Early reports claim that New York City’s so-called congestion pricing program is a great success, reducing the number of vehicles driving into lower Manhattan by 5 to 6 percent. However, because it really isn’t congestion pricing — that is, it doesn’t price roads by how much congestion there is but … Continue reading →
Cordon Pricing Makes New York Congestion Worse
Cordon Pricing Makes New York Congestion Worse
13 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, transport economics, urban economics Tags: cordon pricing
Protection against asteriod strikes
13 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economics of natural disasters Tags: space
I have some bad news, fellow Earthlings: There is a newly discovered asteroid, called 2024 YR4, headed for our planet. Fortunately, the risk is neither great nor urgent. The chance of impact, which would happen on Dec. 22, 2032, is estimated at only about 2.3%. The worst-case scenario, though not world-ending, is still horrific. The asteroid is estimated […]
Protection against asteriod strikes
The economic impact of the 2000 Sydney Olympics
13 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, sports economics Tags: Olympic Games
Economic impact studies are typically used to justify large sporting events. However, those studies typically apply a set of overly positive assumptions, leading to large overestimates of economic impact. Andrew Zimbalist even wrote a book about this problem, Circus Maximus (which I reviewed here).Now, it is rare for the authors of an economic impact study to go…
The economic impact of the 2000 Sydney Olympics
I like maps
12 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economic history, International law, law and economics, property rights Tags: economics of borders, maps
More on the “three-societies letter” about sex
11 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of education, gender, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination
Here’s a quick update on my critique of a letter issued by three organismal-biology-society Presidents claiming that sex isn’t binary—not in humans and, indeed, not in any species. The signers were the Presidents of the Society for the Study of Evolution (SSE), the American Society of Naturalists (ASN), and the Society of Systematic Biologists (SSB), […]
More on the “three-societies letter” about sex
The long road to housing affordability
11 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, income redistribution, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, transport economics, urban economics Tags: housing affordability, land supply, zoning
There is much work yet to be done in New Zealand to improve housing affordability, despite recent declines in valuations. Eric Crampton writes – It wasn’t that long ago that New Zealand’s housing market made international news because of its insanity. In 2016, The Guardian tagged Auckland as the “hottest property market in the world” […]
The long road to housing affordability
Ireland: Good Corporate Tax Policy vs. Bad Government Spending Policy
11 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in budget deficits, business cycles, economic growth, economic history, Euro crisis, fiscal policy, global financial crisis (GFC), great recession, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, macroeconomics, monetary economics, public economics Tags: Ireland, taxation and investment
I’m a big fan of Ireland’s low corporate tax rate for three reasons. First, it shows that good tax policy generates positive economic outcomes as per-capita GDP in Ireland has grown by record amounts. Second, it shows that lower tax rates can in some cases lead to more revenue. Sort of a turbo-charged version of […]
Ireland: Good Corporate Tax Policy vs. Bad Government Spending Policy
Real climate expertise
11 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming
What do you need to believe that the ‘climate crisis’ is over (or indeed, never was). And that the climate problem – one among many – needs addressing.
Real climate expertise
Does the Gender Wage Gap Actually Reflect Taste Discrimination Against Women?
11 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, econometerics, economics of education, economics of information, economics of media and culture, gender, human capital, labour economics, labour supply Tags: gender wage gap
One explanation of the gender wage gap is taste discrimination, as in Becker (1957). We test for taste discrimination by constructing a novel measure of misogyny using Google Trends data on searches that include derogatory terms for women. We find—surprisingly, in our view—that misogyny is an economically meaningful and statistically significant predictor of the wage […]
Does the Gender Wage Gap Actually Reflect Taste Discrimination Against Women?
Free Sociology
11 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of education, liberalism, libertarianism, Marxist economics, politics - USA
I met Fabio Rojas in January of 1990 when we were both freshmen at UC Berkeley. In 1994, he was the best man at my wedding. Now he’s the chairman of Indiana University’s Sociology Department. Last year, he and Charlotta Stern published Sociology and Classical Liberalism in Dialogue: Freedom is Something We Do Together. Here,…
Free Sociology
Ideology trumps biology: Three evolution societies again issue a misleading statement about the definition of sex (Post #30,000)
10 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, gender, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election, free speech, gender gap, political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination
I wish I had a happier post for number 30,000, but you’re stuck with this one. However, it’s in line with the kind of stuff I’ve been writing about for a while, so it’s appropriate. Today we must deal with a letter from the Presidents of three organismal evolution and ecology societies (The Society for […]
Ideology trumps biology: Three evolution societies again issue a misleading statement about the definition of sex (Post #30,000)
Interesting piece of history
10 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economic history, International law, war and peace Tags: Gaza Strip, Israel, Middle-East politics, regressive left
Alex and I consider how to reform the NSF in economics
10 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of education, entrepreneurship Tags: creative destruction, R&D
Here is a redux of our 2016 Journal of Economic Perspectives piece. Here is the abstract: We can imagine a plausible case for government support of science based on traditional economic reasons of externalities and public goods. Yet when it comes to government support of grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for economic research, […]
Alex and I consider how to reform the NSF in economics
Five More Climate Lawsuits Shot Down
10 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: climate activists, climate alarmism, nuisance suits
Legal Newsline reports the string of climate lawfare defeats in their article Fifth judge agrees with Big Oil, dismisses another climate change case. Excerpts in italics with my bolds and added images. TRENTON, N.J. (Legal Newsline) – A New Jersey state court judge refuses to be the one who sets international energy standards and has […]
Five More Climate Lawsuits Shot Down
If Cooks wants to have their own foreign policy, then let them be independent – of our aid
09 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in development economics, international economics, International law, politics - New Zealand Tags: Cook Islands
Radio NZ reports: The New Zealand government says the Cook Islands has failed to properly consult it on proposed agreements its Prime Minister Mark Brown will be signing in China this week. Brown has now left for China without further consultation, RNZ understands. In a statement this afternoon a spokesperson for foreign affairs minister Winston […]
If Cooks wants to have their own foreign policy, then let them be independent – of our aid
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
Recent Comments