It is interesting to look at the list of Maori MPs who have won general electorates in NZ. The list is: So the breakdown by party is: Of Labour’s nine Maori MPs who won an electorate seat, five of them were in the 2020 landslide. Prior to that there had been only four. Just four…
Why does Labour select so few Maori for winnable general seats?
Why does Labour select so few Maori for winnable general seats?
10 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, politics - New Zealand Tags: racial discrimination
Productivity growth (or lack of it)
10 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, economic growth, economic history, fiscal policy, labour economics, macroeconomics, politics - New Zealand
In a post last week I included this chart of the latest annual OECD data on labour productivity, expressed in PPP terms. It was grim, in a familiar sort of way. New Zealand’s overall economic performance has long been poor (the halcyon days when New Zealand was in the top 3 in the world relegated […]
Productivity growth (or lack of it)
Humphrey’s Estate and Jackson’s Experts: Supreme Court Justice Offers Surprising View of the Separation of Powers
10 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, law and economics, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: constitutional law
As I discussed in yesterday’s coverage of the oral arguments in Trump v. Slaughter, the argument went poorly for those…
Humphrey’s Estate and Jackson’s Experts: Supreme Court Justice Offers Surprising View of the Separation of Powers
Evaluating the Sale of Warner Bros Discovery to Netflix from an Antitrust Perspective
09 Dec 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, industrial organisation, market efficiency Tags: competition law
Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) has announced that it is selling its major assets to Netflix, including Warner Bros. Pictures (home of Harry Potter), DC Studios, and HBO Max. Netflix was chosen among a group of bidders that also included Paramount and Comcast. This post explores some of the antitrust issues and hurdles that a combined…
Evaluating the Sale of Warner Bros Discovery to Netflix from an Antitrust Perspective
Antitrust at the Agencies: Meta Analysis Edition
09 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, industrial organisation, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: competition law
The memorandum and order in FTC v. Meta Platforms Inc. that U.S. District Court Judge James E. Boasberg filed Nov. 18, ruling in favor of Meta, has now been followed by a Dec. 2 revised order that contained fewer redactions. The memorandum doesn’t exactly provide the law & economics analysis I would have produced, had…
Antitrust at the Agencies: Meta Analysis Edition
Three Royal Societies abandon their mission to promote global and universalist science
09 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of education, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA Tags: conjecture and refutation, philosophy of science
A Kiwi who wishes to remain anonymous (of course) sent me this link to an announcement of a meeting of three Royal (Scientific) Societies: those of New Zealand, Australia, and Canada. The screenshot below also links to two other short documents, a communiqué and a statement by the Presidents of all three Societies. The object…
Three Royal Societies abandon their mission to promote global and universalist science
Quotation of the Day…
09 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, entrepreneurship, environmental economics, environmentalism
Tweet… is from page 223 of Art Carden’s and GMU Econ alum Caleb Fuller’s superb book, Mere Economics [original emphasis; footnotes deleted; link added]: The “finite resources” argument also begs the question because it assumes we know which materials are “resources” and which are not. Something is only a resource insofar as we can use…
Quotation of the Day…
Germany’s Accelerating Fiscal and Economic Decline
09 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in budget deficits, economic growth, economic history, fiscal policy, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, Public Choice, public economics Tags: ageing society, Germany
A lot has happened if you look at the past 100 years of German economic policy. Hyperinflation leading to Hitler’s National Socialists taking power. An impressive free-market revival after World War II. A growing welfare state after the imposition of a value-added tax in the 1960s. Some semi-impressive spending restraint starting in the mid-1990s. Very […]
Germany’s Accelerating Fiscal and Economic Decline
Supreme Court should not let climate lawfare set US energy policy
08 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: nuisance suits
Let’s hope the Supreme Court agrees that Boulder’s lawsuit is an excellent opportunity to terminate frivolous climate lawfare, expand on the guidance it provided in these two previous cases – and end attempts by climate activists to impose destructive national policies through local and state courts.
Supreme Court should not let climate lawfare set US energy policy
Media bias in New Zealand yet again
08 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of information, economics of media and culture, industrial organisation, politics - New Zealand, survivor principle Tags: media bias
Chris McVeigh writes – If you took a double at the TAB, with the Pope getting married as one leg and Radio New Zealand admitting to a smidgen of left wing partiality as the other, you could be forgiven for thinking that the smart money would be on the Vatican gig bringing home the bacon […]
Media bias in New Zealand yet again
The myth of the $140,000 poverty line
08 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, labour economics, labour supply, poverty and inequality
That is my latest piece for The Free Press, focusing on the claims of Michael W. Green. Excerpt: Most of all, there is a major conceptual error in Green’s focus on high prices. To the extent that prices are high, it is not because our supply chains have been destroyed by earthquakes or nuclear bombs. […]
The myth of the $140,000 poverty line
AIR RAID ON PEARL HARBOR X THIS IS NOT DRILL.
08 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in defence economics, laws of war, war and peace Tags: Pearl Harbour, World War II
On December 7, 1941, Japanese planes attacked the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor in the Hawaii Territory, killing more than 2,300 Americans. The U.S.S. Arizona was completely destroyed, and the U.S.S. Oklahoma capsized. In total, twelve ships were sunk or beached, and nine additional vessels were damaged. More than 160 aircraft were destroyed […]
AIR RAID ON PEARL HARBOR X THIS IS NOT DRILL.
Harvey vs Wilson on western culture
07 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of education, liberalism, Marxist economics Tags: Age of Enlightenment
Simon Wilson, like many on the hard left, sees the West as basically malignant, and that its achievements were based on oppression. This is not an uncommon view from the left. David Harvey does an excellent lengthy response to Wilson’s assertions. Read it all, but here are some key aspects: The article argues that Hammurabi…
Harvey vs Wilson on western culture
Unfettered: Fishback 25 Years Later
07 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic history, history of economic thought, labour economics, labour supply, poverty and inequality
A quarter century ago, economist Price Fishback published “Operations of ‘Unfettered’ Labor Markets: Exit and Voice in American Labor Markets at the Turn of the Century” 1,762 more words
Unfettered: Fishback 25 Years Later
Climate Doomsday Prophecy Peddled By Academia Retracted In Disgrace
07 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, climate change, econometerics, economics of climate change, economics of education, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, politics - USA Tags: academic bias, climate activists
A widely-referenced 2024 study that predicted massive global economic damages due to climate change has now been retracted, The New York Times (NYT) reported on Wednesday.
Climate Doomsday Prophecy Peddled By Academia Retracted In Disgrace
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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