A rent control experiment
13 Aug 2026 1 Comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, economic history, economics of information, economics of regulation, law and economics, property rights Tags: offsetting behavior, rent control, unintended consequences
The limits Una Jagose KC cannot name
11 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economics of bureaucracy, economics of crime, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice Tags: constitutional law
When former Solicitor-General Una Jagose KC told a Law Association breakfast on 2 July 2026 that New Zealand risks “sleepwalking” towards a collapse of the separation of powers, she framed herself as the constitution’s anxious guardian. The framing deserves scrutiny.
The limits Una Jagose KC cannot name
The Endangered Species Act Reduces Housing
31 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, economics of regulation, environmental economics, environmentalism, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, urban economics
Max Tabarrok’s paper on the Endangered Species Act and housing (WP) has just been published in the Journal of Public Economics! It’s a clever paper: Max observed that the moment an animal is put on the endangered species list, developers face enhanced compliance costs and liability risk. But what’s important for an empirical economist is…
The Endangered Species Act Reduces Housing
Criminal “Villification”: Australia Court Upholds Conviction, Massive Fine, and Compelled Speech in Transgender Case
29 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of regulation, gender, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - Australia, politics - USA, property rights Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination
We have followed the evisceration of free speech values in the United Kingdom and other Western nations. Australia has been…
Criminal “Villification”: Australia Court Upholds Conviction, Massive Fine, and Compelled Speech in Transgender Case
The Apples and Oranges Tribunal
28 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, economics of education, economics of regulation, gender, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, poverty and inequality, property rights Tags: gender wage gap, sex discrimination
Suppose that apples sell for more than oranges and Parliament in it’s wisdom decides that, at last, apples and oranges must be compared. Not by shoppers — shoppers are biased, they merely reveal what they are willing to pay — but by a tribunal, which will determine whether apples and oranges are of truly equal…
The Apples and Oranges Tribunal
More academic censorship
14 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, health economics, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights
The FSU released: A peer-reviewed paper by a Māori clinical psychologist has been removed from her profession’s journal on the grounds that keeping it accessible could harm Māori. It was not retracted for error, fraud or misconduct, which are ordinarily the only reasons for such an action. Censorship knows no bounds. How dare she have…
More academic censorship
Coyne is keeping an eye on the legislation to define women and men
10 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in discrimination, gender, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: sex discrimination
Bob Edlin writes – News has reached Professor Jerry Coyne of the New Zealand Parliament debating a bill (which passed on its first reading) that would legally define a “man” and a “woman” this way: 13A Meaning of woman or female In any legislation, regardless of gender identity,— (a) woman means an adult human biological […]
Coyne is keeping an eye on the legislation to define women and men
Prince Harry and the Hypocrisy of Privacy
08 Jul 2026 1 Comment
in law and economics, property rights Tags: British politics
Prince Harry has suffered a significant defeat in his privacy action against Associated Newspapers, publisher of the Daily Mail. The case was brought by Harry and several other well-known figures, who alleged that the newspaper group had obtained private information through unlawful methods including phone tapping, voicemail interception and deception. The High Court dismissed the […]
Prince Harry and the Hypocrisy of Privacy
China’s Spent Rockets Are Turning Low Earth Orbit Into a Debris Minefield
04 Jul 2026 1 Comment
in law and economics, property rights, transport economics Tags: space
China’s pattern of treating low Earth orbit like a dumping ground at the same time it is expanding potential military space capabilities should raise serious concerns for anyone relying on satellite infrastructure — which, at this point, is pretty much everyone. The post China’s Spent Rockets Are Turning Low Earth Orbit Into a Debris Minefield…
China’s Spent Rockets Are Turning Low Earth Orbit Into a Debris Minefield
One public servant we could survive without
03 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, health economics, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: economics of smoking
Stuff reports: A Government ministry has taken the time to threaten legal action against Stuff, all over a photo of a 45-year-old magazine used in a Stuff Quiz. On June 26, question five of the Stuff morning trivia quiz asked who appeared on the debut cover of Playboy magazine. To accompany the question, the quiz featured an archive image of a person…
One public servant we could survive without
Supreme Court upholds ban on trans-identified men participating in sports in public schools
03 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in discrimination, gender, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination
In a decision split along ideological lines yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that state bans on trans-identified boys and men competing in girl’s and women’s sports were Constitutionally legal. Although the judges were unanimous in arguing that those laws did not violate Civil Rights laws (Title IX that prohibits sex discrimination in education), they…
Supreme Court upholds ban on trans-identified men participating in sports in public schools
Rent Control: The Ceiling Trap
02 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic history, economics of regulation, law and economics, property rights Tags: rent control
Rent control is in the news again. Check out my new website, Rent Control: The Ceiling Trap. Here is just one bit: Norway abolished its rent control in 1982, and the economist Are Oust realized the newspapers had been quietly recording the whole experiment. He collected housing classifieds from Oslo’s Aftenposten from 1970 to 2008 and watched…
Rent Control: The Ceiling Trap
Renationalising British utilities
29 Jun 2026 1 Comment
in industrial organisation, law and economics, property rights, Public Choice Tags: British politics
There is talk of this with the pending change in PM, but I would not do it. I am quite aware that a) not all of the privatisations went well, and b) American data indicate that state-owned utilities do not seem very economically different than, or less efficient than, privately-owned utilities. Especially for water, where…
Renationalising British utilities
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
Recent Comments