It seems as if a few times every week, I see a headline about President Trump announcing a new tariff or repealing a tariff, sometimes involve many countries and sometime just a few. However, it is not at all clear that any president has a right to alter tariffs. This question was raised before Trump…
Economists on the Trump Tariffs Supreme Court Case
Economists on the Trump Tariffs Supreme Court Case
07 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, income redistribution, international economic law, international economics, International law, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: free trade, tarrifs
Does the state need to own houses to help families?
01 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, industrial organisation, law and economics, managerial economics, market efficiency, organisational economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, urban economics Tags: public housing, state ownership
A good report from the NZ Initiative that looks at whether ownership of state houses is the best way to help low income NZ families with housing. Some key extracts: That $29,000 per unit estimated cost is not the cost of income related rents – they are the same regardless of whether the state or […]
Does the state need to own houses to help families?
The BSA power grab: Post 2
22 Oct 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, industrial organisation, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, survivor principle Tags: media bias
Media and Communications Minister, Paul Goldsmith’s handling of the BSA power grab follow 80 years of abysmal leadership by National Party governments re broadcasting, which have consistently betrayed their rhetoric about supporting competition and private enterprise. The National Party Holland/Holyoake government of 1949-1957, did nothing of consequence to roll back the Savage/Fraser Labour governments nationalisation […]
The BSA power grab: Post 2
State very expensive landlord
17 Oct 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, industrial organisation, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, urban economics
A report by the New Zealand Initiative shows that the state is a very expensive landlord: Why does the government need to continue owning or managing more than 77,000 housing units, given its poor track record in this area, especially when state assistance can be provided without extensive government ownership? And why does it not […]
State very expensive landlord
French facts of the day
14 Oct 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, fiscal policy, law and economics, macroeconomics, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, urban economics Tags: France
Macron’s government consistently spent more as a share of total output than any other OECD member, with the public sector accounting for over 57% of GDP in 2024. The telling trend is France’s divergence from its neighbors. When Macron took office, France’s debt-to-GDP ratio was 11 percentage points above the Eurozone average; by 2024, that gap […]
French facts of the day
World Bank Reduces Emissions, Not Poverty
12 Oct 2025 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economics of bureaucracy, economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: climate alarmism
The World Bank and other Western institutions retreat from fossil fuel finance has created a significant geopolitical opportunity for China. China is willing to finance fossil fuel projects in Africa and the developing world and reap the strategic benefit of control of energy infrastructure in many countries.
World Bank Reduces Emissions, Not Poverty
Cassandra Somers-Joce: A New Chapter for Governmental Candour? The Public Office (Accountability) Bill
07 Oct 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of crime, health and safety, health economics, labour economics, law and economics, Public Choice Tags: British constitutional law, British politics, Internet
The Public Office (Accountability) Bill was introduced into the House of Commons on 16 September 2025. It gives effect to the Labour Party’s 2024 Manifesto commitment to introduce a ‘Hillsborough Law’ which will ‘place a legal duty of candour on public servants and authorities and provide legal aid for victims of disasters or state-related deaths’. As the Government’s ‘Duty of […]
Cassandra Somers-Joce: A New Chapter for Governmental Candour? The Public Office (Accountability) Bill
A ban on lying
29 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, politics, Public Choice Tags: British politics
A new law is going through Parliament to ban public officials from misleading the public. It sounds like a good idea, but it has the potential to spiral out of control very quickly. I’ve written about it for The Critic. The bear trap in the Public Office (Accountability) Bill is the unprecedented creation of a new…
A ban on lying
Article for Central Banking magazine on Orr/Quigley/Willis saga, and lessons
25 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, inflation targeting, macroeconomics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice
A couple of weeks ago the editor of Central Banking magazine (something of an house journal for central bankers, and for whom I’ve done book reviews for some years) invited me to write a fairly full article for a non-NZ audience on the extraordinary events of recent months. Having been so caught up in the […]
Article for Central Banking magazine on Orr/Quigley/Willis saga, and lessons
A very British fudge
23 Sep 2025 1 Comment
in constitutional political economy, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, Public Choice Tags: British constitutional law, British politics
On September 10, 2022, Penny Mordaunt presided over the King’s Accession Council. Since then, there has been some confusion regarding the nature of her role. Was she Lord President or merely Acting Lord President? What seems like a straightforward question at first glance turns out to be surprisingly complex. Appointing the Lord President The […]
A very British fudge
Local government elections 2025 for a libertarian
23 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, environmental economics, environmentalism, law and economics, liberalism, libertarianism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, transport economics, urban economics Tags: housing affordability, land supply, regressive left, zoning
Libertarians don’t like local government much, generally. While some aspire for maximum devolution, similar to Switzerland, so that most government power (outside defence, foreign affairs and border control) is at the more local level, that would require a transformational constitutional change. Switzerland works because its best and brightest get concentrated at the canton level, and…
Local government elections 2025 for a libertarian
A blueprint for better Government
17 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice
The NZ Initiative has put out a great report proposing a much more efficient structure for both Cabinet and the wider Executive. NZ currently has 81 ministerial portfolios, 28 ministers and 43 executive agencies. By comparison Ireland has 15 Ministers and 18 departments. The Initiative propose a Cabinet of 15 Ministers, being: Incidentally I proposed […]
A blueprint for better Government
Red Tape and Unintended Consequences
13 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, environmental economics, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, occupational regulation, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: France
I’ve written endlessly about the negative effect of high tax rates on productive behavior, as well as some quirky examples of how taxes lead to some unintended consequences. Today, let’s consider how government regulations distort behavior. We’ll start with a video from Reason about government policies that backfire. In this case, note the second example. […]
Red Tape and Unintended Consequences
Outstanding questions
13 Sep 2025 1 Comment
in economics of bureaucracy, financial economics, inflation targeting, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice
A couple of nights ago, shortly after the Minister and Treasury finally released the suite of texts between Willis and Rennie, ZB featured interviewer Heather du Plessis-Allan talking to Herald journalist Jenee Tibshraeny (who has been over the Orr/Quigley/Willis saga issue from day one). There wasn’t anything concrete that was new in the conversation but […]
Outstanding questions
Vernon Smith on Donald Trump’s Protectionism
11 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, history of economic thought, income redistribution, international economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: free trade, tariffs
TweetMy emeritus Nobel-laureate colleague, Vernon Smith, sent the following email to me in response to this post. I share Vernon’s note with his kind permission. Don, Trump, like all businesspersons turned political, wants government favors, that is Mercantilism which is as bad today as when Adam Smith railed against such cozy relationships. Same for labor…
Vernon Smith on Donald Trump’s Protectionism
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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