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
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
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
How well did Katrina reconstruction go?
05 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of natural disasters, income redistribution, politics - USA, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking
…the federal government did something extraordinary: It committed more than $140 billion toward the region’s recovery. Adjusted for inflation, that’s more than was spent on the post-World War II Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe or for the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan after the Sept. 11 attacks. It remains the largest post-disaster domestic recovery effort in […]
How well did Katrina reconstruction go?
The by-election without much choice
03 Sep 2025 1 Comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, discrimination, economics of bureaucracy, income redistribution, labour economics, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking
It’s hard to get too much enthusiasm for the Tamaki Makaurau by-election. The Maori roll and seats have become more politicised than ever before, as they are no longer an exercise in ensuring a core level of Maori representation in Parliament, but rather an expression of Maori nationalism. It used to be that the Maori…
The by-election without much choice
Do rising house prices damage economic growth?
01 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic growth, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, macroeconomics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, regulation, rentseeking, urban economics Tags: housing affordability
Don Brash writes – In recent years, when addressing Rotary and other audiences, I often talk about the five big challenges facing New Zealand – persistently slow growth in productivity, and therefore in income levels; ridiculously unaffordable house prices; the increasing division of our society into those with a Maori ancestor and those without; the […]
Do rising house prices damage economic growth?
The Ongoing Tragedy of Cuban Socialism
30 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, econometerics, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, growth disasters, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, law and economics, Marxist economics, property rights, Public Choice Tags: Cuba
I’ve written several articles about the failure of Cuban socialism (2024, 2022, 2021, 2019, and 2016). My leftist friends almost always respond by claiming that U.S.-imposed trade restrictions are the primary reason for Cuba’s terrible economy. Since I like free trade, I certainly agree that trade restrictions are bad for growth (a lesson I wish […]
The Ongoing Tragedy of Cuban Socialism
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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