America is super excited about the new Department of Government Efficiency that is being set up, headed by Elon Musk and Vivak Ramaswamy. We all know Musk – his achievement was launching a space program at about 1% the cost of NASA’s space program. What had gone wrong at NASA? It had turned into a…
How come the new Ministry of Regulation has been taken over by Career Regulators, Mr Seymour?
How come the new Ministry of Regulation has been taken over by Career Regulators, Mr Seymour?
19 Nov 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice
Resolving the infrastructure deficit
16 Nov 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, environmental economics, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, transport economics, urban economics
Peter Dunne writes – Last week the government announced plans to build two new tunnels in central Wellington to ease traffic congestion. One will be a second tunnel through Mount Victoria to improve the flow of traffic to the eastern suburbs and Wellington International Airport. The other will be alongside the existing Terrace tunnel to […]
Resolving the infrastructure deficit
Ananish Chaudhuri: The sheer lunacy of contemporary progressive politics or How I became a right-wing extremist
11 Nov 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, gender, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, public economics Tags: Age of Enlightenment, economics of pandemics, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
With Kemi Badenoch taking over the leadership of Tories in the UK, newspapers have been replete with how this represents a radical turn to the right. Similar headlines appeared when Labour was booted from power in New Zealand. There was a time when I would have thought: “Shame. Why can’t these people not be more…
Ananish Chaudhuri: The sheer lunacy of contemporary progressive politics or How I became a right-wing extremist
Reeves to make Bank of England put climate change and growth on equal footing
31 Oct 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, macroeconomics, monetary economics, Public Choice Tags: British politics, climate activists, climate alarmism, monetary policy
By Paul Homewood So much for the Bank’s much vaunted independence! Rachel Reeves is planning to make the Bank of England take climate change as seriously as growth, as the Chancellor seeks to use her maiden Budget to overhaul the economy. In a letter to Governor Andrew Bailey on Wednesday, Ms Reeves is […]
Reeves to make Bank of England put climate change and growth on equal footing
Biden-Harris policies and their consequences were no surprise to those paying attention
30 Oct 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, budget deficits, business cycles, econometerics, economic growth, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, energy economics, entrepreneurship, environmental economics, financial economics, fiscal policy, global warming, health economics, income redistribution, industrial organisation, law and economics, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking Tags: 2024 presidential election, drug lags, taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment
Milton Friedman used to advise researchers to focus on large policy changes rather than attempting to separate a small change’s signal from the noise. In this sense, the “ambitious” policy agenda of the Biden-Harris administration was expected to be a gift to the research community. Accepting this gift, since 2020 I have been making forecasts…
Biden-Harris policies and their consequences were no surprise to those paying attention
The Shinkansen and Japan’s Lost Decades
30 Oct 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic growth, economics of bureaucracy, industrial organisation, macroeconomics, Public Choice, public economics, survivor principle, transport economics, urban economics Tags: Japan
Japan is known for many things, but two of them are the Shinkansen high-speed trains and the nation’s three Lost Decades of slow economic growth. Unfortunately, most tourists who go to Japan see the former and don’t see the latter and especially don’t see the connection between the two. The … Continue reading →
The Shinkansen and Japan’s Lost Decades
The Liberals didn’t even stand in British Columbia.
29 Oct 2024 Leave a comment
in politics, Public Choice Tags: Canada
The Liberal Party has been the dominant party in Canada for many years. However in the recent provincial elections in British Columbia they were not even on the ballot, as they were looking to come a distant third – so they pulled out. Their withdrawal has allowed the more leftish NDP to narrowly beat the […]
The Liberals didn’t even stand in British Columbia.
Rural and coastal residents delay, block green energy projects
28 Oct 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, law and economics, property rights, Public Choice Tags: celebrity technologies, solar power, wind power
Environmentalists insist that they love the “little guys” — until they get in their way, ask inconvenient questions or try to block renewable energy projects intended to save the planet from “human-caused climate cataclysms.”
Rural and coastal residents delay, block green energy projects
Reflections on United Arab Emirates
23 Oct 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of crime, energy economics, growth miracles, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, liberalism, libertarianism, property rights, Public Choice Tags: Dubai, economics of immigration
On my way to India, I connected through Abu Dhabi, capital city of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). During my one-day layover, I toured not only Abu Dhabi, but its more famous sister-city, Dubai. Here are my main thoughts.In Dubai, these are not empty words.Per-capita, UAE is the most amazing country I’ve ever seen. With…
Reflections on United Arab Emirates
‘Gaps And Inconsistencies’: Up To $41 Billion In World Bank Climate Handouts Unaccounted For, New Report Finds
21 Oct 2024 Leave a comment
in development economics, economics of bureaucracy, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, Public Choice
Up to $41 billion of the funds distributed to climate causes by the World Bank between 2017 and 2023 are unaccounted for due to poor accounting standards, according to an audit from Oxfam International published Thursday.
‘Gaps And Inconsistencies’: Up To $41 Billion In World Bank Climate Handouts Unaccounted For, New Report Finds
GARY JUDD KC: A student should not be forced to learn about tikanga to be a lawyer
19 Oct 2024 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economics of bureaucracy, economics of crime, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice Tags: constitutional law
My oral submission to the Regulation Review Committee. Yesterday [Oct 16], Parliament’s Regulation Review Committee heard oral submissions concerning my complaint to the Committee asking that a member of the committee move a resolution asking the House of Representatives to disallow the regulations promulgated by the New Zealand Council of Legal Education. If the regulations…
GARY JUDD KC: A student should not be forced to learn about tikanga to be a lawyer
Judd on Tikanga
18 Oct 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: constitutional law
Liz Cheney Under Fire for Allegedly Improper Contacts with Cassidy Hutchinson
16 Oct 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: 2020 presidential election, 2024 presidential election
Former J6 Committee Co-Chair and Rep. Liz Cheney has long been criticized for her role in creating a one-sided and at times erroneous record of what occurred on January 6th. That includes editing out Trump’s call for supporters to protest “peacefully,” burying evidence on Trump’s offer to supply National Guard support for that day, and […]
Liz Cheney Under Fire for Allegedly Improper Contacts with Cassidy Hutchinson
UK Labour in real trouble
16 Oct 2024 Leave a comment
in politics, Public Choice Tags: British politics
It was only a few months ago UK Labour won in a landslide (helped by FPP). The next election is many years away, but they have a problem that their brand has turned negative so quickly, that it could be hard to change in future. The latest More in Common poll has the following:
UK Labour in real trouble
Reflections on India
16 Oct 2024 1 Comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, economic growth, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, growth disasters, growth miracles, history of economic thought, income redistribution, law and economics, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, regulation, rentseeking Tags: economics of colonialism, India
I’m back from my first trip to India, where I visited Mumbai, Delhi, Agra, and Amritsar. I enjoyed fine company in all four cities. In Mumbai, my new friend Sachin Aggarwal, head of the local EconTalk Club, rolled out the red carpet — and ACX Mumbai joined the festivities. (Thank you, Scott Alexander, for creating…
Reflections on India
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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