Must be a lot of them about
15 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of media and culture, entrepreneurship, monetary economics Tags: Roman empire
Dawkins and Pinker discuss evolution
14 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of education, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: Age of Enlightenment, evolution, evolutionary biology, evolutionary psychology, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
Here’s Richard Dawkins ostensibly discussing his new book (The Genetic Book of the Dead) with Steve Pinker, but of course you can’t confine a discussion between these two to a single book. Even from the beginning it ranges widely, in which Pinker discusses not only the epiphany that The Selfish Gene gave him, but levels […]
Dawkins and Pinker discuss evolution
*Progressive Myths*: The Kling Club Convo
14 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economic history, entrepreneurship, history of economic thought, income redistribution, industrial organisation, labour economics, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: The Great Enrichment
Long ago, I co-blogged for EconLog with Arnold Kling. Now he’s running a book club for Liberty Fund. Last month, Arnold invited me and philosopher Rachel Ferguson to discuss Mike Huemer’s new Progressive Myths. Enjoy!
*Progressive Myths*: The Kling Club Convo
The death of patriotism
14 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in defence economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, war and peace Tags: British politics
These UK poll results from Matt Goodwin are disturbing. The number of adults who would refuse to fight for their country has more than doubled in 20 years from 19% to 41%. In one sense it is no surprise. When “the blob” constantly portrays your country as an oppressor, and that you should be ashamed […]
The death of patriotism
Boettke on the Socialist Calculation Debate
14 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, Austrian economics, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economics of information, entrepreneurship, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, law and economics, property rights Tags: economics of planning
An excellent EconTalk episode with Pete Boettke on the socialist calculation debate. I like Boettke on the three Ps. The three Ps–property, prices, and profits and loss. Property incentivizes us. Prices guide us. Profits lure us to new changes and losses discipline us. Today, “incentives matter” is often considered the first lesson of economics. But […]
Boettke on the Socialist Calculation Debate
Spot on
14 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of education, liberalism, Marxist economics, political change, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left
Hawks, doves, Israel and Iran
13 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, defence economics, economics of information, economics of media and culture, Public Choice, war and peace Tags: game theory, Iran, Israel, Middle-East politics, war against terror
In The Conversation last October, Andrew Thomas (Deakin University) discussed the recent (at that time) military flare-up between Iran and Israel, likening it to a ‘game of chicken’:Israel’s strike on military targets in Iran over the weekend is becoming a more routine occurrence in the decades-long rivalry between the two states…There is a reason why…
Hawks, doves, Israel and Iran
Walz Leads Effort to Block the “No Duty to Retreat” Rule in Acts of Self-Defense
13 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: crime and punishment, law and order
Gov. Tim Walz has never appeared burdened by legal niceties or accuracy in pushing his agenda, including his anti-free speech policies. However, his recent effort to block an effort to enact a “no duty to retreat” rule for self-defense hit a new low. Walz completely misrepresented not only the underlying bill, HF 13, but ignored […]
Walz Leads Effort to Block the “No Duty to Retreat” Rule in Acts of Self-Defense
Did you know the Magna Carta was against tariffs?
13 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic history, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, international economics Tags: 2024 presidential election, constitutional law, tariffs
One clause of the Magna Carta says: All merchants shall have safe and secure exit from England, and entry to England, with the right to tarry there and to move about as well by land as by water, for buying and selling by the ancient and right customs, quit from all evil tolls So tariffs […]
Did you know the Magna Carta was against tariffs?
Trump Doubles Down on Protectionist Failure
12 Mar 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, industrial organisation, international economics, politics - USA, survivor principle Tags: 2024 presidential election, tarrifs
I shared a “Trade 101 for Trumpies” presentation last month in hopes of educating people about the foolishness of protectionism. Perhaps it should have been a remedial class because the president has just announced another increase in taxes on steel and aluminum from Canada. This is insanely bad economic policy for the simple reason that […]
Trump Doubles Down on Protectionist Failure
Inability to understand te reo Māori does not prevent people from asking questions about race relations in New Zealand
12 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economic history, income redistribution, International law, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: Age of Enlightenment, constitutional law, free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
Ananish Chaudhuri writes – Dame Anne Salmond recently wrote a column on Newsroom berating people for having views on the Treaty of Waitangi when they cannot even read the Māori version of the treaty. So, what she is saying is that even when customs, laws or treaties impinge on your daily life, you cannot hold any views […]
Inability to understand te reo Māori does not prevent people from asking questions about race relations in New Zealand
The Upcoming Transfer of Power Between Justin Trudeau and Mark Carney
12 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in Public Choice Tags: Canada
The Ministry Depends on the Prime Minister The Governor General’s first constitutional duty is to appoint a Prime Minister and ensure the continuity of government. The Governor General usually appoints the leader of the political party which has either an outright majority or a plurality of MPs in the House of Commons, or barring that, […]
The Upcoming Transfer of Power Between Justin Trudeau and Mark Carney
Is your master’s degree worthless?
11 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, economics of education, human capital, labour economics, labour supply
Economist: In America returns are especially large in computer science and in engineering. They are slightly smaller in other science subjects, in part because an undergraduate degree in these already bumps up salaries by quite a lot. Teachers who bag graduate degrees in education tend to earn more, even if wages for the profession as…
Is your master’s degree worthless?
SEC Climate Risk Rule is Entrapment
11 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of climate change, economics of regulation, environmental economics, environmentalism, financial economics, global warming, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: climate activists, efficient markets hypothesis
Stone Washington and William Happer explain the nefarious and ill-advised decree in their article SEC’s Climate Risk Disclosure Rule Would Compel Companies to Make Scientifically False and Misleading Disclosures. Excerpts in italics with my bolds and added images. In March last year, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued its climate risk disclosure rule, called “The […]
SEC Climate Risk Rule is Entrapment
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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