by Ross McKitrick Last year I had the privilege of working with a small team (me, Judy Curry, John Christy, Steve Koonin and Roy Spencer) on a draft report for U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright on the topic of climate … Continue reading → The post Clearing up some misconceptions about the DoE report appeared…
Clearing up some misconceptions about the DoE report
Clearing up some misconceptions about the DoE report
22 Feb 2026 1 Comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, politics - USA, Public Choice
Sewage, scrutiny, and the politics of accountability
21 Feb 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, environmental economics, environmentalism, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, urban economics Tags: water pollution
Is it racist to be angry at elected representatives? Moa Point as a case study… When a city pumps tens of millions of litres of raw sewage into the sea day after day, the public is entitled to anger. There is human waste in the sea and on the shore, beaches are closed in peak […]
Sewage, scrutiny, and the politics of accountability
Damned if they do, damned if they don’t: The billion-dollar bill for Labour’s gas ban
20 Feb 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice
Few policies manage to unite the left, the right and the Taxpayers’ Union in opposition. The Government’s billion-dollar LNG import terminal in Taranaki managed it inside 24 hours. By Tuesday morning, it had been attacked from the left as a gas tax, from the right as a new levy on households, and from the commentariat […]
Damned if they do, damned if they don’t: The billion-dollar bill for Labour’s gas ban
Even auto giants know it: the electric car boom is out of charge
19 Feb 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, income redistribution, Public Choice, rentseeking, transport economics Tags: electric cars
By Paul Homewood h/t Ian Magness From the Telegraph: “I think the customer has spoken. That’s the punchline,” said Jim Farley, the chief executive of Ford. The American boss was speaking last week as his company unveiled a $5bn (£3.7bn) annual loss, barely two months after it had booked a shock $19.5bn write-down. The […]
Even auto giants know it: the electric car boom is out of charge
Eat the Rich: California Democrats Trigger a Reverse Gold Rush with a Wealth Tax
16 Feb 2026 Leave a comment
in entrepreneurship, fiscal policy, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, public economics Tags: California, regressive left, rule of law, taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment, wealth tax
Below is my column in the California Post and New York Post on the exodus of wealthy taxpayers from the state as Democrats seek to trap them with a retroactive wealth tax. They are engineering a type of reverse Gold Rush as up to a trillion dollars leave the state with a line of U-Hauls […]
Eat the Rich: California Democrats Trigger a Reverse Gold Rush with a Wealth Tax
Why Rescinding the Endangerment Finding May Survive Lawfare
15 Feb 2026 1 Comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice Tags: constitutional law
Some thoughts from my browser AI. My Question: What are the legal matters, such as major questions requiring congressional action, that favor ending EPA CO2 Endangerment Finding? Search Assistant Reply: The legal matters surrounding the repeal of the EPA’s CO2 Endangerment Finding involve the major questions doctrine, which suggests that significant regulatory authority should not […]
Why Rescinding the Endangerment Finding May Survive Lawfare
The Rise and Fall (and Rise) of Sweden, Part III
10 Feb 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economic growth, economic history, economics of regulation, fiscal policy, income redistribution, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, Public Choice, public economics Tags: Sweden
Based on a video from the Center for Freedom and Prosperity back in 2010, as well a video from Johan Norberg I shared in 2016, there’s a lot to learn by looking at Swedish economic history. Here’s a more recent video that also looks at that nation’s economic track record. You’ll notice a similar message […]
The Rise and Fall (and Rise) of Sweden, Part III
The anatomy of usurpation: Climate Clinic Aotearoa v Minister of Energy and Resources
10 Feb 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice Tags: constitutional law
Imagine Parliament passes a Schools Act “to promote the establishment of schools for the benefit of New Zealand.” Parliament is careful. It specifies exactly what the Minister must consider before approving a new school: the operator’s financial capability, site safety, compliance history, and consultation with local iwi. There is no general discretion. There are no […]
The anatomy of usurpation: Climate Clinic Aotearoa v Minister of Energy and Resources
Debunking Trump’s Error-Filled WSJ Column
04 Feb 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, budget deficits, economic growth, economic history, fisheries economics, history of economic thought, income redistribution, industrial organisation, international economic law, international economics, macroeconomics, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: free trade, tarrifs
Donald Trump, who describes himself as “Tariff Man,” recently wrote a column in defense of his protectionist trade policy for the Wall Street Journal. After reading the column, my first thought was that Trump was trying to show he is more economically illiterate than Joe Biden (a big challenge, as seen here and here). And […]
Debunking Trump’s Error-Filled WSJ Column
Border Security Type I and Type II Errors
03 Feb 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of crime, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: economics of immigration
One way of looking at the a policy of increased ICE enforcement of US border security is as a debate over decision error costs. The expressed goal is to remove the worst of the worst criminals. Few would disagree with this goal. However, in this dragnet, immigrants without criminal backgrounds have also been detained. The…
Border Security Type I and Type II Errors
Violent Saviors: The West’s Conquest of the Rest
29 Jan 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, growth disasters, growth miracles, history of economic thought, income redistribution, law and economics, liberalism, libertarianism, Marxist economics, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: age of empires, economics of colonialism
Michelle Tandler on NYC rent control
28 Jan 2026 1 Comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, income redistribution, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, regulation, rentseeking, urban economics Tags: rent control
This is what I’m seeing: + 2.4 million rent-controlled apartments in a city with a massive housing shortage and 1.4% vacancy rate. + A huge % of these tenants are wealthy, white boomers using the units as pieds-a-terres while they spend their weekends and summers elsewhere. + Meanwhile, the government is using rent control to…
Michelle Tandler on NYC rent control
Some Links
26 Jan 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic history, history of economic thought, international economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, Public Choice
TweetPhil Magness’s new essay on the origins of the vague and derogatory term “neoliberalism” is superb. A slice: While most versions of the neoliberal label still come from the academic left today, the term has come back into favor within a certain, curious strand of the right. Conservative writers such as Patrick Deneen, Adrian Vermeule,…
Some Links
Americans Are Getting Richer, Part IV
24 Jan 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic growth, economic history, income redistribution, labour economics, macroeconomics, politics - USA, poverty and inequality
In 2016, here’s some of what I wrote about the economic outlook in Illinois. And I shared the same observation when writing about California in 2018. There’s a somewhat famous quote from Adam Smith (“there is a great deal of ruin in a nation“) about the ability of a country to survive and withstand lots of […]
Americans Are Getting Richer, Part IV
Part II: Oxfam Is a Leftist Joke, not a Real Charity
20 Jan 2026 1 Comment
in applied price theory, development economics, economic growth, economic history, growth miracles, income redistribution, labour economics, liberalism, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, technological progress Tags: regressive left, The Great Enrichment
As I wrote nine years ago, Oxfam is a pathetic organization. Originally created to help the poor, it has been captured by activists who peddle class warfare. But they play that role in an incredibly sloppy fashion. In all the debates I’ve been part of over the years, no left-leaning academic has been willing to […]
Part II: Oxfam Is a Leftist Joke, not a Real Charity
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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