Why economists are unpopular
01 Jan 2022 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, economics of bureaucracy, economics of crime, entrepreneurship, environmental economics, history of economic thought, income redistribution, industrial organisation, international economics, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, liberalism, macroeconomics, managerial economics, minimum wage, organisational economics, personnel economics, poverty and inequality, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking, survivor principle, theory of the firm, unemployment, unions, welfare reform Tags: offsetting behaviour, The fatal conceit, unintended consequences
On cranks and conspiracy theorists
01 Jan 2022 Leave a comment
in economics of education Tags: philosophy of science
World In Action – The Great Train Robbery – 1964
01 Jan 2022 Leave a comment
I remember this robbery taking place and the aftermath. Wish we had decent TV like this today, but in NZ our media is in thrall to the Ardern Regime
Oct 11, 2021
The multi-award winning series ‘World In Action’ aired a special programme looking back at The Great Train Robbery which had taken place just 7 months previously.
The Ottoman Disaster – The Battle of Sarikamish I THE GREAT WAR Week 23
01 Jan 2022 Leave a comment
in defence economics, laws of war, war and peace Tags: World War I
Why Elizabeth Warren’s Wealth Tax Won’t Work
31 Dec 2021 Leave a comment
in entrepreneurship, human capital, income redistribution, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, public economics, survivor principle Tags: regressive left, taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment, taxation and savings
Vicarious Liability of Bishop for abuse committed by clergy
31 Dec 2021 Leave a comment
In a decision handed down just prior to Christmas, DP (a pseudonym) v Bird [2021] VSC 850 (22 December 2021), a judge of the Victorian Supreme Court ruled that the Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Ballarat could be sued as vicariously liable for child sexual abuse committed by an assistant parish priest against the plaintiff DP when he was 5 years old (in 1971). The decision (as noted in a recent online press report) seems to be the first time a diocese has been found vicariously liable under common law principles for the actions of a priest, in Australia. In this note I will suggest that the reason for this is that the decision is wrong, as inconsistent with clear High Court of Australia authority. This does not mean that I think that the organised church ought to be allowed to escape liability for harm committed…
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Debating Income Inequality: What’s the Problem? What’s the Solution?
31 Dec 2021 Leave a comment
in economics of education, entrepreneurship, human capital, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, poverty and inequality, survivor principle Tags: top 1%
Why economists should sit on SAGE
30 Dec 2021 Leave a comment
Throughout the pandemic, our politicians have been urged to “follow the science” or, more accurately, the advice provided by medical scientists. Other disciplines play only a bit part. There are Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) sub-groups assessing the impacts of Covid on the provision of social care, or minority ethnic groups, but what about the economy?
Indeed, it appears that economists are only asked to put a cost on policy decisions that have already been made, or come up with schemes to mitigate the impacts, rather than influence decisions in the first place. In my admittedly biased view, this is a mistake.
Any decent economist has a toolbox of concepts and skills that can be applied to the policy responses to a pandemic. This begins with communicating the case for state intervention.
For example, protection from a deadly virus is a classic example of what economists call a “public…
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Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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