pardons. What is now clear is that the executive action includes violent offenders. That is wrong regardless of […]
Trump Pardons and Commutations Included Violent Offenders Who Assaulted Police Officers
The DEI preference cascade
23 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, behavioural economics, discrimination, economics of bureaucracy, economics of education, economics of information, economics of media and culture, economics of regulation, gender, labour economics, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice Tags: affirmative action, Age of Enlightenment, free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left, sex discrimination
The Final Corruption of Joe Biden
23 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election, crime and punishment, law and order
Below is my column in the Hill on the decision of Joe Biden to end his presidency with a final act of ignominy. The use of his pardon authority to protect his own family members was the final corruption of Joe Biden. Here is the column:
The Final Corruption of Joe Biden
The Sting: Joe Biden Delivers the Final Blow to Mainstream Media
23 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election
Below is my column on the Biden family pardons in Fox.com. President Joe Biden merely confirmed the worst expectations of his critics. The true condemnation rests with those in the media who enabled the Biden influence-peddling operation. Here is the column:
The Sting: Joe Biden Delivers the Final Blow to Mainstream Media
Trump Issues Major New Executive Order Impacting Higher Education
23 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of education, gender, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election, affirmative action, free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left, sex discrimination
Last night, I discussed a new executive order signed by President Donald Trump that included an extension of his earlier move against “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) policies to the area of higher education. The order makes direct reference to the decision of the United States Supreme Court in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, […]
Trump Issues Major New Executive Order Impacting Higher Education
“Where there is smoke there is fire”
23 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, Karl Popper, law and economics Tags: conjecture and refutation, philosophy of science
The aphorism “Where there is smoke there is fire” suggests that if there are signs or symptoms of a situation or problem, then there must be an underlying cause or reality. However, relying on this saying can sometimes be fallacious, primarily due to the hasty generalization or false cause fallacy it may imply. 1. Hasty […]
“Where there is smoke there is fire”
The End of Shock and Awe: How the Justice Department Made the Case for the J6 Pardons
22 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: 2020 presidential election, 2024 presidential election
Below is my column in the New York Post on the pardoning of the January 6th defendants by President Donald Trump. The scope of the pardon appears broader than some had hoped. What is clear is that any such relief should not extend to violent actors, particularly those who attacked police officers. However, the Justice […]
The End of Shock and Awe: How the Justice Department Made the Case for the J6 Pardons
A pessimist’s reasons to be optimistic in 2025
22 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, labour economics, law and economics, macroeconomics, politics - New Zealand
The year ahead: Oliver Hartwich reflects on nearly five decades of living through technological transformation – and finds a giant wellspring of optimism Oliver Hartwich writes – When Newsroom’s editor Jonathan Milne invited me to write one of two special pieces for the summer break, I faced quite the conundrum. My options were to either […]
A pessimist’s reasons to be optimistic in 2025
DON BRASH: Equality is not a dirty word
21 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, health economics, income redistribution, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: constitutional law, racial discrimination
Surely, in a liberal democracy, there are few words more chilling to read written in earnest than the “flawed concept of ‘equality’”. But there they were, in print, in an opinion piece by the National Urban Māori Authority’s Lady Tureiti Moxon published in the NZ Herald on Tuesday last week. The Treaty Principles Bill has…
DON BRASH: Equality is not a dirty word
“Leading Legal Constitutional Scholars”: Biden Again Cites Liberal Professors for an Absurd Constitutional Claim
20 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in law and economics, politics - USA Tags: constitutional law
In his final week as president, Joe Biden again invoked liberal professors to justify a plainly absurd constitutional argument by declaring that the 28th Amendment is now ratified. By invoking “leading legal constitutional scholars,” Biden only added redundancy to absurdity in claiming that the Equal Rights Amendment is now law. Unfortunately, this pattern has been […]
“Leading Legal Constitutional Scholars”: Biden Again Cites Liberal Professors for an Absurd Constitutional Claim
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
Recent Comments