The Herald reports on Scott Watson: That’s a pretty good sign that Watson shouldn’t be released. Unprovoked violence. And they also report on Clayton Weatherston: The reports referred to his diagnosis of narcissistic personality disorder – specifically characterised as “gross narcissism”. They also mentioned “psychopathy” and categorised Weatherston as being a high risk of reoffending. …
Two killers who shouldn’t get parole
Two killers who shouldn’t get parole
12 Feb 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, health economics, law and economics Tags: crime and punishment
NYRB article attacks the biological definition of sex holding with definitions based on self-identification
12 Feb 2026 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of education, economics of regulation, gender, health economics, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination
I used to subscribe to the New York Review of Books, which, while sometimes a repository for boring academic cat-fights, often included engaging and illuminating articles—until fabled editor Bob Silvers died in 2017. Now, under the leadership of editor Emily Greenhouse, the magazine, always Left-leaning, seems to have become more progressive. The article by gender…
NYRB article attacks the biological definition of sex holding with definitions based on self-identification
The anatomy of usurpation: Climate Clinic Aotearoa v Minister of Energy and Resources
10 Feb 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice Tags: constitutional law
Imagine Parliament passes a Schools Act “to promote the establishment of schools for the benefit of New Zealand.” Parliament is careful. It specifies exactly what the Minister must consider before approving a new school: the operator’s financial capability, site safety, compliance history, and consultation with local iwi. There is no general discretion. There are no […]
The anatomy of usurpation: Climate Clinic Aotearoa v Minister of Energy and Resources
“I Will Not Sit Idly as They Use Me as a Prop”: Is Bill Clinton Moving Back Into Contempt?
08 Feb 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA
The Clintons are again suggesting that they might not agree to a deposition after previously yielding to the threat of…
“I Will Not Sit Idly as They Use Me as a Prop”: Is Bill Clinton Moving Back Into Contempt?
Police Thwart Alleged Assassination of OMB Director Russell Vought
08 Feb 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: crime and punishment, criminal deterrence, law and order, regressive left
There is a chilling story out this morning that another assassination attempt may have been averted. This time, the target…
Police Thwart Alleged Assassination of OMB Director Russell Vought
The Adelaide Writers Festival
07 Feb 2026 1 Comment
in liberalism, war and peace, law and economics, laws of war, economics of crime, discrimination, Marxist economics, defence economics Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, Gaza Strip, Middle-East politics, political correctness, regressive left, war against terror
Juliet Moses writes at Quillette: The furore surrounding the storied Adelaide Writers Festival, the longest-running and largest literary festival in Australia and one that receives significant taxpayer funding, has made international headlines. Our drama ostensibly begins when the Festival’s board disinvites Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah, an Australian writer with Palestinian heritage. Its climax sees a cultural…
The Adelaide Writers Festival
Double murderer has been freed on parole – but would he have been jailed if the Maori Party had been running things 20 years ago?
07 Feb 2026 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand, law and economics, economics of crime Tags: crime and punishment, criminal deterrence, law and order
The New Zealand public learned today that Tauranga double murderer Anthony Doyle has been released on parole after serving 20 years. It turns out he was freed before the New Year. Doyle blasted a couple to death with a shotgun under a bridge near Tauranga in 2005 after a dispute over a drug debt. He […]
Double murderer has been freed on parole – but would he have been jailed if the Maori Party had been running things 20 years ago?
New Zealand Emancipation Day
06 Feb 2026 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of crime, law and economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: age of empires, Age of Enlightenment, constitutional law, economics of slavery, regressive left
Today we celebrate the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi – a day which should be called Emancipation Day. For on the 6th of February 1840, slavery became illegal in New Zealand. The granting of British citizenship to Maori freed the slaves in law (the practice took a while longer to end) Slavery was not…
New Zealand Emancipation Day
The Crown versus The People: Reclaiming New Zealand’s democratic story
06 Feb 2026 Leave a comment
in constitutional political economy, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: constitutional law
In last Waitangi Day’s NZ Herald column, I argued that New Zealand’s sovereignty was not created in a single moment in 1840 but built over generations through practical governance, with Māori and Pākehā participating together. This year’s column takes the next step: asking where that sovereign authority now resides – and what that means for how we […]
The Crown versus The People: Reclaiming New Zealand’s democratic story
Netflix, WBD, and the Myth of the Streaming Monopoly
03 Feb 2026 Leave a comment
in entrepreneurship, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: competition law
The proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) assets by Netflix is already being cast as a landmark antitrust “test case.” If past deals are any guide, the critiques will follow a familiar script: narrow market definitions, selective data points, and headline-friendly market-share claims designed to trigger alarm. Yet in a video ecosystem defined by…
Netflix, WBD, and the Myth of the Streaming Monopoly
Border Security Type I and Type II Errors
03 Feb 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of crime, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: economics of immigration
One way of looking at the a policy of increased ICE enforcement of US border security is as a debate over decision error costs. The expressed goal is to remove the worst of the worst criminals. Few would disagree with this goal. However, in this dragnet, immigrants without criminal backgrounds have also been detained. The…
Border Security Type I and Type II Errors
The execution of deserter Eddie Slovik
01 Feb 2026 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economics of crime, law and economics, laws of war, war and peace Tags: World War II
Eddie Slovik was executed on January 31, 1945, becoming the only American soldier put to death for desertion since the Civil War. Of approximately 40,000 U.S. service members who deserted during World War II, only several thousand were court-martialed. Forty-nine received death sentences, but Slovik was the only one whose sentence was executed. Private Eddie […]
The execution of deserter Eddie Slovik
Colonialism, Slavery, and Foreign Aid (with William Easterly) 12/8/25
01 Feb 2026 1 Comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, economic history, growth disasters, growth miracles, history of economic thought, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, property rights Tags: age of empires, economics of colonialism, economics of slavery
Maarten Boudry on the policing of academia
31 Jan 2026 1 Comment
in defence economics, economics of crime, economics of education, International law, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, war and peace Tags: free speech, Gaza Strip, Middle-East politics, political correctness, regressive left, war against terror
My friend Maarten Boudry, a Belgian philosopher, has been increasingly demonized for his heterodox views, especially on the Hamas/Israel war, since he is sympathetic to Israel (he isn’t Jewish). In the latest post on his Substack site, also published in condensed form in The Jewish Chronicle, Maarten recounts how there is a near-unanimity among European…
Maarten Boudry on the policing of academia
No wonder Te Pāti Māori wants to abolish prisons when Māori make up most of the inmates
30 Jan 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: crime and punishment, criminal deterrence, law and order, regressive left
Te Pāti Māori says it wants to abolish prisons by 2040.
No wonder Te Pāti Māori wants to abolish prisons when Māori make up most of the inmates
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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