Dr Oliver Hartwich writes – Last week, an Uber driver surprised me in a conversation about the recent Court of Appeal decision classifying four Uber drivers as employees rather than contractors. My driver was blunt. He has no desire to be an employee. He values his flexibility to take breaks and drive when and where […]
Uber ruling – driving in the wrong direction
Uber ruling – driving in the wrong direction
09 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, occupational choice, occupational regulation, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, transport economics, urban economics Tags: employment law, Uber
Hunter Biden Discovers There is No “Nicer” Way to Say “I’m Guilty”
08 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election
Below is my column in Fox.com on the Hunter Biden guilty plea. The plea proved vintage Hunter Biden for all of the wrong reasons. The effort to plead guilty without admitting guilt left him looking like the most privilege person since Marie Antoinette. However, it was consistent with a bizarre criminal defense that never seemed […]
Hunter Biden Discovers There is No “Nicer” Way to Say “I’m Guilty”
The Assassination of President William McKinley
07 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA
The 25th president of the United States, William McKinley, was assassinated on September 6, 1901, during a public event at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. McKinley was attending a reception at the Temple of Music, where he was greeting members of the public as part of his duties at the exposition, a grand […]
The Assassination of President William McKinley
Hunter Biden Loses Game of Chicken With Himself
06 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election
Below is my column in the New York Post on the sudden guilty plea from Hunter Biden in his federal tax case. It was not the plea but the timing of the plea that was the surprise. What is missing is any cognizable legal strategy in waiting until the first day of the trial to […]
Hunter Biden Loses Game of Chicken With Himself
Transwomen and sex offending
06 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, gender, law and economics Tags: crime and punishment, free speech, law and order, political correctness, regressive left
Friedman vs Stiglitz: Estonia and Poland vs. Argentina and Venezuela
06 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, development economics, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, entrepreneurship, growth disasters, growth miracles, history of economic thought, income redistribution, industrial organisation, international economics, labour economics, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, poverty and inequality, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, survivor principle Tags: Argentina, Chile, Poland, regressive left, Venezuela
About 10 days ago, i showed that Milton Friedman was a much better economist than Joseph Stiglitz by comparing Chile (which followed Friedman’s ideas) and Venezuela (which followed Stiglitz’s ideas). It was a slam-dunk win for Friedman. Chile started poor and has become relatively prosperous. The opposite happened in Venezuela, which started relatively prosperous and […]
Friedman vs Stiglitz: Estonia and Poland vs. Argentina and Venezuela
The pro-Hamas protests resume big time at Columbia
05 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economics of crime, economics of education, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: free speech, Gaza Strip, Middle-East politics, regressive left, war against terror
I am not being hyperbolic by saying the protestors are “pro-Hamas” rather than “pro-Palestinian,” as they themselves extol Hamas (see below). What kind of student would glorify muderous terroristic thugs? Columbia ones, of course. You didn’t have to be a rocket scientist to predict that pro-Palestinian protests which violate campus regulations, as well as the […]
The pro-Hamas protests resume big time at Columbia
Interview with Greg Mankiw: New Keynesian Macro, Growth, and Economic Policy
04 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, budget deficits, business cycles, development economics, econometerics, economic growth, economic history, Edward Prescott, fiscal policy, great depression, history of economic thought, labour economics, law and economics, macroeconomics, Milton Friedman, monetarism, monetary economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, Robert E. Lucas, unemployment
Jon Hartley interviews Greg Mankiw on topics including New Keynesian macroeconomics, growth, and economic policy more broadly at his Capitalism and Freedom website (August 20, 2024, video and transcript available). Here are a few of the comments that caught my eye. On big models and small models in studying the macroeconomy: [O]n the issue of…
Interview with Greg Mankiw: New Keynesian Macro, Growth, and Economic Policy
Robert Reich Calls for the Arrest of Elon Musk for Resisting Censorship
04 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, liberalism, politics - USA, property rights Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left
C-Span Screengrab We have previously discussed the anti-free speech views of Clinton’s former Labor Secretary, Robert Reich, who has tried to sell citizens on the perfectly Orwellian view that more freedom means tyranny when it comes to the freedom of expression. He also demanded that former president Donald Trump be banned from ballots as a…
Robert Reich Calls for the Arrest of Elon Musk for Resisting Censorship
California Scuttles Reparations Bills As Supporters Denounce a Political Bait-and-Switch
04 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: economics of slavery
We have previously discussed (here and here and here and here) the push for reparations in California that has been touted by California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Demcrats for years. After campaigning on the issue in past elections, I wrote a column about how this bill had come due after years of delay for study and recommendations. The legislature, however, just stamped […]
California Scuttles Reparations Bills As Supporters Denounce a Political Bait-and-Switch
Why Musk’s Lawsuit Against Media Matters . . . Matters
02 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in law and economics, politics - USA Tags: free speech, media bias, political correctness, regressive left
Below is my column in the Hill on the victory of Elon Musk last week against the liberal media outlet, Media Matters. This follows similar recent victories by others against CNN and the New York Times to clear paths to trials. For those who have embraced advocacy journalism as the new model for media, a […]
Why Musk’s Lawsuit Against Media Matters . . . Matters
Six young Israeli hostages murdered by Hamas
02 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in development economics, economics of crime, growth disasters, International law, law and economics, laws of war, war and peace Tags: Gaza Strip, Middle-East politics, regressive left, war against terror
It’s unbelievable that the bulk of American progressive liberals and academics seems to sympathize with a group of terrorist thugs who not only invaded Israel and killed 1,139 people, many in gruesome ways, including killing women after raping them, but also took 250 hostages of various nationalities, including children, into Gaza to use as bargaining […]
Six young Israeli hostages murdered by Hamas
Tackling the problem of electoral corruption: the 1883 Corrupt and Illegal Practices Prevention Act
02 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of crime, law and economics, Public Choice Tags: bribery and corruption, British history, British politics
Marking the anniversary of the passage of the 1883 Corrupt Practices Act, Dr Kathryn Rix, assistant editor of the House of Commons, 1832-1945, begins a series of blog posts on this landmark reform by looking at the key changes made by the act and the motivations behind it. On 25 August 1883, the final day […]
Tackling the problem of electoral corruption: the 1883 Corrupt and Illegal Practices Prevention Act
Marx explained
01 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, Austrian economics, entrepreneurship, history of economic thought, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, occupational choice, poverty and inequality, property rights, Public Choice
Why the @NZGreens are beside the point
31 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, Austrian economics, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, economic growth, economic history, entrepreneurship, growth miracles, history of economic thought, human capital, income redistribution, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, liberalism, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, poverty and inequality, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, technological progress Tags: child poverty, family poverty, The Great Enrichment
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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