Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
30 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic growth, entrepreneurship, fiscal policy, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, liberalism, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, public economics Tags: taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment, taxation and labour supply
I’ve shared multiple studies about the harmful impact of wealth taxes (see here, here, here, here, and here). Today, let’s add to the body of evidence. I’ll start by calling attention to a column I wrote in 2019 that warned how wealth taxes mean very high – even confiscatory – taxes on saving and investment. […]
New Research Further Confirms Anti-Growth Impact of Wealth Taxation
28 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic growth, economic history, fiscal policy, labour economics, macroeconomics, unemployment
This is one of the best Op-Eds you will read this year, though it deliberately deemphasizes the personal (no one is attacked) in a manner that will result in less attention. Better to write the truth! Excerpt: Why has this [voter discontent} happened? Some of it is economic. Expensive housing, stagnant incomes and widening inequality have fueled public…
The common sense of Fareed Zakaria
25 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic growth, economic history, entrepreneurship, macroeconomics
From Verónica Bäcker-Peral and Benjamin Wittenbrink of MIT: Measuring real GDP growth requires distinguishing changes in prices from changes in product quality and composition, yet systematic quality adjustment of price indexes is unavailable for much of the twentieth century. We construct a new quality-adjusted price index for U.S. consumer goods using 5.1 million product listings…
Cataloging Growth: A Re-Evaluation of 1900–1990
23 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic growth, fiscal policy, macroeconomics
Below is my column in the New York Post on the sharp decline in millionaires in New York, costing the…
“Start Spreadin’ the News”: New York Losing Billions as Millionaires Flee the Big Apple
20 Jul 2026 1 Comment
in applied price theory, Austrian economics, development economics, economic growth, economic history, fiscal policy, growth disasters, macroeconomics Tags: Argentina
Almost exactly one year ago, the Center for Freedom and Prosperity released this short video as part of a series on the additional reforms Javier Milei should implement to maximize Argentinian prosperity. Let’s take a closer look at the country’s tax policy, and I’ll start today’s column with an analogy. When Milei took office, Argentina […]
Fixing Argentina’s Punitive Tax System
18 Jul 2026 1 Comment
in applied price theory, development economics, economic growth, economic history, entrepreneurship, history of economic thought, macroeconomics
“Progress” is a word that often generates both a lot of positive vibes, and also a lot of pushback? Progress toward what? At what cost? So it’s perhaps useful to specify that when I refer to “progress,” I’m referring to an overall movement toward good things of life: in no particular order, longer and healthier…
Is Progress Sustainable? Mokyr’s Nobel Lecture
15 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in economic growth, macroeconomics, politics - New Zealand
Among prosperous nations, New Zealand is relatively a low-income country. That hurts. In 2024, net national income per capita was 30% higher in Australia, according to the Paris-based OECD. It was only 19% higher on average over the four years to 2019.
The political malaise over New Zealand’s low wage problem
13 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in economic growth, economic history, economics of regulation, fiscal policy, macroeconomics Tags: Germany
In the past year, I’ve written about Germany’s fiscal deterioration and its costly fixation on net-zero environmentalism. As illustrated by the chart, these policies have contributed to malaise and economic stagnation (and were caused by – or contributed to – eroding societal capital). The good news is that Friedrich Merz, the country’s chancellor, wants economic […]
Germany Needs Milei-ism but Is Getting Romney-ism
06 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, economic growth, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics Tags: economics of fertility
The secular decline in birth rates across the globe over the past seven decades has slowed population growth, raised average ages, and reshaped labor markets and the macroeconomy. Contrary to the widespread expectation that these trends hamper economic growth, we find lower birth rates are associated with higher growth in GDP per working-age adult across…
Do falling birth rates boost per capita income?
20 Jun 2026 1 Comment
in economic growth, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics Tags: Sweden
Sweden is continuing to reap the rewards of this mixture of fiscal rectitude and pro-market reforms. GDP is projected to grow by 1.8% to 1.9% this year; headline inflation stands at 1.5%; debt-to-GDP ratio is one of the lowest in the world, at just above 35%. There are some flies in this ointment, of course:…
Adrian Wooldridge on Sweden and liberalism
19 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic growth, economic history, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment, taxation and labour supply
In 2015, I wrote a column entitled “A Nordic Nightmare for Bernie Sanders.” Today, let’s do something similar, but this time I’ll explain why economic data from northernmost Europe is bad news for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. I’m motivated to address the issue because I just saw this tweet about how Scandinavian-Americans are much richer than their […]
A Nordic Nightmare for AOC
13 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, econometerics, economic growth, economic history, economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, fiscal policy, global warming, human capital, income redistribution, industrial organisation, international economics, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, Public Choice, public economics Tags: climate activists, climate alarmism, regressive left
The world’s poor deserve better than another utopia designed for them by the globalist intelligentsia. They deserve cheap energy, open markets, secure property rights, and the freedom to industrialise on terms they choose for themselves. That is what worked in East Asia. It is what will work in South Asia, Africa and Latin America. And…
Piketty’s Eco-Marxist Utopia: Why Degrowth and Global Redistribution Will Trap the Poor in Poverty
12 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic growth, economic history, economics of media and culture, macroeconomics
Middle-class Americans have more income than they did 50 years ago, but the squeeze is realBy Roland Fryer. He is a professor of economics at Harvard. Excerpts: “Before indicting the economy, consider what 50 years of growth actually delivered. The car in your driveway is far less likely to kill you than its 1975 counterpart—traffic fatalities…
Why Everything Feels More Expensive (hedonic adaptation)
09 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in economic growth, fiscal policy, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, public economics Tags: ageing society, economics of immigration, population bust
Lyric Waiwiri-Smith at The Spinoff asked me what I thought the options might be for dealing with rising superannuation costs. Her story’s here, along with comment from Max Rashbrooke and Shamubeel Eaqub. My most-preferred option is ongoing increases in immigration rates, coupled with shifting to CPI-indexation of super benefits and indexing the age of eligibility to healthy…
Superannuation affordability options
02 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, economic growth, economic history, economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, income redistribution, industrial organisation, labour economics, macroeconomics, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: Argentina, Germany
I was astounded in 2020 when I read an article in the New York Times about the economic catastrophe in Venezuela and there was not a single mention of socialism. And I was even more astounded in 2024 when the NYT published another article about Venezuela’s economic misery and once again didn’t mention socialism. Today’s […]
Absurdity Alert: Writing About Germany’s Economic Decline Without Mentioning Green Energy Policies
Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
A History of the Alt-Right
Econ Prof at George Mason University, Economic Historian, Québécois
Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
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Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
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Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
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Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
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Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
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Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
WORLD WAR II, MUSIC, HISTORY, HOLOCAUST
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Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
Res ipsa loquitur - The thing itself speaks
In Hume’s spirit, I will attempt to serve as an ambassador from my world of economics, and help in “finding topics of conversation fit for the entertainment of rational creatures.”
Researching the House of Commons, 1832-1868
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Small Steps Toward A Much Better World
“We do not believe any group of men adequate enough or wise enough to operate without scrutiny or without criticism. We know that the only way to avoid error is to detect it, that the only way to detect it is to be free to inquire. We know that in secrecy error undetected will flourish and subvert”. - J Robert Oppenheimer.
The truth about the great wind power fraud - we're not here to debate the wind industry, we're here to destroy it.
Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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