Los Angeles city and regional planners are just as responsible for the Palisades, Eaton, and other fires that have burned in the past few days as if they had poured gasoline on the homes and lit the matches. The destruction of these homes, including, for what it is worth, homes … Continue reading →
Smart Growth Burns Thousands of Homes
Smart Growth Burns Thousands of Homes
11 Jan 2025 1 Comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of natural disasters, economics of regulation, environmental economics, law and economics, property rights, Public Choice, urban economics Tags: land use planning, unintended consequences, zoning
Left-Wing Economists Were Wildly Wrong about Javier Milei and his Libertarian Agenda for Argentina
10 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, Austrian economics, budget deficits, business cycles, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, economic growth, economics of regulation, financial economics, fiscal policy, growth disasters, growth miracles, history of economic thought, income redistribution, international economics, labour economics, law and economics, liberalism, libertarianism, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, monetarism, monetary economics, political change, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking, unemployment Tags: Argentina

It’s easy to mock economists. Consider the supposedly prestigious left-leaning academics who asserted in 2021 that Biden’s agenda was not inflationary. At the risk of understatement, they wound up with egg on their faces.* Today, we’re going to look at another example of leftist economists making fools of themselves. It involves Argentina, where President Javier […]
Left-Wing Economists Were Wildly Wrong about Javier Milei and his Libertarian Agenda for Argentina
Claims about fires?
09 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of natural disasters, economics of regulation, environmental economics, environmentalism, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking
From Isaiah Taylor: In 2007 the Sierra Club successfully sued the Forest Service to prevent them from creating a Categorical Exclusion (CE) to NEPA for controlled burns (the technical term is “fuel reduction”). The CE would have allowed the forest service to conduct burns without having to perform a full EIS (the median time for […]
Claims about fires?
Meta dismantles misinformation industry
09 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of information, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, law and economics, liberalism, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, survivor principle Tags: 2024 presidential election, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
Mark Zuckerberg announced: In recent years we’ve developed increasingly complex systems to manage content across our platforms, partly in response to societal and political pressure to moderate content. This approach has gone too far. As well-intentioned as many of these efforts have been, they have expanded over time to the point where we are making […]
Meta dismantles misinformation industry
A Reading deal that doesn’t cost ratepayers
08 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, survivor principle
NewstalkZb reports: The derelict Reading Cinema complex on Wellington’s Courtenay Place has finally been sold, with a local developer snapping up the 1.5-hectare plot. The property was at the centre of a controversial deal between Wellington City Council and Reading International last year, after the council tried to buy the land under the quake-prone building […]
A Reading deal that doesn’t cost ratepayers
Forcing people to choose between reality and trans rights is a bad idea
07 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, property rights Tags: Age of Enlightenment, conjecture and refutation, free speech, gender gap, philosophy of science, political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination
Jerry Coyne writes: When I wrote yesterday about my critique of Kat Grant’s “What is a woman?” piece, a critique published on the Freedom from Religion Foundation’s (FFRF) website, I had no idea that what I wrote was being removed by the FFRF at that moment! … One part of what Coyne wrote resonated with me: The first […]
Forcing people to choose between reality and trans rights is a bad idea
Submission on the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill
07 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice Tags: constitutional law
By Dr Peter Winsley I support the Bill, despite its weaknesses. For expositional clarity, in my submission I use the term “te Tiriti” rather than “the Treaty.” This acknowledges that about 540 rangatira signed te Tiriti versus about 39 who signed the English language document.to a Context is important. Te Tiriti was an international treaty […]
Submission on the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill
Ruth Richardson on the Treaty Principles Bill
07 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, discrimination, economic history, income redistribution, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: constitutional law
Ruth Richardson’s submission on the Treaty Principles Bill is excellent. I’ve copied it below.
Ruth Richardson on the Treaty Principles Bill
DON BRASH: DAME TARIANA TURIA – MAY SHE REST IN PEACE
07 Jan 2025 1 Comment
in labour economics, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: constitutional law
I didn’t have the privilege of working with Dame Tariana in any substantive way but I developed a very high regard for her integrity and commitment to the wellbeing of New Zealanders, and especially Maori New Zealanders of course. The National Party did very well in the 2005 general election, increasing its Parliamentary representation from…
DON BRASH: DAME TARIANA TURIA – MAY SHE REST IN PEACE
European Energy Firm Ordered to Remove 84 Wind Turbines from Osage Lands In Oklahoma
04 Jan 2025 1 Comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: wind power
Energy Expert Robert Bryce: “It is a colossal black eye for the wind industry, which has collected tens of billions of dollars in federal tax credits by claiming its landscape-blighting, bird-and-bat-killing, property-value-destroying turbines are an essential part of the effort to avert catastrophic climate change.”
European Energy Firm Ordered to Remove 84 Wind Turbines from Osage Lands In Oklahoma
Government moves to strengthen free speech on campus
03 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of education, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left
Penny Simmonds announced: Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds and Associate Minister of Education David Seymour today announced legislation changes to strengthen freedom of speech obligations on universities. “Freedom of speech is fundamental to the concept of academic freedom and there is concern that universities seem to be taking a more risk-averse approach,” Ms […]
Government moves to strengthen free speech on campus
Atheist Orthodoxy: The Freedom From Religion Foundation Censors Scientist Over Transgender Views
03 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of education, gender, health economics, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: Age of Enlightenment, conjecture and refutation, free speech, Freedom of religion, gender gap, philosophy of science, political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination
The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) is under fire this week after it censored a leading scientist, atheist, and board member, Jerry Coyne, a professor emeritus of ecology at the University of Chicago. The FFRF took down a column in which Coyne published a column titled “Biology is not bigotry,” a critique of an earlier […]
Atheist Orthodoxy: The Freedom From Religion Foundation Censors Scientist Over Transgender Views
DON BRASH: TIME TO SUBMIT ON THE TREATY PRINCIPLES BILL FAST RUNNING OUT
03 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in economic history, income redistribution, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: constitutional law
This Parliament is being asked to pass a significant number of important Bills during the course of its three-year life – Bills related to resource management planning, to infrastructure, to education and to health. But few Bills are of greater significance than the Treaty Principles Bill which David Seymour has sponsored. Why? Because it goes…
DON BRASH: TIME TO SUBMIT ON THE TREATY PRINCIPLES BILL FAST RUNNING OUT
Te Pati Maori promise retrospective legislation
02 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economics of regulation, industrial organisation, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: constitutional law
Te Pati Maori have written to organisations saying that if they are part of a Labour-led Government, they will pass retrospective legislation to punish organisations for actions that were entirely legal. You wonder how much more they need to do, to have media hold them to the same account as any other political party. They […]
Te Pati Maori promise retrospective legislation
Ratbag Kainga Ora tenants finally face consequences
31 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in labour economics, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, welfare reform
https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360528298/huge-increase-evictions-disruptive-kainga-ora-tenants-due-new-approach Not sure what is more amazing – that the “reporter” couldn’t bring itself to mention that this is National led government policy in action after Labour evicted zero KO tenants for years, or that National have completely failed to trumpet this announcement in their own press release. Anyway, this is great news for long […]
Ratbag Kainga Ora tenants finally face consequences
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