The Herald reports: Ministry officials are denying they deliberately misled a Parliament select committee by not revealing an immigration IT project had been terminated while being questioned about its progress. Appearing before Parliament’s Privileges Committee today, Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) chief executive Nic Blakeley and former Immigration New Zealand (INZ) head Alison…
Will MBIE be held on contempt?
Will MBIE be held on contempt?
29 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice
Trump is Right to Take On the Climate Litigation Complex
29 Jul 2026 1 Comment
in applied welfare economics, development economics, economics of bureaucracy, economics of climate change, economics of education, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: climate alarmism
Whatever one makes of President Trump’s chosen words, the underlying demand – that a body claiming the authority of disinterested science should actually be disinterested – is one any serious defender of scientific integrity ought to be able to endorse. Surely the most litigated-against President in US history is right in ensuring that judges overseeing…
Trump is Right to Take On the Climate Litigation Complex
Italy is changing its electoral system (again)
28 Jul 2026 1 Comment
in constitutional political economy, politics, Public Choice Tags: Italy
Nicknamed the “Stabilicum” by the right-wing coalition government that introduced it, this would be the fifth major electoral reform in Italy since 1993.
Italy is changing its electoral system (again)
Occupational Licensing: US and International
25 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of information, economics of regulation, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, occupational regulation, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking
The potential benefit of having the government require that certain jobs require an official license is quality control and protection. Personally, I rather like knowing that my nurse or doctor or dentist has gone through courses and training. The potential cost is that requirement to have a government license can become a way for those…
Occupational Licensing: US and International
The Case Against a Universal Basic Income
23 Jul 2026 1 Comment
in applied price theory, fiscal policy, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, politics - New Zealand, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, welfare reform
A Universal Basic Income, or UBI, is a superficially attractive idea. Under such a scheme, every adult would receive a regular payment from the government, regardless of income, employment or need. Supporters argue that it would reduce poverty, simplify welfare, provide security in an uncertain labour market and give people greater freedom to choose how […]
The Case Against a Universal Basic Income
Why is the PPTA not worried about far-left extremism?
15 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of education, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice
The Press reports: A secondary teachers’ union is hiring an expert to develop guidelines for dealing with the rise in far-right extremism in the classroom. The successful applicant will be paid $10,000 to write “specific advice and guidelines for the membership on dealing with extremism in the classroom”. Do they mean Marxist extremists? I suspect…
Why is the PPTA not worried about far-left extremism?
BREAKING: Trump Admin Hires Skeptic to Run National Climate Assessment…Mann Clutches Pearls
11 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: climate alarmism
Scrutiny of a government assessment by someone inclined to question it is not a threat to the science. It is a stress test. The post BREAKING: Trump Admin Hires Skeptic to Run National Climate Assessment…Mann Clutches Pearls appeared first on Watts Up With That?.
BREAKING: Trump Admin Hires Skeptic to Run National Climate Assessment…Mann Clutches Pearls
Capital Gains Can Be Labor Income
10 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, fiscal policy, macroeconomics, Public Choice, public economics Tags: taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment, top 1%
Zwick and Zidar argue that a substantial share of the decline in labor share can be accounted for by changing forms of pay, including pass-throughs and equtiy compensation. In particular, if an employee is paid in stock and that stock increases in value then the tax rules tend to count some of that as capital…
Capital Gains Can Be Labor Income
The Troubled History of Government Equity in Technology
07 Jul 2026 1 Comment
in applied price theory, economic history, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, privatisation, Public Choice, rentseeking, survivor principle Tags: creative destruction, Germany
Even though Germany privatized Deutsche Telekom in 1996, the federal government retained a substantial ownership stake. This partial state ownership status, which remains to this day, presents a textbook example of how this type of arrangement distorts incentives and delays the competitive dynamism necessary for technological progress. Through the late 1990s and into the 2000s, Deutsche Telekom…
The Troubled History of Government Equity in Technology
A New Deal for Presidents? The Supreme Court Overturns Humphrey’s Executor and Reaffirms Executive Power
02 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, law and economics, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: constitutional law
Below is my column in the New York Post on the historic ruling in Trump v. Slaughter, reinforcing the authority…
A New Deal for Presidents? The Supreme Court Overturns Humphrey’s Executor and Reaffirms Executive Power
Renationalising British utilities
29 Jun 2026 1 Comment
in industrial organisation, law and economics, property rights, Public Choice Tags: British politics
There is talk of this with the pending change in PM, but I would not do it. I am quite aware that a) not all of the privatisations went well, and b) American data indicate that state-owned utilities do not seem very economically different than, or less efficient than, privately-owned utilities. Especially for water, where…
Renationalising British utilities
Nine Tweets Ripping Mamdani’s Economically Illiterate Expansion of Rent Control
28 Jun 2026 1 Comment
in applied price theory, income redistribution, law and economics, Marxist economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, urban economics Tags: rent control
I’ve written several columns (here, here, here, here, and here) detailing the folly of rent control. And now that New York City’s dilettante socialist mayor has proposed to expand rent control, I thought about doing the same thing. But I noticed so many clever comments on Twitter/X that I decided on a different approach. Here […]
Nine Tweets Ripping Mamdani’s Economically Illiterate Expansion of Rent Control
Slow Growth: Mexico Edition
23 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, labour economics, Public Choice Tags: Mexico
For the last eight years or so, going back before the pandemic, Mexico’s economy has been growing at 1% per year or less, which is barely faster than the population of Mexico has been growing. It is a fact of arithmetic that an upper-middle-income country, as Mexico is classified by the World Bank, will not…
Slow Growth: Mexico Edition
Watermelon Economics
16 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in development economics, fiscal policy, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, poverty and inequality, Public Choice Tags: development aid, regressive left, taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment, top 1%
Remember Thomas Piketty, the pro-class-warfare economist who is infamous for shoddy analysis and who also made a fool of himself by asserting back in 2023 that Javier Milei’s election in Argentina would lead to economic disaster? Yes, that Thomas Piketty. It turns out he’s also a “watermelon,” which is the derisive term for leftists who […]
Watermelon Economics
Callaghan failure
14 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, industrial organisation, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking, survivor principle, theory of the firm Tags: industry policy, picking losers
The Post reports: Nearly a third of the Callaghan Innovation’s $149 million Covid-era research and development loan book is in arrears, including $21.5m linked to 63 failed or insolvent businesses, as the agency enters its final months before disestablishment. Callaghan Innovation – a government entity set up to make businesses around the country more innovative…
Callaghan failure
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