Over 20 years ago, some middling economists (cite) estimated that the Small Business Set-Aside program reduced Forest Service Timber prices by 15%. By limiting the potential pool of available bidders to only smaller lumber mills, you get less competition and worse prices. Now San Francisco is re-learning that lesson. In 2016, it refused to do…
Using procurement for political ends gives you worse prices.
Using procurement for political ends gives you worse prices.
09 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, entrepreneurship, income redistribution, industrial organisation, law and economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking, theory of the firm, transport economics, urban economics Tags: cartels, competition and monopoly, competition law
The Russian February Revolution 1917 I THE GREAT WAR Week 137
09 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, income redistribution, liberalism, Marxist economics, Public Choice, rentseeking, war and peace Tags: Russian revolution, World War I
Sick Joke: Nothing ‘Green’ About California’s All Electric Vehicle Mandates
09 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of climate change, energy economics, entrepreneurship, environmental economics, global warming, market efficiency, politics - USA, Public Choice, transport economics, urban economics Tags: electric cars, solar power, wind power

There’s nothing wrong in theory about all-Electric Vehicles. But, if they really were a sensible substitute for petrol or diesel-powered vehicles, they’d already be jumping off the shelves. Except, for some strange reason, they aren’t. There’s plenty of irony attached to the all-EV cult: the world’s largest EV charging station is run entirely using diesel […]
Sick Joke: Nothing ‘Green’ About California’s All Electric Vehicle Mandates
DAVID FARRAR: Meta withdraws Facebook News in Australia
09 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, survivor principle Tags: creative destruction, market selection, media bias
David Farrar writes – Stuff reports: Facebook owner Meta has refused to continue paying for news in Australia, announcing it will end its deals with local publishers when they expire this year in a decision that news companies say blatantly ignores the value of their journalism. The government also blasted the move, describing it as “a […]
DAVID FARRAR: Meta withdraws Facebook News in Australia
The tohunga suppression myth that won’t die
08 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of regulation, health economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: Age of Enlightenment, cranks, free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
Graham Adams writes — Jonathan Swift’s observation in 1710 that “Falsehood flies, and the Truth comes limping after it” seems entirely apt for last week’s parliamentary debate on disestablishing the Māori Health Authority. No fewer than three MPs — MPs Cushla Tangaere-Manuel (Labour), Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke (Te Pāti Māori), and Steve Abel (Greens) — referred to […]
The tohunga suppression myth that won’t die
#IWD2024
08 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of education, gender, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, politics - Australia Tags: gender wage gap, sex discrimination

Environmentalism Perverted by Climatism
08 Mar 2024 1 Comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, development economics, economic growth, economic history, economics of climate change, economics of crime, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, growth miracles, law and economics, liberalism, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, property rights Tags: climate alarmism, free speech, regressive left, The Great Enrichment

J. Scott Turner explains how the roots of environmental stewardship were poisoned, resulting in the perverted modern decarbonization movement. His Spectator Australia article is Environmentalism: from concern about clean air to throwing soup at the Mona Lisa. Excerpts in italics with my bolds and added images. H/T John Ray Garrett Hardin was a professor of biology […]
Environmentalism Perverted by Climatism
Bitten by her own attack dogs
08 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in defence economics, International law, law and economics, laws of war, politics - USA, war and peace Tags: free speech, Gaza Strip, Israel, Middle-East politics, political correctness, regressive left, war against terror

Whether comparing Leftist politics to mythology like Roman gods who ate their own children, or the creature known as Ouroburos, or showing up its self-destruction in real-life insanities like Defunding The Police, backing Burn Loot Murder and the Soros-backed District Attorney’s that have brought so much crime and misery upon the heads of their Democrat […]
Bitten by her own attack dogs
Former World Bank economist warns of energy transition’s fiscal risks
08 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, development economics, econometerics, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming Tags: climate alarmism
By Paul Homewood London, 5 March – In the run-up to Budget Day (6 March), a new paper by a former World Bank economist and published by the Global Warming Policy Foundation warns that the UK’s current decarbonisation timeframe is unrealistic and threatens to be economically and socially unsustainable.
Former World Bank economist warns of energy transition’s fiscal risks
Population is Not Being Told the True Cost of Net Zero, Warns Former World Bank Economist
07 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, development economics, econometerics, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming Tags: climate alarmism
The insanity of Net Zero becomes clearer by the day.
Population is Not Being Told the True Cost of Net Zero, Warns Former World Bank Economist
Tide turning in Washington State?
07 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: Age of Enlightenment, regressive left, taxation and investment
From an MR reader: Good story here about one man in Washington state fighting the battle against the progressive tide. He single handedly got six initiatives on the ballot to repeal progressive reforms over the past few years. These include a police pursuit law that prevents police from chasing criminals in most cases, and a […]
Tide turning in Washington State?
How the Washington Post and the New York Times practice abysmal journalism about the Middle East war
07 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economic history, International law, law and economics, laws of war, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, war and peace Tags: Gaza Strip, Israel, Middle-East politics, regressive left, war against terror

Within about a month of each other, two articles came out discussing how America’s most prominent liberal newspapers—the New York Times and the Washington Post—have both abjured proper standards of journalism when covering the Israel/Hamas war. (Further, the other day the Torygraph wrote about how the BBC does the same thing.) And, of course since […]
How the Washington Post and the New York Times practice abysmal journalism about the Middle East war
Of Pings and Prosecutors: The Spectacular Imposition of the Willis-Wade Testimony
07 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election

Below is my column in the New York Post on the expanding controversy surrounding the disqualification of Fani Willis and Nathan Wade. In today’s legislative hearing in Atlanta, counsel Ashleigh Merchant testified that cellphone records on one occasion show “pings” on Wade’s cellphone from his home to the vicinity of Willis’s home followed by a […]
Of Pings and Prosecutors: The Spectacular Imposition of the Willis-Wade Testimony
A Moment of Supreme Clarity: How the Court Delivered a Blow of the Lumberjack School of Constitutional Law
07 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: 2020 presidential election, 2024 presidential election, regressive left, rule of law

Below is my column in USA Today on the unanimous decision of the Supreme Court to reject the disqualification of former president Donald Trump from the 2024 election. Some Democrats are now seeking to resume the effort through Congress to prevent voters from being able to vote for the leading candidate for the presidency. Here […]
A Moment of Supreme Clarity: How the Court Delivered a Blow of the Lumberjack School of Constitutional Law
Even Lowerer Hutt
07 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, income redistribution, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, regulation, urban economics Tags: housing affordability, land supply, zoning
One annoying thing about writing a Saturday column for the Stuff papers is never knowing whether a piece will show up in print.I’d thought this one was a banger. I’ll be talking about related issues tomorrow night as part of a panel for A City for People. 🟨🟪 Our speaker line up has dropped! 🟪🟨Join us on…
Even Lowerer Hutt
Recent Comments