The President of Austria, Alexander Van der Bellen, has called upon Freedom Party (FPÖ) leader Herbert Kickl to attempt to form a government. This development comes after the incumbent Chancellor (PM) Karl Nehammer of the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) resigned upon failing to assemble a coalition. The ÖVP is the mainstream conservative party, whereas the […]
Austria 2024–2025: Will FPÖ form government or will there be an early election?
Austria 2024–2025: Will FPÖ form government or will there be an early election?
09 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, politics, Public Choice Tags: Austria, constitutional law
Meta dismantles misinformation industry
09 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of information, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, law and economics, liberalism, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, survivor principle Tags: 2024 presidential election, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
Mark Zuckerberg announced: In recent years we’ve developed increasingly complex systems to manage content across our platforms, partly in response to societal and political pressure to moderate content. This approach has gone too far. As well-intentioned as many of these efforts have been, they have expanded over time to the point where we are making […]
Meta dismantles misinformation industry
The errors and misstatements in “Climate Denialism”
09 Jan 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, politics - USA Tags: climate alarmism
By Andy May The featured image is by Josh, used with permission. There are 20 clearly false statements and three additional problematic statements in Tinus Pulles’ “Climate Denialism.” Most of them stem from disagreements on how to interpret existing data. However, some are due to his lack of understanding of what we wrote or, intentional […]
The errors and misstatements in “Climate Denialism”
Before the scramble (1876)
08 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economic history, war and peace Tags: Africa, age of empires, economics of colonialism
A Reading deal that doesn’t cost ratepayers
08 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, survivor principle
NewstalkZb reports: The derelict Reading Cinema complex on Wellington’s Courtenay Place has finally been sold, with a local developer snapping up the 1.5-hectare plot. The property was at the centre of a controversial deal between Wellington City Council and Reading International last year, after the council tried to buy the land under the quake-prone building […]
A Reading deal that doesn’t cost ratepayers
Meta Culpa: Zuckerberg Joins Musk in the Global Fight for Free Speech
08 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of information, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, law and economics, liberalism, politics - USA Tags: creative destruction, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
Below is my column in Fox.com on the potentially historic change in policy at Meta to restore free speech protections. As one of the longest and loudest critics of the company over its censorship history, it is admittedly hard to trust. However, an alliance of Mark Zuckerberg with Elon Musk could prove the most important […]
Meta Culpa: Zuckerberg Joins Musk in the Global Fight for Free Speech
California’s Exxon Lawsuit Is Guided More By Symbols Than Actions
08 Jan 2025 1 Comment
in economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: recycling
The lawsuit also seems to neglect the enormous benefits that plastics have brought to ordinary people, including Californians. Despite ongoing challenges with recycling, plastics are attractive because they are extremely versatile, cheap to manufacture, and possess many unique properties that make them preferable to alternative materials that are not always as practical to use or even better for the environment.
California’s Exxon Lawsuit Is Guided More By Symbols Than Actions
Justin Trudeau Had an Epiphany and Endorsed My Doctrine on Prorogation
07 Jan 2025 1 Comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economic history, law and economics, politics, Public Choice Tags: Canada, constitutional law
On the Twelfth Day of Christmas, the Prime Minister gave to me his second tactical prorogation and endorsed what I had written in 2011. Introduction At around 10:45 on the morning of 6 January 2025 – the Feast of Epiphany and the Day of the Three Kings – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau revealed that he […]
Justin Trudeau Had an Epiphany and Endorsed My Doctrine on Prorogation
Forcing people to choose between reality and trans rights is a bad idea
07 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, property rights Tags: Age of Enlightenment, conjecture and refutation, free speech, gender gap, philosophy of science, political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination
Jerry Coyne writes: When I wrote yesterday about my critique of Kat Grant’s “What is a woman?” piece, a critique published on the Freedom from Religion Foundation’s (FFRF) website, I had no idea that what I wrote was being removed by the FFRF at that moment! … One part of what Coyne wrote resonated with me: The first […]
Forcing people to choose between reality and trans rights is a bad idea
JOHN MENDZELA: Submission on the Treaty Principles Bill
07 Jan 2025 1 Comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, discrimination, economic history, income redistribution, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: constitutional law, racial discrimination
4 January, 2025 Justice Committee Parliament of New Zealand Dear Committee Members, I wish to make a submission on the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill that you will be considering in the near future. As the map below demonstrates, I have independently consulted on governance and management in dozens of diverse nations. Many…
JOHN MENDZELA: Submission on the Treaty Principles Bill
Submission on the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill
07 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice Tags: constitutional law
By Dr Peter Winsley I support the Bill, despite its weaknesses. For expositional clarity, in my submission I use the term “te Tiriti” rather than “the Treaty.” This acknowledges that about 540 rangatira signed te Tiriti versus about 39 who signed the English language document.to a Context is important. Te Tiriti was an international treaty […]
Submission on the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill
Ruth Richardson on the Treaty Principles Bill
07 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, discrimination, economic history, income redistribution, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: constitutional law
Ruth Richardson’s submission on the Treaty Principles Bill is excellent. I’ve copied it below.
Ruth Richardson on the Treaty Principles Bill
DON BRASH: DAME TARIANA TURIA – MAY SHE REST IN PEACE
07 Jan 2025 1 Comment
in labour economics, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: constitutional law
I didn’t have the privilege of working with Dame Tariana in any substantive way but I developed a very high regard for her integrity and commitment to the wellbeing of New Zealanders, and especially Maori New Zealanders of course. The National Party did very well in the 2005 general election, increasing its Parliamentary representation from…
DON BRASH: DAME TARIANA TURIA – MAY SHE REST IN PEACE
Quotation of the Day…
07 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, entrepreneurship, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, Thomas Sowell
Tweet… is from page 496 of the 2011 revised and enlarged edition of Thomas Sowell’s 2009 book Intellectuals and Society (original emphasis): Another common tactic and flaw in the arguments of the intelligentsia is eternalizing the transient. Thus statistical trends in the share of the nation’s income going to “the rich” (however defined) and “the…
Quotation of the Day…
The Trump Sentencing: Curtain to Fall on Merchan’s Hamlet on the Hudson
07 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election
Below is my column in the Hill on the sentencing this week of President-Elect Donald Trump in Manhattan. Judge Juan Merchan waited to schedule the hearing for just ten days before the inauguration, limiting the time available to appeal. His order suggests that, if there is any interruption or delay in his sentencing, he might […]
The Trump Sentencing: Curtain to Fall on Merchan’s Hamlet on the Hudson
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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