All is Fair in Love & War: Sex during World War I
All is Fair in Love & War: Sex during World War I
23 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economics of crime, International law, law and economics, laws of war, war and peace Tags: World War I
Mann loses 99.5% of his damages
23 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, economics of education, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: climate activists, climate alarmism, defamation
Climate scientist Michael Mann won $1 million in a defamation lawsuit against writer Mark Steyn. However the damages have been reduced to $5,000 due to false claims by Mann about lost grants. Some extracts from the recent court ruling: It seems Dr Mann has done more damage to his own reputation through this lawsuit, than […]
Mann loses 99.5% of his damages
Book Nook Reading Notes on *Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids*
22 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, economics of education, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, occupational choice, poverty and inequality Tags: College premium, signaling
Bet On It reader Dan Barrett wrote these notes for his Book Nook book club on my Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids: Why Being a Great Parent Is Less Work and More Fun Than You Think. Dan’s idea:I’m organizing reading groups packaged as the Book Nook to help colleagues (1) guide their own learning…
Book Nook Reading Notes on *Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids*
The Anatomy of Marital Happiness
22 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, economic history, economics of love and marriage, industrial organisation, labour economics, population economics Tags: dating markets, economics of fertility, marriage and divorce, marriage premium
How can I not link to a new Sam Peltzman piece on such a topic? Here goes: Since 1972, the General Social Survey has periodically asked whether people are happy with Yes, Maybe or No type answers. Here I use a net “happiness” measure, which is percentage Yes less percentage No with Maybe treated as […]
The Anatomy of Marital Happiness
Commerce Secretary Lutnick Is Among Those Government Officials Who Are Ignorant of Basic Economic Facts
21 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic history, industrial organisation, international economics, market efficiency, politics - USA, survivor principle, transport economics Tags: 2024 presidential election, free trade, tarrifs
TweetHere’s a note to the Highland County Press. Editor: Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick asserts that NAFTA allowed U.S. automobile producers to “screw” American auto workers by shifting auto-industry production to Mexico and Canada (“Trump Cabinet members: Tariff plans are working; tariffs could eliminate federal income tax for those earning less than $150,000,” March 20). Mr.…
Commerce Secretary Lutnick Is Among Those Government Officials Who Are Ignorant of Basic Economic Facts
Oldest known Australian hominin fossils to be reburied
21 Mar 2025 1 Comment
in economic history, economics of education, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - Australia Tags: archeology, evolutionary biology, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
Once again we have a conflict between science and the unevidenced claims of superstition. This time it’s from Australia. Some of the “Willandra lakes fossils” from New South Wales, which include the famous “Lake Mungo remains” (three sets of hominin fossils that are the oldest ones known from Australia), have been or are scheduled to […]
Oldest known Australian hominin fossils to be reburied
Stop waiting for a foreign hero: NZ’s supermarket sector needs competition from within
21 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, industrial organisation, law and economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: competition law
Lisa M. Katerina Asher, Catherine Sutton-Brad and Drew Franklin write – New Zealand’s concentrated supermarket sector is back in the spotlight after Finance Minister Nicola Willis said she was open to offering “VIP treatment” to a third international player willing to create competition. However, New Zealanders hoping for a foreign hero to break up the […]
Stop waiting for a foreign hero: NZ’s supermarket sector needs competition from within
McCaskill: Trump is Trying to “Disappear” People Like Putin
20 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, Economics of international refugee law, international economics, International law, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election, economics of immigration, law and order, law enforcement
MSNBC analyst and former Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill has long been criticized for unhinged rhetoric. That was evident on “Morning Joe” recently when McCaskill said that the deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members was akin to Putin “disappearing” people. It is not the first such analogy by McCaskill, who has called those opposing the censorship […]
McCaskill: Trump is Trying to “Disappear” People Like Putin
The Grumpy Economist on Foreign aid: “send a person a fish every day, and he forgets how to fish.”
20 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, development economics, economic history, growth disasters, growth miracles Tags: overseas aid
John Cochrane recommends the Economist article Aid cannot make poor countries rich. From 2004 to 2014, foreign aid increased by 75%, but it didn’t help: 2004, William Easterly: aid was just as likely to shrink the world’s poorest economies as to help them grow. 2005, World Bank: grants and loans did not move the needle…
The Grumpy Economist on Foreign aid: “send a person a fish every day, and he forgets how to fish.”
The Trans-Saharan Railway: A Forgotten Chapter of Vichy Oppression
20 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economics of crime, International law, law and economics, laws of war, war and peace Tags: France, Nazi Germany, The Holocaust, World War II
The phrase “From hero to zero” is perhaps the most fitting way to describe the trajectory of Philippe Pétain’s legacy. Once hailed as a national savior and military genius, his descent into infamy was marked by his collaboration with Nazi Germany and his betrayal of France’s republican values. Pétain: From World War I Hero to […]
The Trans-Saharan Railway: A Forgotten Chapter of Vichy Oppression
Bowel cancer screening should be based on clinical need, not ancestry
20 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, health economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: cancer rates
Simeon Brown announced: The Government has agreed to progressively lower the age of eligibility for bowel cancer screening tests to align with Australia. “Today, I am pleased to announce that we are taking the first step by lowering the age to 58, with redirected funding of $36 million over four years. “This means free bowel […]
Bowel cancer screening should be based on clinical need, not ancestry
University of Chicago updates equal-opportunity statement for job ads
20 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of education, gender, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election, affirmative action, free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left, sex discrimination
This announcement came from our Provost’s office, but apparently hasn’t been sent to all parts of the University. Nevertheless, it surely applies to all job ads for the University of Chicago. What it shows is that the University has updated its Equal Employment Opportunity statement, a statement that must be included in all ads for […]
University of Chicago updates equal-opportunity statement for job ads
A bizarre decision by the Imperial War Museum
19 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in defence economics, war and peace Tags: World War I, World War II
Lord Ashcroft writes: My disappointment at learning about the planned closure of the Lord Ashcroft Gallery at the Imperial War Museum has been tempered by the touching reaction to the imminent loss of my medal collection from public viewing. I remain hugely disappointed at the decision of the IWM to shut the gallery, which displays…
A bizarre decision by the Imperial War Museum
Greens think prisoners are the victims!
19 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, labour economics, law and economics, occupational choice, politics - New Zealand Tags: crime and punishment, criminal deterrence, law and order, regressive left
David Farrar writes – The Herald reported: The Greens’ Tamatha Paul has expressed “regret” about a claim she made on social media that the “vast majority” of people in prison are there for non-violent offences that they’ve “had to do as a response to poverty”. Police and Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell has described comments in her video as “total nonsense” and an […]
Greens think prisoners are the victims!
Quotation of the Day…
19 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in economic history, labour economics, poverty and inequality Tags: The Great Enrichment
Tweet… is from page 172 of the 2012 revised edition of Steven Landsburg’s great 1993 book, The Armchair Economist: [I]ncome statistics don’t account for everything we value. For one thing, we care about the quantity and quality of our leisure time. Here it’s by and large the poor who have made great strides, while the…
Quotation of the Day…
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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