In 1993, Yale economics professor Joel Waldfogel published an article titled The deadweight loss of Christmas. The idea is that gift recipients often place a lower dollar value on the item than its actual price. Maybe someone buys you a tie for $20 that you would pay no more than $5 for. So the inefficiency…
Is Christmas Gift Giving Inefficient?
Is Christmas Gift Giving Inefficient?
25 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
Three that Made a Revolution
25 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in development economics, growth disasters, growth miracles Tags: India
Another excellent post from Samir Varma, this time on the 1991 reforms in India that launched India’s second freedom movement: Three men you’ve probably never heard of—P.V. Narasimha Rao, Manmohan Singh, Montek Singh Ahluwalia—may be the three most important people of the late 20th century. Bold claim. Audacious, even. Let me defend it. Here are…
Three that Made a Revolution
Panic-Stricken Climate Alarmists Resort to Bolder Lies
25 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming Tags: climate alarmism
The real misinformation has been repeated predictions of apocalypse, fabricated links between bad weather and a harmless gas necessary for life on Earth and attacks on the reputations of those who question climate orthodoxy.
Panic-Stricken Climate Alarmists Resort to Bolder Lies
AI summary of my living wage paper
24 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, history of economic thought, income redistribution, job search and matching, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, minimum wage, politics - New Zealand, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: living wage
New South Wales bans anti-Jewish rhetoric in wake of Bondi Beach attack
24 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in defence economics, discrimination, economics of crime, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - Australia, war and peace Tags: free speech, Gaza Strip, Middle-East politics, political correctness, regressive left, war against terror, West Bank
The attack on Jews celebrating Hanukkah at Bondi Beach near Sydney (the capital of New South Wales), was horrific: fifteen people were killed (not including the perps) and 40 injured. It was clearly a terrorist attack designed to kill Jews, putting the lie that this kind of violence is “anti-Zionist” rather than antisemitic. Australian Jews…
New South Wales bans anti-Jewish rhetoric in wake of Bondi Beach attack
BBC Framing Asks Jews to Answer For Violence Against Jews
23 Dec 2025 1 Comment
in defence economics, discrimination, economics of crime, International law, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - Australia, war and peace Tags: free speech, Gaza Strip, Middle-East politics, political correctness, regressive left, war against terror
Since the antisemitic terror attack on Bondi Beach last week, there has been a large amount of discussion on BBC radio and broadcast channels… The post BBC Framing Asks Jews to Answer For Violence Against Jews appeared first on CAMERA UK.
BBC Framing Asks Jews to Answer For Violence Against Jews
STEVE MILLOY: Trump Dismantles Climate-Industrial Complex
23 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of climate change, economics of education, economics of natural disasters, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: climate alarmism
The Trump administration took a major whack at the climate-industrial complex this week. It’s a fantastic move. But another event this week spotlights the need to do more.
STEVE MILLOY: Trump Dismantles Climate-Industrial Complex
A tale of two cities and rent control
23 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, econometerics, economics of regulation, law and economics, market efficiency, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, urban economics Tags: rent control
WSJ: What the Twin Cities Tell Us About Fixing the Housing CrisisThe Natural Experiment: In 2022, St. Paul enacted one of the strictest rent-control regimes in the country. The ordinance capped annual rent increases at 3% for most apartments, even empty ones. It didn’t adjust for inflation. … Across the Mississippi River, Minneapolis steered clear of rent…
A tale of two cities and rent control
Adam Smith And Joseph Campbell On The Dangers Of “The Man Of System”
23 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in Adam Smith, applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economics of information, economics of regulation, history of economic thought
Here is a passage from The Theory of Moral Sentiments by Smith (author of the book The Wealth of Nations in 1776 that started economics) at the Library of Economics and Liberty. Smith emphasizes the arrogance and conceit of those who think they can arrange society any way they want. In a separate passage, Smith…
Adam Smith And Joseph Campbell On The Dangers Of “The Man Of System”
John Oliver goes after Bari Weiss and CBS News
22 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in industrial organisation, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, television, TV shows Tags: media bias
A reader sent me a video-containing email with the header “John Oliver destroys Bari Weiss”, with the message below saying, “Somebody had to do it.” Well, yes, somebody should criticize the Free Press, which is becoming, in my view, more political (right-centrist) and less full of news. And even news stories aren’t really written by…
John Oliver goes after Bari Weiss and CBS News
Rent Control Creates Ghost Apartments
22 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, economic history, economics of regulation, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, urban economics Tags: rent control
Adam Lehodey writing at City Journal: In New York City, making a profit on real estate has become increasingly difficult. Rent-stabilization laws built on the mantra that “housing is a human right,” a dysfunctional housing court, and myriad other interventions have driven thousands of units off the market, giving rise to the phenomenon of New York’s “ghost…
Rent Control Creates Ghost Apartments
EU abandons petrol car ban
21 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, transport economics
By Paul Homewood This confirms the rumours: From the Telegraph: The European Union has abandoned plans to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2035, bowing to pressure from Germany and Italy.
EU abandons petrol car ban
Kathleen Stock on female genital mutilation, cultural relativism, and a recent (odious) paper in The Journal of Medical Ethics
21 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of crime, economics of education, gender, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics Tags: sex discrimination
Over at UnHerd, philosopher Kathleen Stock, formerly of the University of Sussex, critiques a paper in The Journal of Medical Ethics that I discussed recently, a paper you can read by clicking below. (You may remember that Stock, an OBE, was forced to resign from Sussex after she was demonized for her views on gender…
Kathleen Stock on female genital mutilation, cultural relativism, and a recent (odious) paper in The Journal of Medical Ethics
My first AI op-ed summary
21 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, economics of education, economics of information, entrepreneurship, gender, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, politics - New Zealand Tags: gender wage gap
The Wind Energy Paradox: “Why More Wind Turbines Don’t Always Mean More Power”
20 Dec 2025 1 Comment
in energy economics Tags: Germany, wind power
The Munich-based daily Merkur is finally reporting on something that sus keptics have been pointing out some 20 years: Wind turbines always either produce too little or too much, and are thus uneconomical and unreliable. Image: Vernunftkraft.de In a recent insightful interview with Merkur.de, Prof. Dr. Sigismund Kobe, a renowned physicist from the TU Dresden,…
The Wind Energy Paradox: “Why More Wind Turbines Don’t Always Mean More Power”
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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