Stuff reports: A transphobic post on social media, racist taunts, and a slogan from New Zealand’s largest neo-Nazi group are among a number of scenarios in police’s hate crime training. … Some examples of hate speech used as part of the training include racist remarks, a transphobic post on social media as well as a […]
Police use National’s 2005 billboard slogan as an example of hate speech!
Police use National’s 2005 billboard slogan as an example of hate speech!
07 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, liberalism, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left
Fast Takes on *Build, Baby, Build*: David Schleicher
07 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, income redistribution, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, urban economics Tags: housing affordability, land supply
I met Yale Law’s David Schleicher when he was still a law professor at GMU. Back then, we argued about the best model of non-rigged one-party democracy, often seen in major cities… and Singapore. Since then, David’s become a powerful academic voice for YIMBY. Last month, David joined me for another Fast Take on Build,…
Fast Takes on *Build, Baby, Build*: David Schleicher
DON BRASH: John Key’s Call for “Caution” in Race Relations
06 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: constitutional law
He doesn’t want to have difficult conversations. Former National Party leader Sir John Key has urged people to “take the temperature down a wee bit” in the debate surrounding race issues. He believes this is an area where any government needs to “tread carefully.” He also mentioned recent issues such as ACT’s Treaty Principles Bill, the…
DON BRASH: John Key’s Call for “Caution” in Race Relations
Communism still doing well in Cuba
05 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of crime, growth disasters, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, Marxist economics, property rights, Public Choice, public economics Tags: Cuba
The Miami Herald reports: A stunning 10% of Cuba’s population — more than a million people — left the island between 2022 and 2023, the head of the country’s national statistics office said during a National Assembly session Friday, the largest migration wave in Cuban history. Isn’t it such a weird coincidence that the queue […]
Communism still doing well in Cuba
Talking BBB with Veronique de Rugy
03 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, income redistribution, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking, urban economics Tags: housing affordability, land supply
Here’s a lively AIER podcast on Build, Baby, Build with the one and only Veronique de Rugy. Best French libertarian since Bastiat? Décider vous-même!P.S. Capla-Con 2024 starts two weeks from tomorrow in Fairfax, Virginia. You’re all invited! Feel free to coordinate ride-sharing in the comments.
Talking BBB with Veronique de Rugy
RODNEY HIDE: Endless repetition makes lies truth
02 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: criminal deterrence, free speech, law and order, political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination
The Ardern years continue to blight the nation. It’s not just the destructive policies and debilitating debt but the lasting dysfunctional governance both public and private that routinely lies to us and infantilises us. The legacy media are gone. They are now pimps for government and corporate propaganda. Endless repetition makes lies truth, with dissent…
RODNEY HIDE: Endless repetition makes lies truth
Don’t Mess with Texas: Fifth Circuit Rules Against the Biden Administration in Buoy Dispute on Southern Border
02 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, defence economics, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice Tags: 2024 presidential election, economics of immigration
Texas won a big victory in the United States Court of Appeals in the long struggle over floating buoy barriers in the Rio Grande River to help block unlawful migration. In United States v. Abbott, the court ruled 11-7 in an en banc decision against the Biden Administration over the barrier. It is an interesting decision […]
Don’t Mess with Texas: Fifth Circuit Rules Against the Biden Administration in Buoy Dispute on Southern Border
Wellington rates skyrocket
31 Jul 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, environmental economics, income redistribution, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, transport economics, urban economics
The Post reports: Many Wellington City home owners have received a nasty surprise after new rates costs came out with increases higher than the already-eye-watering planned increases. My rates have gone up over $900 a year, or just over 20%. This is not due to more investment in water infrastructure. This is due to the […]
Wellington rates skyrocket
The Minimum Wage, Rent Control, and Vacancies or Who Searches?
31 Jul 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, econometerics, economic history, economics of regulation, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, minimum wage, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, regulation, rentseeking, unemployment, urban economics Tags: housing affordability, regressive left, rent control
In an interesting new paper Federal Reserve economists Marianna Kudlyak, Murat Tasci and Didem Tüzemen look at what happens to job vacancy postings when the minimum wage increases. The vacancy data in our analysis come from the job openings data from the Conference Board as a part of its Help Wanted OnLine (HWOL) data series. […]
The Minimum Wage, Rent Control, and Vacancies or Who Searches?
Venezuela under “Brutal Capitalism”
31 Jul 2024 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of crime, growth disasters, income redistribution, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, resource economics Tags: Venezuela
Jeffrey Clemens points us to some bonkers editorializing in the NYTimes coverage of the likely stolen election in Venezuela. The piece starts out reasonably enough: Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro, was declared the winner of the country’s tumultuous presidential election early Monday, despite enormous momentum from an opposition movement that had been convinced this was […]
Venezuela under “Brutal Capitalism”
Rent Control Reduces New Development: Bug or Feature?
30 Jul 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, income redistribution, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, urban economics Tags: housing affordability, land supply, regressive left, rent control
The minimum wage will tend to increase unemployment among low-skill workers, often minorities. To many people that’s an argument against the minimum wage. But to progressives at the opening of the 20th century that was an argument for the minimum wage–progressive’s demanded minimum wages to get women and racial minorities out of the work force. […]
Rent Control Reduces New Development: Bug or Feature?
PETER WILLLIAMS: The costs of Te Mana o te Wai are worse than we thought
29 Jul 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, urban economics
Last month I wrote about the Government’s failure to repeal David Parker’s mad ‘te Mana o te Wai’ (literally meaning the mana of the water) requirements. A few days ago, the research team at the Taxpayers’ Union were sent the details on how the rules are playing it out in my local area: Otago. While…
PETER WILLLIAMS: The costs of Te Mana o te Wai are worse than we thought
Tikanga, law and information asymmetry
27 Jul 2024 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economic history, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: constitutional law
Justice Joe Williams in his 2013 paper Lex Aoteoroa made a case for Māori tikanga being recognized as New Zealand’s “first law”. Tikanga existed prior to New Zealand’s development of a legal system based on the British model. Without written language pre-European Māori tikanga is not well documented. However, its customs and norms governed, for […]
Tikanga, law and information asymmetry
Not a good case for a CBDC
27 Jul 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, financial economics, law and economics, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: digital currency
The Reserve Bank’s latest round of consultation on a possible central bank digital currency (CBDC) closes today. The thick and probably expensive (at least one of the documents was produced jointly with the consultancy firm Accenture) set of consultation documents came up a few months ago. I thought I had run out of time to […]
Not a good case for a CBDC
Anti-Free Speech Laws Hit New Heights in Italy: Reporter Fined for “Body Shaming” Prime Minister Meloni
25 Jul 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics, property rights Tags: free speech, Italy, political correctness, regressive left
I have long been critical of the erosion of free speech in Italy and other Western European countries, including the use of criminal libel laws against critics of the police or government. This week a Milan court has ordered a journalist to pay Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni damages of 5,000 euros ($5,465) for making […]
Anti-Free Speech Laws Hit New Heights in Italy: Reporter Fined for “Body Shaming” Prime Minister Meloni
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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