A guest post by Lucy Rogers: On 8 November 2024 Max Harris wrote an op ed for The Dominion Post on the Israel – Lebanon conflict. Harris’ article was profoundly misleading in numerous respects and I immediately wrote a response which was submitted to the editor of the Post on 9 November. To that email […]
Guest Post: Response to Max Harris
Guest Post: Response to Max Harris
24 Nov 2024 1 Comment
in defence economics, economics of crime, International law, law and economics, laws of war, politics - New Zealand, war and peace Tags: Gaza Strip, Israel, Middle-East politics, regressive left, war against terror
Part 3, Australia’s Transition to Renewable Energy
24 Nov 2024 Leave a comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, politics - Australia Tags: solar power, wind power

Chris Morris is a semi-retired power station engineer in New Zealand who has commented here on No Minister occasionally and on other NZ blogs. In mid 2023 he emailed me about a series of four articles he had written for the blog of Judith Curry in Australia. I published a summary of the key points […]
Part 3, Australia’s Transition to Renewable Energy
Obsession With Unreliable Wind & Solar Drives Punishing Cost of Net-Zero CO2 Delusion
24 Nov 2024 Leave a comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, politics - Australia Tags: solar power, wind power

Around the globe, the proles are on the march. They’ve worked out that the wind and solar ‘transition’ is the cause of their crushing power bills. In the US, contrary to almost every pundit’s prediction, Donald J Trump stormed home with a very convincing victory, grabbing control of every level of government. Trump’s promise of […]
Obsession With Unreliable Wind & Solar Drives Punishing Cost of Net-Zero CO2 Delusion
Milei and populism
23 Nov 2024 1 Comment
in applied price theory, budget deficits, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, economic growth, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, fiscal policy, growth disasters, income redistribution, macroeconomics, monetarism, monetary economics, Public Choice, rentseeking, unemployment Tags: Argentina
Bryan Caplan and Daniel Klein both opine on Milei and populism, Dan being very enthusiastic, while Bryan praising Milei but more reserved in his praise of populism. I too am a big fan of Milei, and I think he is still on a good track. If his reforms do not succeed, likely it will not […]
Milei and populism
Attorney-General and Chief Justice reveal contrasting visions of judicial power
23 Nov 2024 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economics of crime, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: constitutional law
Roger Partridge writes – Should judges stick to applying the law, or should they reshape it to reflect society’s values? This fundamental tension over judicial power was laid bare at a New Zealand Law Society webinar this month about what it takes to become a High Court judge. Comments from the country’s two senior legal […]
Attorney-General and Chief Justice reveal contrasting visions of judicial power
Band Aid at 40
23 Nov 2024 1 Comment
in development economics, growth disasters, Music

In the pantheon of charitable music events, few stand as tall as Band Aid, the groundbreaking 1984 charity supergroup. Conceived by Bob Geldof of the Boomtown Rats and Midge Ure of Ultravox, Band Aid was formed to combat the devastating famine in Ethiopia, a crisis that had gripped global attention. Their mission: to raise funds […]
Band Aid at 40
Bob Ekelund Remembered
23 Nov 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economics of bureaucracy, economics of information, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, health economics, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, law and economics, market efficiency, Milton Friedman, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, regulation, theory of the firm Tags: competition law, Product safety
TweetHere’s my just-published remembrance, in Public Choice, of my late teacher, dissertation advisor, co-author, and friend, Bob Ekelund. Three slices: The only textbook assigned for the course was Milton Friedman’s Price Theory. From some younger members of Auburn’s economics faculty, I heard a few cocktail-lubricated complaints that core theory courses in a modern economics Ph.D.…
Bob Ekelund Remembered
Popuphobia’s Javier Milei Problem
22 Nov 2024 1 Comment
in development economics, economic growth, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, fiscal policy, growth disasters, income redistribution, labour economics, law and economics, liberalism, libertarianism, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, monetary economics, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking, unemployment Tags: Argentina

My dear friend and colleague Dan Klein wrote this. He loves feedback, so please share your thoughts in the comments. And he’d especially appreciate reactions from friends Shikha Dalmia and Nils Karlson, which I’d definitely be glad to run.P.S. Dan asked me to link to the latest Milei news.I define popuphobe as someone who propagates…
Popuphobia’s Javier Milei Problem
#climateemergency
22 Nov 2024 Leave a comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, global warming Tags: climate alarmism
Defying cries of “transphobia”, the Washington Post calls for debate on whether trans women should participate in women’s sports
22 Nov 2024 1 Comment
in discrimination, economics of education, gender, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, property rights, sports economics Tags: free speech, gender gap, political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination

The good news is that the Washington Post, defying the inevitable cries that the paper is “transphobic”, is calling for a “respectful debate on trans women in sports”. This is, of course, because of the increasing number of biological men who identify as women (I prefer that jawbreaker to “trans women” because the latter plays […]
Defying cries of “transphobia”, the Washington Post calls for debate on whether trans women should participate in women’s sports
#climateemergency
22 Nov 2024 Leave a comment
in development economics, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, growth miracles Tags: China
Cold, Hungry, Mass Unemployment, No Cars, Blackouts–Welcome To Starmer’s Dystopian Future
21 Nov 2024 1 Comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming Tags: British politics, climate activists, climate alarmism, solar power, wind power
For too long, the impact and cost of the Climate Change Act has been deliberately hidden from the public. Partly this has been the result of a political conspiracy between all of the major political parties and establishment in general. It has also been aided and abetted by all of the media, with a handful of notable exceptions.
Cold, Hungry, Mass Unemployment, No Cars, Blackouts–Welcome To Starmer’s Dystopian Future
Bret Stephens indicts American universities for placing relevance above excellence
20 Nov 2024 1 Comment
in economics of education, politics - USA Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left

A reader called my attention to a new quarterly online magazine called Sapir. It’s edited by the NYT writer Bret Stephens, it’s free, and it has a number of intriguing articles (check out this interview with Daniel Diermeier, our former provost and now chancellor of Vanderbilt University). It also offers a free one-year hard-copy subscription […]
Bret Stephens indicts American universities for placing relevance above excellence
The Borjas-Caplan Immigration Debate
20 Nov 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, population economics Tags: economics of immigration
Before the fictional musical Borjas-Caplan immigration debate of 2024, there was the non-fictional non-musical Borjas-Caplan immigration debate of 2019. It was an unusual format: Both of us had the floor for over hour each. Borjas:Me:If you pay close attention to my opponent’s presentation, you’ll discover that he’s quite unlike every other critic of immigration. In…
The Borjas-Caplan Immigration Debate



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