Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
09 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, budget deficits, economic growth, entrepreneurship, fiscal policy, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, politics - USA, public economics Tags: taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment, taxation and labour supply
Other than Art Laffer, I think of myself as the world’s biggest advocate of the Laffer Curve. I’ve literally written hundreds of columns explaining and promoting the concept. My goal is to help people understand that there is not a linear relationship between tax rates and tax revenue. Why is this the case? Because when […]
Goldilocks and the Laffer Curve
05 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in economic growth, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, human capital, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, politics - New Zealand, poverty and inequality
Don Brash and Michael Reddell write – When Don was young and Michael’s parents were young, New Zealand had among the very highest material standards of living in the world. It really was, in the old line, one of the very best places to bring up children. But no longer. For 75 years now, with […]
By 2025 we were supposed to have closed the gap
04 Feb 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, Austrian economics, comparative institutional analysis, economic growth, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, environmental economics, financial economics, industrial organisation, international economics, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, liberalism, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking, survivor principle, theory of the firm Tags: employment law, European Union
I have a special page for humor involving Europe, but I have not added to it since sharing some Brexit humor in 2016. Let’s being the process of catching up with some amusing cartoons and memes mocking our government-loving cousins on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. I’ve made the serious point that bureaucrats […]
Mocking European Statism
04 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economic growth, economic history, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, macroeconomics, politics - New Zealand
The Prime Minister’s speech 10 days or so ago kicked off a flurry of commentary. No one much anywhere near the mainstream (ie excluding Greens supporters) questioned the rhetoric. New Zealand has done woefully poorly on productivity for a long time and we really need better outcomes, and the sorts of policy frameworks that would […]
Going for growth…..perhaps
01 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, economic growth, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, health economics, macroeconomics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice Tags: economics of pandemics
Michael Reddell writes – I’ve spent the last week writing a fairly substantial review of a recent book (“Australia’s Pandemic Exceptionalism: How we crushed the curve but lost the race”) by a couple of Australian academic economists on Australia’s pandemic policies and experiences. For all its limitations, there isn’t anything similar in New Zealand. What […]
Reviewing Covid experiences and policies
31 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, economic growth, economic history, history of economic thought, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, poverty and inequality Tags: The Great Enrichment
The subtitle is New Estimates of Productivity Growth in England from 1250 to 1870, and the authors are Paul Bouscasse, Emi Nakamura, and Jón Steinsson. Abstract: We estimate productivity growth in England from 1250 to 1870. Real wages over this period were heavily influenced by plague-induced swings in the population. Our estimates account for these […]
When did sustained economic growth begin?
26 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic growth, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, unemployment
It would be fair to say that 2024 Nobel Prize winner Daron Acemoglu has been a bit of a sceptic about the impacts of generative AI (for example, see here). This scepticism is exemplified in a new paper forthcoming in the journal Economic Policy (ungated earlier version here). Acemoglu first notes that:Some experts believe that truly…
Daron Acemoglu expects only a tiny macroeconomic impact of AI
21 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in economic growth, economic history, liberalism, macroeconomics Tags: The Great Enrichment
At the age of about 60, my wife began having terrible pain in her hip. For about a year, this greatly limited her ability to walk longer distances. One of her great joys, exploring new places on foot, was suddenly impossible to pursue. And then the pain got so bad that she could barely sleep,…
Everything is Pretty Damn Awesome
20 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, budget deficits, economic growth, economic history, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, fiscal policy, global warming, industrial organisation, labour economics, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking, survivor principle Tags: 2024 presidential election, regressive left
This is the last full day of Joe Biden’s dismal presidency, so let’s do what we did with Justin Trudeau and reflect on his pathetic legacy. I’ve already provided my own economic assessment of Biden’s record, so now let’s review how he is seen by others. We’ll start with the American people. According to a […]
Good Riddance, Joe Biden
16 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, Austrian economics, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economic growth, economic history, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, financial economics, fiscal policy, human capital, income redistribution, international economics, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, liberalism, libertarianism, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, regulation, rentseeking
In this 12-second video, Margaret Thatcher is talking about the Labour Party in the United Kingdom, but her warning has universal application. And when I say her warning has universal application, I’m not joking. Politicians generally can’t resist the temptation to buy votes. And I fear that this can and will happen at all levels […]
Margaret Thatcher, Michael Curley, and the 19th Theorem of Government
12 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, budget deficits, development economics, economic growth, economic history, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, fiscal policy, global financial crisis (GFC), great recession, growth disasters, growth miracles, human capital, income redistribution, industrial organisation, international economics, job search and matching, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, monetary economics, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, rentseeking, survivor principle, unemployment
TweetGMU Econ alum Holly Jean Soto busts the myth of “greedflation.” Scott Lincicome identifies an interesting contrast between the facts and opinion about China. George Will decries the spinelessness of the modern U.S. Congress. A slice: The incoming president will be able, on a whim, to unilaterally discombobulate international commerce — and the domestic economy…
Some Links
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
29 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in budget deficits, comparative institutional analysis, development economics, economic growth, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, F.A. Hayek, financial economics, fiscal policy, growth disasters, income redistribution, international economics, labour economics, law and economics, liberalism, libertarianism, macroeconomics, Milton Friedman, monetarism, monetary economics, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, unemployment Tags: Argentina
Argentina’s bonds have already rallied dramatically. One gauge of the nation’s hard-currency debt, the ICE BofA US Dollar Argentina Sovereign Index, has generated a total return of about 90% this year. Meanwhile, the S&P Merval Index has risen more than 160% this year through Monday, far outpacing stock benchmarks in developed, emerging and frontier markets […]
Argentina facts of the day
27 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic growth, entrepreneurship, fiscal policy, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, liberalism, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, public economics Tags: Denmark, Norway, social insurance, Sweden, taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment, taxation and labour supply
Scandinavian nations are not socialist, at least if we’re using the technical definition (government ownership, central planning, and price controls). But those countries do have big welfare states. And that means stifling tax burdens. And those harsh taxes don’t just apply to rich taxpayers. Lower-income and middle-class people also get pillaged. I’ve already explained that punitive value-added […]
Scandinavian Governments Are Greedy, not Socialist
18 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in budget deficits, business cycles, economic growth, economic history, fiscal policy, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - New Zealand
High profile US Economist Paul Krugman has written a New York Times article in which he shows in one graph the incredible resilience and performance of the American Economy. The dark blue line below tracks the pre-pandemic long-run trend in Real GDP. Meanwhile the orange line is actual real GDP. Krugman remarks that now, in…
Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman’s GDP Graph Confirms the Bottom has Fallen Out of the New Zealand Economy
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
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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Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
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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
Economics, public policy, monetary policy, financial regulation, with a New Zealand perspective
Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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