…the claimed dangers are based on climate model projections, not actual cause and effect connections demonstrated by data.
No, Media, ‘Catastrophic Climate Tipping Points’ are Nothing to Worry About
No, Media, ‘Catastrophic Climate Tipping Points’ are Nothing to Worry About
13 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, global warming Tags: climate alarmism
Steve Pinker’s Fivefold Way: How Harvard can save itself
13 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in economics of education, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, political correctness, regressive left

Steve Pinker has published his remedy for Harvard’s woes in today’s Boston Globe; he outlined these to me last week over a beer, but I didn’t feel at liberty to divulge what he said he was writing about. Now I can. But the fricking Globe is completely paywalled, so I had to go to our…
Steve Pinker’s Fivefold Way: How Harvard can save itself
Reserve Bank of New Zealand (Economic Objective) Amendment Bill
13 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in business cycles, economic history, history of economic thought, inflation targeting, labour economics, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - New Zealand, unemployment Tags: monetary policy

I guess it will be an Act by the end of the day, but for now the short bill giving effect to a return to a single statutory objective for monetary policy is here. Yesterday’s parliamentary debate (first and second reading) is here, here, and here. The heart of the bill is this clause Note […]
Reserve Bank of New Zealand (Economic Objective) Amendment Bill
Goldin Nobel
13 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, econometerics, economic history, economics of education, gender, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice Tags: gender wage gap, sex discrimination
In a country supposedly infected by “white supremacy,” “white privilege” and “systemic racism” how did all of these non-white minority groups get to be SO successful in the US, outearning the typical White American household?
13 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in discrimination, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, politics - USA, poverty and inequality Tags: racial discrimination
European Passenger Train Travel Declining
13 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in transport economics, urban economics
The media treat Americans to a constant drumbeat of how much better European passenger trains are and why we need to spend hundreds of billions or trillions improving our train system. The latest is a report that overnight trains are proving they can replace air travel by “play[ing] an important … Continue reading →
European Passenger Train Travel Declining
An Upside-Down Economic History of Argentina
13 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in budget deficits, business cycles, development economics, economic growth, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, fiscal policy, growth disasters, growth miracles, history of economic thought, income redistribution, labour economics, macroeconomics, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking, Ronald Coase Tags: Argentina

Argentina has a very interesting, but also rather tragic, economic history. During first half of the 20th century, it was one of the world’s richest nations. But thanks to dirigiste economic policies (known locally as Peronism) starting after World War II, Argentina has suffered a dramatic decline in relative living standards. However, something shocking has […]
An Upside-Down Economic History of Argentina
CNN: ‘It’s time to limit how often we can travel abroad – ‘Carbon Passports’ may be the answer’ – ‘Drastic changes to our travel habits are inevitable’ – Suggests restrictions will be ‘forced’ upon public
12 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, transport economics
Dear Citizen 1138, we regret to inform you that your request to travel has been denied as you have reached the limit of your carbon allowance for this period.
CNN: ‘It’s time to limit how often we can travel abroad – ‘Carbon Passports’ may be the answer’ – ‘Drastic changes to our travel habits are inevitable’ – Suggests restrictions will be ‘forced’ upon public
CHRIS TROTTER: Contested ground
12 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, economic history, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: Age of Enlightenment, constitutional law, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
LAST WEEK The Waitangi Tribunal released Tino Rangatiratanga me te Kāwanatanga: The Report on Stage 2 of the Te Paparahi o Te Raki Inquiry (Wai 1040). For the sake of brevity, I shall refer to this spawling document as the Northland Report. Sadly, the Report seems destined to make the already fraught relationship between Māori…
CHRIS TROTTER: Contested ground
Lessons from Fighting 100 Inflations Since the 1970s
12 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in budget deficits, business cycles, development economics, economic growth, economic history, fiscal policy, growth disasters, history of economic thought, inflation targeting, macroeconomics, monetarism, monetary economics, unemployment Tags: monetary policy

Inflation rates have come down since their peak in mid-2022. Does the Federal Reserve need to continue its inflation-fighting ways, keeping interest rates high? Anil Ari, Carlos Mulas-Granados, Victor Mylonas, Lev Ratnovski, and WeiZhao of the IMF look to historical and international experience in “One Hundred Inflation Shocks: Seven Stylized Facts” (September 2023, WP/23/190). As…
Lessons from Fighting 100 Inflations Since the 1970s
Economic Euthanasia: Wind & Solar ‘Transition’ Means Energy Poverty Everywhere
12 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, global warming

Once upon a time, the object was delivering power to everyone, everywhere, all the time. Not anymore. Chaotically delivered and heavily subsidised wind and solar have another object, and it is not one that their proponents dare speak of. If delivering reliable and affordable power were the object, then no one would be talking about […]
Economic Euthanasia: Wind & Solar ‘Transition’ Means Energy Poverty Everywhere
Shit or go blind? You did neither.
12 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in economics of media and culture, television, TV shows Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, political correctness, regressive left

The Woke are increasingly reminding me of this classic Far Side cartoon, in that their “solutions” are exactly the same for every problem, including also being a single word,. The Veternarian pictured below also obviously doesn’t believe in fixing disabilities – although she’s at least not prepared to leave them to suffer in order to […]
Shit or go blind? You did neither.
The University of Chicago’s Students for Justice in Palestine justify the terrorism and barbarity of Hamas on October 7, tout other forms of antisemitism
12 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in 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, useful idiots, war against terror, West Bank

The campus climate of hate and divisiveness is not limited to MIT, Harvard, Princeton, or Columbia; it’s now metastasized to the University of Chicago. It’s largely promoted by the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and UChicago United for Palestine (UCUP), who are constantly demonstrating on campus and have had its members arrested for trespassing […]
The University of Chicago’s Students for Justice in Palestine justify the terrorism and barbarity of Hamas on October 7, tout other forms of antisemitism
Russia Reels From -60°C Cold Blast… And Munich Breaks December Snow Record
11 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, global warming Tags: climate alarmism
In early December, the Arctic practically spread to Russia (and Europe), see following chart:
Russia Reels From -60°C Cold Blast… And Munich Breaks December Snow Record


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