TweetProf. Angus Deaton Princeton University Prof. Deaton: Over the years I’ve learned much from your writings, and I regard your 2013 The Great Escape as one of the most important books published in the past 15 years. So I was quite surprised and disappointed to read that you, as you say, are now “much more…
An Open Letter to Nobel-laureate Economist Angus Deaton
An Open Letter to Nobel-laureate Economist Angus Deaton
13 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, Austrian economics, comparative institutional analysis, economic history, entrepreneurship, history of economic thought, income redistribution, international economics, labour economics, labour supply, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, rentseeking, survivor principle, unemployment Tags: creative destruction, free trade, tariffs
The RCT Agenda
12 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, development economics, econometerics, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of education, economics of information, economics of regulation, experimental economics, growth disasters, growth miracles, history of economic thought, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, managerial economics, market efficiency, Marxist economics, occupational choice, organisational economics, property rights, Public Choice, public economics Tags: The fatal conceit
Randomized Controlled Trials: Could you be any more scientific? The book I’m now writing, Unbeatable: The Brutally Honest Case for Free Markets, insists that the randomistas of the economics profession actually have a thinly-veiled political agenda. Namely: To get economists to humbly serve the demagogues that rule the world instead of bluntly challenging their unabated…
The RCT Agenda
Reading deal – rare media bouquet
11 Mar 2024 1 Comment
in applied price theory, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of media and culture, income redistribution, industrial organisation, law and economics, market efficiency, movies, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking, survivor principle, theory of the firm, urban economics Tags: Wellington
Both Matt Nippert of the NZ Herald and Tom Hunt of The Post deserve a bouquet for their analyses of the truly remarkable deal between the Wellington City Council (WCC) and the troubled American Cinema company Reading. For this who don’t know, Reading owns a large (more than 14, 000 square metres or 1.4 hectares) […]
Reading deal – rare media bouquet
“Banning Books is Never the Answer”: RuPaul’s “No Censorship” Bookstore Lasted Just Three Days
10 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
It took just three days. After drag performer RuPaul announced the creation of a “no censorship” Allstora bookstore, censorship was back with a vengeance after many on the left learned that free speech meant that opposing views might be sold at the site. While the sentiment was appealing, it became intolerable when activists noted that […]
“Banning Books is Never the Answer”: RuPaul’s “No Censorship” Bookstore Lasted Just Three Days
Not Bridgeable
10 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, discrimination, economic history, economics of crime, economics of education, economics of love and marriage, gender, income redistribution, labour economics, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: 2024 presidential election, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
In the last few years, especially after I started writing for this blog, I got more than a few comments about the need for bi-partisanship, not hating out ideological, let alone political opponents. What was notable about this was that they all came from the Right of the political spectrum. The Left seem quite happy […]
Not Bridgeable
TV layoffs not a threat to democracy
10 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of information, economics of media and culture, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, income redistribution, industrial organisation, managerial economics, market efficiency, organisational economics, personnel economics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking, survivor principle, theory of the firm Tags: media bias
A few weeks ago I joined some contemporaries by abandoning the near sixty year habit of watching nightly TV news. I dropped it because I felt it did not give me real information that I had not acquired from other media sources, including some I pay for – The Economist, the NZ Herald, The Atlantic […]
TV layoffs not a threat to democracy
Using procurement for political ends gives you worse prices.
09 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, entrepreneurship, income redistribution, industrial organisation, law and economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking, theory of the firm, transport economics, urban economics Tags: cartels, competition and monopoly, competition law
Over 20 years ago, some middling economists (cite) estimated that the Small Business Set-Aside program reduced Forest Service Timber prices by 15%. By limiting the potential pool of available bidders to only smaller lumber mills, you get less competition and worse prices. Now San Francisco is re-learning that lesson. In 2016, it refused to do…
Using procurement for political ends gives you worse prices.
The Russian February Revolution 1917 I THE GREAT WAR Week 137
09 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, income redistribution, liberalism, Marxist economics, Public Choice, rentseeking, war and peace Tags: Russian revolution, World War I
Sick Joke: Nothing ‘Green’ About California’s All Electric Vehicle Mandates
09 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of climate change, energy economics, entrepreneurship, environmental economics, global warming, market efficiency, politics - USA, Public Choice, transport economics, urban economics Tags: electric cars, solar power, wind power
There’s nothing wrong in theory about all-Electric Vehicles. But, if they really were a sensible substitute for petrol or diesel-powered vehicles, they’d already be jumping off the shelves. Except, for some strange reason, they aren’t. There’s plenty of irony attached to the all-EV cult: the world’s largest EV charging station is run entirely using diesel […]
Sick Joke: Nothing ‘Green’ About California’s All Electric Vehicle Mandates
Even Lowerer Hutt
07 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, income redistribution, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, regulation, urban economics Tags: housing affordability, land supply, zoning
One annoying thing about writing a Saturday column for the Stuff papers is never knowing whether a piece will show up in print.I’d thought this one was a banger. I’ll be talking about related issues tomorrow night as part of a panel for A City for People. 🟨🟪 Our speaker line up has dropped! 🟪🟨Join us on…
Even Lowerer Hutt
Gaelic Price Control
05 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, Public Choice, urban economics Tags: rent control
Here is a nice video on the experience with price control in Ireland and Scotland. Hat tip: Marginal Revolution
Gaelic Price Control
DON BRASH: PERHAPS THE MOST IMPORTANT SPEECH FROM THE NEW GOVERNMENT SO FAR
03 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, income redistribution, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, regulation, rentseeking, transport economics, urban economics Tags: land supply, zoning
Last week, Housing Minister Chris Bishop gave perhaps the most important speech by the new Government since the election. In a speech to the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, he said he wanted the ratio of house prices to median household income to more than halve to between 3 and 5 over the next 10…
DON BRASH: PERHAPS THE MOST IMPORTANT SPEECH FROM THE NEW GOVERNMENT SO FAR
No, the Court is Not “Slow Walking” the Trump Immunity Case
03 Mar 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
Below is a slightly expanded version of my column on Fox.com on the attacks on the Court for granting review of the immunity challenge brought by former president Donald Trump. The scheduling of oral argument has unleashed the familiar voices against the justices and allegations of political machinations. The claims of “slow walking” the appeal […]
No, the Court is Not “Slow Walking” the Trump Immunity Case
The Uncompetitive Urban Land Markets Theory of Everything
03 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economics of bureaucracy, environmental economics, income redistribution, industrial organisation, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, regulation, rentseeking, urban economics Tags: housing affordability, land supply, zoning
The Housing Theory of Everything has one of those wonderful self-explanatory titles. A good title matters. The recent and thorough essay explains how the anglosphere’s unnecessarily expensive housing affects, well, everything. Or at least almost everything.Zoning makes it too hard to build houses where people want to build. Urban containment policies block new subdivisions, so…
The Uncompetitive Urban Land Markets Theory of Everything
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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