There has been a fair bit of discussion over the Ocker court decision re Uber and their dishonest ways. In many countries, including Oz and New Zealand, Uber came in and set up illegal operations. In New Zealand they put anyone who wanted a go on their books. At that time New Zealand had rather […]
Uber
Nikole Hannah-Jones on reparations for descendants of slaves
21 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of crime, economics of education, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, occupational choice, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: affirmative action, free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left

As you know, I go back and forth on the question of affirmative action for college and professional-school admissions, and even after I thought I’d settled on a view (i.e., give some preference to minorities among those equally qualified for admission), it still keeps changing. After I read the long New York Times piece below […]
Nikole Hannah-Jones on reparations for descendants of slaves
GARY JUDD KC: On judicial imperialism
19 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, law and economics, liberalism, libertarianism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, property rights
Why judges must ‘stay in their lane’ This article with minor differences was published by The Law Association’s Law News on 15 March 2024 Provoked by the Supreme Court’s decision in Smith v Fonterra and others [2024] NZSC 5, Professor James Allan, Garrick Professor of Law at the University of Queensland, a Canadian who taught law at…
GARY JUDD KC: On judicial imperialism
Spot on Orwell
18 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economics of crime, law and economics, war and peace
Marriage Fundamentalism: Professor Criticizes Marriage as an Institution Built on “White Heteropatriarchal Supremacy”
17 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of love and marriage, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left

George Mason Professor Bethany Letiecq is at the center of a firestorm of controversy over his article in the Journal of Marriage and Family declaring that the institution of marriage plays a key role in white supremacy. In considering what she labels “marriage fundamentalism,” Letiecq lashes out at the “two-parent married family” model. It is the […]
Marriage Fundamentalism: Professor Criticizes Marriage as an Institution Built on “White Heteropatriarchal Supremacy”
100 Years of Rent Control in Sweden
17 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, history of economic thought, income redistribution, law and economics, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking, urban economics Tags: rent control, Sweden

Bet On It reader Vanja Månborg knows a lot about rent control in Sweden. If you think Sweden is a country of thoughtful technocrats where government intervention works well, reading his guest post may make you think again. Here’s Vanja:Sweden has had rent control regulations since 1917 with less than two decades of pause between…
100 Years of Rent Control in Sweden
Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
16 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: regressive left
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to first suspend Darleen Tana from her small business […]
Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
Oh Canada: The Parliament Moves to Impose Potential Life Imprisonment for Speech Crimes
16 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left

We have previously discussed the unrelenting attacks by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his allies on free speech. There has been a steady criminalization of speech, including even jokes and religious speech, in Canada. Now, the Canadian parliament is moving toward a new change that would allow the imposition of life imprisonment on those […]
Oh Canada: The Parliament Moves to Impose Potential Life Imprisonment for Speech Crimes
The Tsar Abdicates – Baghdad Falls I THE GREAT WAR Week 138
16 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, income redistribution, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking, war and peace Tags: Russian revolution, World War I
The Ghahraman Conflict
15 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: crime and punishment, law and order, media bias
What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on the case in Stuff in 2016 and another story about them […]
The Ghahraman Conflict
Irish High Court Slams Wind Turbine Operator For Noise “Like Aeroplanes that Never Land”
12 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, law and economics, property rights Tags: noise pollution, wind power

Freedom from wind turbine noise nuisance isn’t a “concern”; it’s a hard-won legal “right” based on the lawful entitlement to sleep comfortably in your own home – a right (not a privilege) that’s been upheld against the mighty, rich and powerful for close to 200 hundred years. The grinding, thumping cacophony generated by giant industrial […]
Irish High Court Slams Wind Turbine Operator For Noise “Like Aeroplanes that Never Land”
The RCT Agenda
12 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, development economics, econometerics, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of education, economics of information, economics of regulation, experimental economics, growth disasters, growth miracles, history of economic thought, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, managerial economics, market efficiency, Marxist economics, occupational choice, organisational economics, property rights, Public Choice, public economics Tags: The fatal conceit

Randomized Controlled Trials: Could you be any more scientific? The book I’m now writing, Unbeatable: The Brutally Honest Case for Free Markets, insists that the randomistas of the economics profession actually have a thinly-veiled political agenda. Namely: To get economists to humbly serve the demagogues that rule the world instead of bluntly challenging their unabated…
The RCT Agenda
Some Chinese electric cars are ‘almost uninsurable’ in Britain
12 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in development economics, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, growth miracles, law and economics, transport economics, urban economics Tags: adverse selection, asymmetric information, British politics, electric cars, moral hazard

By Paul Homewood h/t Patsy Lacey Owners of some of the latest Chinese electric cars to enter Britain are facing expensive premiums and in some cases are ‘almost uninsurable’ for drivers. It comes after various reports of Range Rover owners struggling to find affordable cover for their vehicles, which is linked […]
Some Chinese electric cars are ‘almost uninsurable’ in Britain
Reading deal – rare media bouquet
11 Mar 2024 1 Comment
in applied price theory, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of media and culture, income redistribution, industrial organisation, law and economics, market efficiency, movies, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking, survivor principle, theory of the firm, urban economics Tags: Wellington
Both Matt Nippert of the NZ Herald and Tom Hunt of The Post deserve a bouquet for their analyses of the truly remarkable deal between the Wellington City Council (WCC) and the troubled American Cinema company Reading. For this who don’t know, Reading owns a large (more than 14, 000 square metres or 1.4 hectares) […]
Reading deal – rare media bouquet
“Patently False”: Special Counsel Files Blistering Reply to Hunter Biden Motion to Dismiss
11 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election

Special Counsel David Weiss has filed a blistering opposition to the motion to dismiss by Hunter Biden in California that cites his own book and conflicting statements as creating “nothing more than a house of cards.” The filing (below) shows how Hunter’s claims (repeated by many in the media) collapse under even cursory review in […]
“Patently False”: Special Counsel Files Blistering Reply to Hunter Biden Motion to Dismiss

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