Noah Smith via Marginal Revolution, and Kim Mai Cutler. The CA insurance regulator is elected, and is reluctant to allow higher rates for fire insurance, despite the big risks, lest she be voted out of office. As a consequence, expected profits are low, so a majority of top insurers have stopped issuing fire insurance in CA.…
Price controls destroy wealth: California Fire Insurance
Price controls destroy wealth: California Fire Insurance
11 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of natural disasters, economics of regulation, environmentalism, financial economics, income redistribution, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, regulation, rentseeking, urban economics Tags: price controls
Left-Wing Economists Were Wildly Wrong about Javier Milei and his Libertarian Agenda for Argentina
10 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, Austrian economics, budget deficits, business cycles, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, economic growth, economics of regulation, financial economics, fiscal policy, growth disasters, growth miracles, history of economic thought, income redistribution, international economics, labour economics, law and economics, liberalism, libertarianism, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, monetarism, monetary economics, political change, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking, unemployment Tags: Argentina
It’s easy to mock economists. Consider the supposedly prestigious left-leaning academics who asserted in 2021 that Biden’s agenda was not inflationary. At the risk of understatement, they wound up with egg on their faces.* Today, we’re going to look at another example of leftist economists making fools of themselves. It involves Argentina, where President Javier […]
Left-Wing Economists Were Wildly Wrong about Javier Milei and his Libertarian Agenda for Argentina
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
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
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…
Some Links
06 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, income redistribution, industrial organisation, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking, survivor principle
TweetScott Lincicome decries Biden’s abuse of national security to block Nippon Steel’s acquisition of U.S. Steel. Two slices: Today, President Joe Biden blocked Nippon Steel’s proposed acquisition of US Steel on the grounds that “there is credible evidence” the Japanese steelmaker “might take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States.” What…
Some Links
DON BRASH: TIME TO SUBMIT ON THE TREATY PRINCIPLES BILL FAST RUNNING OUT
03 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in economic history, income redistribution, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: constitutional law
This Parliament is being asked to pass a significant number of important Bills during the course of its three-year life – Bills related to resource management planning, to infrastructure, to education and to health. But few Bills are of greater significance than the Treaty Principles Bill which David Seymour has sponsored. Why? Because it goes…
DON BRASH: TIME TO SUBMIT ON THE TREATY PRINCIPLES BILL FAST RUNNING OUT
Argentina facts of the day
29 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in budget deficits, comparative institutional analysis, development economics, economic growth, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, F.A. Hayek, financial economics, fiscal policy, growth disasters, income redistribution, international economics, labour economics, law and economics, liberalism, libertarianism, macroeconomics, Milton Friedman, monetarism, monetary economics, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, unemployment Tags: Argentina
Argentina’s bonds have already rallied dramatically. One gauge of the nation’s hard-currency debt, the ICE BofA US Dollar Argentina Sovereign Index, has generated a total return of about 90% this year. Meanwhile, the S&P Merval Index has risen more than 160% this year through Monday, far outpacing stock benchmarks in developed, emerging and frontier markets […]
Argentina facts of the day
Scandinavian Governments Are Greedy, not Socialist
27 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic growth, entrepreneurship, fiscal policy, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, liberalism, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, public economics Tags: Denmark, Norway, social insurance, Sweden, taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment, taxation and labour supply
Scandinavian nations are not socialist, at least if we’re using the technical definition (government ownership, central planning, and price controls). But those countries do have big welfare states. And that means stifling tax burdens. And those harsh taxes don’t just apply to rich taxpayers. Lower-income and middle-class people also get pillaged. I’ve already explained that punitive value-added […]
Scandinavian Governments Are Greedy, not Socialist
Bye and Bye: Washington State Moves To Toward a “Wealth Tax” As the Wealthy Move to Leave the State
26 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, entrepreneurship, financial economics, fiscal policy, income redistribution, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, public economics Tags: regressive left, taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment, taxation and savings, wealth tax
Washington State’s unofficial state motto has long been “Al-ki” which means either “bye and bye” or “by and by” in Chinook. The former meaning now seems official as Gov. Jay Inslee pushed for a “wealth tax.” Wealthy citizens are already saying bye to the state in anticipation of what one Democratic billionaire recently called a […]
Bye and Bye: Washington State Moves To Toward a “Wealth Tax” As the Wealthy Move to Leave the State
More on Business Dynamism
11 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, financial economics, income redistribution, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, managerial economics, organisational economics, personnel economics, Public Choice, rentseeking, survivor principle, theory of the firm Tags: creative destruction, employment law
Over at the Geek Way, Andrew McAfee has created a startling visualization related to entrepreneurship in the US and EU. The Draghi Report on EU competitiveness is generating a small buzz among economists. One startling claim is thatthere is no EU company with a market capitalisation over EUR 100 billion that has been set up…
More on Business Dynamism
How is the Russian war economy doing?
08 Dec 2024 1 Comment
in applied price theory, defence economics, development economics, economic growth, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, fiscal policy, growth disasters, income redistribution, industrial organisation, international economics, law and economics, macroeconomics, monetary economics, property rights, Public Choice, war and peace Tags: Russia, Ukraine
Here is a gloomy account from Vladimir Mirov: Ruble depreciation will contribute to inflation even further, as Russia is continued to be heavily reliant on imports – this is a kind of self-sustaining spiral. I also strongly disagree with those who say that cheaper ruble is “good” for exporters and the budget. Exporters have yet […]
How is the Russian war economy doing?
The Missing Myths
04 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, discrimination, economic history, economics of climate change, economics of information, economics of media and culture, economics of regulation, energy economics, entrepreneurship, environmental economics, environmentalism, financial economics, gender, global warming, health economics, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, liberalism, libertarianism, Marxist economics, occupational choice, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: Age of Enlightenment, crime and punishment, criminal deterrence, free speech, gender wage gap, law and order, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left, sex discrimination
Michael Huemer’s Progressive Myths is the best book on wokeness. One of its many strengths is its focus on basic facts. As the author explains:I have selected beliefs that can be debunked fairly quickly and forcefully. Many other progressive beliefs require long argumentation and subjective judgment calls to assess. About these more difficult issues, I…
The Missing Myths
Paul Krugman Is Right…albeit Selectively and Hypocritically
04 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, income redistribution, industrial organisation, international economics, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking Tags: tarrifs
I like profits. But let me qualify that statement. I like profits that are the result of businesses providing goods and services that consumers value. Those profits are earned. By contrast, I don’t like it when businesses get in bed with government and get money via cronyism, bailouts, subsidies, protectionism, or industrial policy. Those profits […]
Paul Krugman Is Right…albeit Selectively and Hypocritically
Another corporate welfare failure
02 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, energy economics, entrepreneurship, environmental economics, financial economics, global warming, income redistribution, industrial organisation, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, rentseeking, survivor principle Tags: climate alarmism
The Herald reported: The Government has $115 million at risk from the collapse of SolarZero. Finance Minister Nicola Willis said she was seeking urgent advice on the SolarZero situation. She had no further comment. NZ Green Investment Finance – a “green investment bank” created by the previous Government to fund environmentally-friendly businesses – made a $145m…
Another corporate welfare failure
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