Chris Bishop announced: “I have agreed with the Council’s alternative recommendations in nine instances, relating to development around Adelaide Road, the walkable catchment around the City Centre Zone (including Hay St), character precincts, building heights and controls on the interface of the City Centre Zone and Moir and Hania Street, setbacks for 1-3 residential units, […]
Bish delivers for Wellington
Bish delivers for Wellington
13 May 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, environmental economics, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, urban economics Tags: housing affordability, land supply, zoning
The Rise and Decline and Rise Again of Mancur Olson
09 May 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, economic history, growth disasters, growth miracles, history of economic thought, income redistribution, industrial organisation, law and economics, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking
Mancur Olson’s The Rise and Decline of Nations is one of my favorite books and a classic of public choice. Olson may well have won the Nobel prize had he not died young. He summarized his book in nine implications of which I will present four: 2. Stable societies with unchanged boundaries tend to accumulate […]
The Rise and Decline and Rise Again of Mancur Olson
DON BRASH: Letter sent to the Vice Chancellor AUT
09 May 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of education, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
The following was written on behalf of Hobson’s Pledge: Dear Vice Chancellor Damon Salesa, We are a group of New Zealanders whose primary objective is to fight for equality under the law and advance the vision Governor William Hobson expressed at Waitangi in 1840. He is said to have spoken the following words to each…
DON BRASH: Letter sent to the Vice Chancellor AUT
Dishonest Pimping for a Global Wealth-Tax Cartel
07 May 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic growth, economic history, entrepreneurship, human capital, income redistribution, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, public economics Tags: taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment, wealth tax
Everything you need to know about wealth taxation can be summarized in two sentences. The biggest problem with most tax systems is the pervasive tax bias against income that is saved and invested, which discourages the accumulation of capital that helps to finance future growth. Wealth taxes would dramatically increase the tax bias against saving […]
Dishonest Pimping for a Global Wealth-Tax Cartel
Why have the media ignored this outrageous speech?
07 May 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, income redistribution, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
Read the whole tweet. A Member of Parliament got up in the House and said the Government (which has a Cabinet which is 35% Māori) wants to exterminate Māori. Has the media reported this, with the editorials decrying such nonsensical and abusive language? Imagine if an ACT MP said in the House that a Labour-led […]
Why have the media ignored this outrageous speech?
Electricity barrier: net zero climate policy means the UK housing crisis is getting worse
05 May 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, Public Choice, public economics, transport economics, urban economics Tags: land supply
If there isn’t enough power for the new homes, where’s the power for all the soon-to-be mandatory electric vehicles supposed to come from? Net zero policy by climate obsessives is busy degrading the entire power grid to an increasingly part-time system. This is just one of the knock-on effects. – – – Our inadequate electricity […]
Electricity barrier: net zero climate policy means the UK housing crisis is getting worse
The Peltzman Effect at Sea
04 May 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, Economics of international refugee law, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, Public Choice, public economics Tags: economics of migration, offsetting behavior, unintended consequences
Deiana, Maheshr,and Mastrobuoniand have recently published an analysis of the effects of Search and Rescue operations on migration from Africa to Europe.Nearly half a century ago, Sam Peltzman showed that, because mandatory seat-belts made driving safer, drivers tended to drive more recklessly, partially offsetting the increased safety. Similar effects occurred in the search and rescue…
The Peltzman Effect at Sea
More Good Results from Argentina
28 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in budget deficits, business cycles, comparative institutional analysis, development economics, economic growth, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, fiscal policy, growth disasters, income redistribution, labour economics, liberalism, libertarianism, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, monetary economics, Public Choice, rentseeking, unemployment Tags: Argentina
The most important election of 2023 took place in Argentina, where that nation’s voters elected the libertarian candidate, Javier Milei, as their new president. I discussed the outlook for Milei’s agenda on a recent appearance of the Schilling Show. Here’s a brief excerpt. As you can see, I’m worried that Milei faces enormous obstacles. Argentina […]
More Good Results from Argentina
Why Socialism Won’t Die
26 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, entrepreneurship, growth disasters, history of economic thought, income redistribution, industrial organisation, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, property rights, Public Choice Tags: economics of socialism
“to employ a hundred people is… exploitation, but to command the same number [is] honorable.” That’s an actual book by the way, explaining that although communism has failed in the past across different nations, races and cultures, it might work in the future where machines can create anything we want. Think Star Trek’s replicator technology. […]
Why Socialism Won’t Die
LINDSAY MITCHELL: Is Oranga Tamariki guilty of neglect?
26 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of bureaucracy, economics of crime, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice Tags: crime and punishment, law and order
One of reasons Oranga Tamariki exists is to prevent child neglect. But could the organisation itself be guilty of the same? Oranga Tamariki’s statistics show a decrease in the number and age of children in care. “There are less children in care now than as at 30 June 2019 when there were 6450 children and…
LINDSAY MITCHELL: Is Oranga Tamariki guilty of neglect?
Still no prudential regulation case around climate change
24 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of climate change, environmental economics, environmentalism, financial economics, global warming, industrial organisation, law and economics, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, survivor principle Tags: climate alarmism
Eric Crampton writes – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand desperately wants to find reasons to have workstreams in climate change. It makes little sense.
Still no prudential regulation case around climate change
The War On Cars
24 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, development economics, economic history, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, Public Choice, public economics, transport economics, urban economics Tags: electric cars
In a fit of self-loathing, the European Union has begun to destroy the economic engine that pays its bills. Some of this is well known, but some is not, and it will astonish you.
The War On Cars
A Look at the Wacky Transit Industry
24 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, Public Choice, public economics, theory of the firm, transport economics, urban economics
Today is Earth Day, a day in which we are supposed to celebrate environmentally friendly ideas such as public transit, high-density development, and electric vehicles. My report published last week revealed that the transit lobby has hijacked affordable housing funds so that, in many cities, most of those funds are … Continue reading →
A Look at the Wacky Transit Industry
Why the Global Free Market Will Save the World
23 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, economic growth, economic history, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, growth disasters, growth miracles, health economics, history of economic thought, income redistribution, labour economics, law and economics, liberalism, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking Tags: anticapitalist mentality, capitalism and freedom
Call for Support: Has the Time Come for a Wellington Ratepayer Activist Group?
23 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, economics of bureaucracy, income redistribution, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, transport economics, urban economics
Over the years I’ve had various Wellingtonians approach me about setting up, or getting Jordan and the Taxpayers’ Union to set up, a dedicated Wellington ratepayer pressure group to fight for more fiscal prudence and better governance in our city. Jordan and I have always turned away the efforts as nine times out of ten, they […]
Call for Support: Has the Time Come for a Wellington Ratepayer Activist Group?
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
Recent Comments