Winston Peters announced: Cabinet has formally agreed this week to the closure of the greyhound racing industry in New Zealand. A bill will be drafted to bring this decision into law. The move follows last December’s announcement of the Government’s in-principle decision to end greyhound racing as of 31 July 2026. The decision was made […]
The greyhound racing ban
The greyhound racing ban
27 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice Tags: animal rights, Animal welfare
The very dodgy $12.9b figure
24 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, rentseeking
I blogged in early August on how MPs appear to have been scared into supporting a retrospective law change to protect ANZ and ASB Banks form a six year old law suit over their failure to make correct disclosures with some of their loans, on the basis that the banking system could be at risk […]
The very dodgy $12.9b figure
No Pierogi For You: Dershowitz Denied Food in Martha’s Vineyard Over His Political Views
18 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left, religious discrimination
Harvard Professor Alan Dershowitz appears to be living through a remake of the Seinfeld Soup Nazi episode. However, Dershowitz is facing a new culinary menace in Martha’s Vineyard. Chef Krem Miskevich has barred the famed lawyer from buying pierogis because of his political views . . . and liberals are applauding him for it. Welcome to Pierogi […]
No Pierogi For You: Dershowitz Denied Food in Martha’s Vineyard Over His Political Views
Milei’s Achievements…and Challenges
17 Aug 2025 1 Comment
in development economics, economic growth, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, fiscal policy, growth disasters, income redistribution, industrial organisation, labour economics, law and economics, liberalism, libertarianism, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, monetary economics, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking, unemployment Tags: Argentina
I’m back in Argentina, the South American country with the world’s best leader. What Javier Milei has accomplished is amazing. And the economic effects have been wonderful. One of my meetings earlier this week was with Marcelo Elizondo, the head of the International Chamber of Commerce for Argentina. He shared a presentation with me that […]
Milei’s Achievements…and Challenges
Lawrence Krauss interviews Carole Hooven
17 Aug 2025 1 Comment
in discrimination, economics of education, gender, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination
This is one of the twenty-odd interviews that Lawrence Krauss conducted to support the new book he edited, The War on Science, comprising essays about the pollution of academia by ideology. (Nearly all of us indict ideology from the Left, though many of us, including me, admit that the Right is currently a bigger threat to […]
Lawrence Krauss interviews Carole Hooven
FERC Must Seize the Supreme Court’s Energy Opportunity
15 Aug 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: nuisance suits
The Court has provided the legal framework. FERC must provide the will to use it.
FERC Must Seize the Supreme Court’s Energy Opportunity
Judge Crushes Charleston Climate Case
14 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: nuisance suits
EID covers the legal thrashing visited upon Charleston plaintiffs seeking a judgment punishing Big Oil for their role in climate misfortunes. The article is Judge Shuts Down Charleston Climate Case, Warns of “Boundless” Liability. Excerpts in italics with my bolds and added images. A South Carolina judge has dismissed Charleston’s climate lawsuit, delivering a decisive setback […]
Judge Crushes Charleston Climate Case
Tenth Circuit: Parents Do Not Have Right to Override Ban on Gender Transitioning of Minors
12 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of regulation, gender, health economics, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination
The Tenth Circuit handed down a notable opinion this week in Poe v. Drummond, upholding Oklahoma’s law prohibiting gender transition procedures for anyone under eighteen. The opinion by Judge Joel Carson (joined by Judges Harris Hartz and Gregory Phillips) concluded that parental rights do not trump a state’s determination of what are safe treatments for […]
Tenth Circuit: Parents Do Not Have Right to Override Ban on Gender Transitioning of Minors
Chlöe Swarbrick’s homelessness hyperbole
11 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic history, economics of regulation, human capital, labour economics, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, poverty and inequality, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, transport economics, urban economics Tags: family poverty, homelessness, regressive left
Ani O’Brien writes – Chlöe Swarbrick wants you to believe the Government is intentionally increasing homelessness. She told RNZ’s Mata with Mihingarangi Forbes: “The only conclusion that I can really come to is that this Government has intentionally increased homelessness…” It’s the kind of soundbite that plays well on social media. Outrage travels faster than nuance, and a […]
Chlöe Swarbrick’s homelessness hyperbole
Sovereignty and Land Ownership: Distinct Legal Domains
11 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in constitutional political economy, economic history, law and economics, property rights Tags: constitutional law
Introduction Throughout history, territories have frequently changed hands through war, conquest, and annexation. However, the shift in sovereignty—the legal authority to govern and control a territory—should not be conflated with the transfer of private land ownership within that territory. Sovereignty concerns public law and political authority, whereas land ownership is a matter of private law […]
Sovereignty and Land Ownership: Distinct Legal Domains
Inciting abuse
08 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights
An email from Don Brash of Hobson’s Pledge explains the plan for its campaign against Māori wards on councils ran into trouble when they used a stock photo of a woman who supports the wards and was very upset when her image was used on billboards. When they learned of her distress they instructed the […]
Inciting abuse
Did the Minnesota housing reform lower housing costs?
07 Aug 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, urban economics Tags: housing affordability, land supply, zoning
Yes: In December 2018, Minneapolis became the first U.S. city to eliminate single-family zoning through the Minneapolis 2040 Plan, a landmark reform with a central focus on improving housing affordability. This paper estimates the effect of the Minneapolis 2040 Plan on home values and rental prices. Using a synthetic control approach we find that the […]
Did the Minnesota housing reform lower housing costs?
Peters and Seymour tussle over ‘Maorification’
07 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in constitutional political economy, economics of regulation, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice Tags: constitutional law
Graham Adams writes – After NZ First leapfrogged Act last month in a Taxpayers’ Union-Curia poll — which led to much media excitement about the party’s rising fortunes — it seemed odd for Winston Peters to be quite so tetchy with journalists seeking his opinion on David Seymour’s views on karakia, traditional Māori prayers or incantations […]
Peters and Seymour tussle over ‘Maorification’
Mamdani’s unworkable proposal for NYC-owned grocery stores
31 Jul 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economics of regulation, income redistribution, law and economics, Marxist economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, transport economics, urban economics Tags: economics of socialism, regressive left, rent control, useful idiots
Democrat Zohran Mamdani is likely to be the next mayor of NYC, as he proffered a number of campaign promises that delighted progressives young and old. (This is besides his pro-Palestinian stand on the Gaza war, which is irrelevant to his actions as NYC mayor but still delighted the benighted.) Here are a few of […]
Mamdani’s unworkable proposal for NYC-owned grocery stores
North Carolina School District Settles Case After Suspending Teen for Using Term “Illegal Alien”
30 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of education, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left
Christian McGhee, 17, has secured a significant victory for free speech in North Carolina after the Davidson County Board of Education settled a case over his suspension for using the term “illegal alien.” What is disturbing is that, once again, the school officials themselves appear to have escaped any accountability for their abusive treatment of […]
North Carolina School District Settles Case After Suspending Teen for Using Term “Illegal Alien”
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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