Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
10 May 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, economic growth, entrepreneurship, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, Public Choice Tags: Finland, taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment, taxation and labour supply
I’m currently in Finland for meetings with various people and I learned that the country’s bloated public sector and expensive welfare state are imposing a very heavy cost on the economy. How heavy of a cost? According to IMF data, there’s been no growth in per-capita GDP over the past 18 years. Why is Finland […]
The Economic Consequences of Ever-Growing Government in Finland
09 May 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, economic growth, macroeconomics, politics - USA, technological progress Tags: British politics
The US economy has emerged from the pandemic growing at a faster pace than the UK and other high-income countries. Simon Pittaway tackles the question of why in “Yanked away: Accounting for the post-pandemic productivity divergence between Britain and America” (Resolution Foundation, April 2025). The average standard of living in any economy, over time, will…
Why Is the US Economy Surging Ahead of the UK?
29 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, behavioural economics, economic history, economics of information, financial economics, global financial crisis (GFC), great recession, macroeconomics, monetary economics
In a recent paper, Christopher L. Foote, Kristopher S. Gerardi, and Paul S. Willen report (pdf): This paper presents 12 facts about the mortgage market. The authors argue that the facts refute the popular story that the crisis resulted from financial industry insiders deceiving uninformed mortgage borrowers and investors. Instead, they argue that borrowers and […]
Why the housing market imploded
24 Apr 2025 1 Comment
in budget deficits, business cycles, econometerics, economic history, fiscal policy, macroeconomics
Jon Hartley serves as interlocutor in “Revisiting Empirical Macroeconomics with Robert Barro” (Hoover Institution, Capitalism and Freedom Podcast, March 25, 2025, audio and transcript available). Here are a few of the comments from Barro that especially caught my eye. One basic question in economics is about “the multiplier”–that is, how much will an increase in…
Interview with Robert Barro: Empirical Macroeconomics
10 Apr 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, business cycles, economic growth, economics of information, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, financial economics, global financial crisis (GFC), history of economic thought, industrial organisation, macroeconomics, politics - USA
Myron Scholes was on top of the world in 1997, having won the Nobel Prize in economics that year for his work in financial economics, work that he had applied in the real world in a wildly successful hedge fund, Long Term Capital Management. But just one year later, LTCM was saved from collapse only […]
When Genius Failed
10 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic history, history of economic thought, labour economics, macroeconomics
Once upon a time, economists were backroom advisers, crunching numbers and developing theories, but rarely in the limelight and certainly not the central actors in political decision-making. However, as Binyamin Appelbaum outlines in his 2019 book The Economists’ Hour, that all changed in the late 1960s. The title of the book references the period from…
Book review: The Economists’ Hour
03 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economic growth, economic history, law and economics, macroeconomics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice Tags: constitutional law
In an excellent article in the Herald, Richard Prebble (or “Prebs” as we call him) argues the proposals presented by National-ACT for a…
Prebs is Right – a 4 Year Parliamentary Term is no panacea to NZ’s stagnation. The problem is neither the Nats nor Labour have had a plan since 1993.
01 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in business cycles, econometerics, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, inflation targeting, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, unemployment Tags: economics of pandemics, monetary policy
This was the post I was planning to write this morning to mark Orr’s final day. That said, if the underlying events – deliberate attempts to mislead Parliament – were Orr’s doing, the post is more about the apparent uselessness of Parliament (specifically the Finance and Expenditure Committee) in holding him and the rest of […]
Not much parliamentary scrutiny
27 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, macroeconomics, managerial economics, monetary economics, organisational economics, personnel economics, property rights, unemployment Tags: efficiency wage, wage rigidity
Elon Musk’s email to federal employees prompted angst, but lots of employers use technology for continuous feedback on worker performanceBy Natasha Khan and Ray A. Smith. Excerpts:”What did you do last week?The question that Elon Musk lobbed to federal workers in an email set off anger and angst from unions and employees. It also prompted…
Bosses Don’t Need a ‘What Did You Do’ Email. They’re Already Tracking You. (and how this might be related to Keynes’ theory of sticky wages)
15 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of media and culture, entrepreneurship, monetary economics Tags: Roman empire
10 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in business cycles, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of education, history of economic thought, human capital, inflation targeting, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, monetary economics, occupational choice, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice Tags: Canada, monetary policy
Congratulations Mark Carney. When I went to the UK to study economics, we started off doing a degree called Master of Philosophy in…
My Former Economics MPhil and DPhil Class-Mate for many hard years, Mark Carney, becomes PM of Canada.
09 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, budget deficits, business cycles, economic growth, economic history, financial economics, fiscal policy, history of economic thought, inflation targeting, labour economics, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - New Zealand, unemployment Tags: monetary policy
Former chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors (and FOMC), Ben Bernanke, was yesterday the first of two keynote speakers at the Reserve Bank’s conference to mark 35 years of inflation targeting, which first became a formalised thing here in New Zealand. He indicated that he’d be speaking about inflation targeting in general and […]
Bernanke on inflation targeting
05 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in business cycles, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, fiscal policy, inflation targeting, labour economics, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, unemployment Tags: economics of pandemics, monetary policy
Adrian Orr has resigned as Reserve Bank Governor. I normally try to highlight the good as well as the bad when someone resigns, but I have to admit in this case I struggle. I welcomed his appointment in 2017. I noted the currency rose on his appointment and that he had a very good legacy […]
Adrian Orr resigns
05 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, budget deficits, economic growth, economics of bureaucracy, economics of natural disasters, economics of regulation, health economics, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, unemployment Tags: economics of pandemics
That’s the title of a 2024 book by a couple of Australian academic economists, Steven Hamilton (based in US) and Richard Holden (a professor at the University of New South Wales). The subtitle of the book is “How we crushed the curve but lost the race”. It is easy to get off on the wrong […]
Australia’s Pandemic Exceptionalism
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
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
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
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
Scholarly commentary on law, economics, and more
Beatrice Cherrier's blog
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
Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
A rural perspective with a blue tint by Ele Ludemann
DPF's Kiwiblog - Fomenting Happy Mischief since 2003
Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
The world's most viewed site on global warming and climate change
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Commentary on monetary policy in the spirit of R. G. Hawtrey
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Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
Politics and the economy
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Reading between the lines, and underneath the hype.
Economics, and such stuff as dreams are made on
"The British constitution has always been puzzling, and always will be." --Queen Elizabeth II
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
Undisciplined scholar, recovering academic
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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