David Farrar writes – The Taxpayers’ Union revealed: The Taxpayers’ Union can reveal that Te Wharekura o Tauranga Moana is set to take staff to Tahiti this Friday and refuses to answer basic questions to justify the spend.
A story the media ignored
A story the media ignored
08 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of education, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, rentseeking
Victor Davis Hanson Continues to Write Foolishly About Economics
07 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, international economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: tarrifs
TweetEvery time Victor Davis Hanson comments on the economics of international trade he displays his utter ignorance of the most basic facts and theories of that topic. Editor, Real Clear Politics Editor: Victor Davis Hanson’s declaration of victory for Trump’s tariffs is premature and confused (“The Decline and Fall of Our So-Called Degreed Experts,” July…
Victor Davis Hanson Continues to Write Foolishly About Economics
Echoes of Citizens for Rowling
07 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economics of regulation, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, transport economics, urban economics Tags: constitutional law
Karl du Fresne writes – Who remembers the Citizens for Rowling campaign? It was a concerted attempt by the Great and the Good to derail National Party leader Robert Muldoon’s election campaign in 1975. The campaign’s backers didn’t like Muldoon’s combative, divisive brand of politics and argued that Labour’s gentlemanly Bill Rowling, who had assumed […]
Echoes of Citizens for Rowling
Massive Rent-Seeking in India’s Government Job Examination System
03 Jul 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, development economics, economics of bureaucracy, economics of education, growth disasters, growth miracles, labour economics, occupational choice, personnel economics, Public Choice Tags: India
In India, government jobs pay far more than equivalent jobs in the private sector–so much so that the entire labor market and educational system have become grossly distorted by rent seeking to obtain these jobs. Teachers in the public sector, for example, are paid at least five times more than in the private sector. It’s […]
Massive Rent-Seeking in India’s Government Job Examination System
“The End Goal of Seizing the Means of Production”: Yup, Mamdani is a Hardcore Marxist
03 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economics of bureaucracy, economics of education, economics of regulation, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, Public Choice
Below is my column on Fox.com on the debate that Democratic New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is a socialist, a Democratic Socialist, or a communist. What is clear is that Mamdani is a Marxist and that is a serious problem for New York. Here is the column:
“The End Goal of Seizing the Means of Production”: Yup, Mamdani is a Hardcore Marxist
Berlin Moves To Ban Autos From Inside The City. Widespread Chaos Looms
03 Jul 2025 1 Comment
in economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, Public Choice, transport economics, urban economics Tags: Germany
Just 12 car trips person per year would be allowed! The Berlin Constitutional Court has declared the “Berlin car-free” referendum admissible, paving the way for a possible drastic reduction in car traffic. Hat-tip: Blackout News Cars may soon be banned in Berlin. Image generated by Grok 3 AI The court found that the aim of…
Berlin Moves To Ban Autos From Inside The City. Widespread Chaos Looms
The gender wage gap uses bogus statistics | FACTUAL FEMINIST
02 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, econometerics, economics of regulation, gender, health and safety, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: gender wage gap, sex discrimination
Failing to Learn the Lessons of History
01 Jul 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, entrepreneurship, income redistribution, industrial organisation, labour economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, public economics, unions, urban economics
Plenty of people have commented on New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s proposal to lower food prices by creating city-owned grocery stores, but there is still more to be said about this plan. Mamdani either thinks or believes that voters think that store owners are making huge profit through … Continue reading →
Failing to Learn the Lessons of History
Quotation of the Day…
01 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, income redistribution, international economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: tarrifs
Tweet… is from page 45 of Milton & Rose Friedman’s great 1980 book, Free To Choose: Another source of “unfair competition” is said to be subsidies by foreign governments to their producers that enable them to sell in the United States below cost. Suppose a foreign government gives such subsidies, as no doubt some do.…
Quotation of the Day…
Bad Economic History Fuels Bad Present-Day Economic Policies
28 Jun 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, Austrian economics, comparative institutional analysis, development economics, economic history, history of economic thought, income redistribution, industrial organisation, international economics, liberalism, politics - USA, Public Choice
TweetAt CapX, I explain what motivated Phil Gramm and me to write our book, The Triumph of Economic Freedom: Debunking the Seven Great Myths of American Capitalism. A slice: Likewise with America’s own industrial revolution, the ‘Gilded Age’. American schoolchildren are taught that the final third of the 19th century witnessed John D. Rockefeller and…
Bad Economic History Fuels Bad Present-Day Economic Policies
World’s Best Tweet about Communism and Capitalism
25 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in development economics, economics of bureaucracy, growth disasters, history of economic thought, liberalism, Marxist economics, Public Choice Tags: capitalism and freedom, capitalism and socialism, economics of central planning
I shared a very clever tweet back in 2018 that highlighted the huge gap between “almost capitalism” and “almost socialism.” That column was entitled the “World’s Best Tweet about Socialism and Capitalism.” And capitalism won the comparison (needless to say). Let’s do the same thing today, but we’ll replace socialism with communism. And our “Best […]
World’s Best Tweet about Communism and Capitalism
Supreme Court Delivers Blow To California Climate Zealots
24 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, transport economics
“The Supreme Court put to rest any question about whether fuel manufacturers have a right to challenge unlawful electric vehicle mandates,” American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) President and CEO Chet Thompson said in a statement.
Supreme Court Delivers Blow To California Climate Zealots
Slowly Strangling the Death Tax
23 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, Austrian economics, economic growth, macroeconomics, politics - USA, Public Choice, public economics Tags: death taxes, taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment, taxation and savings
Back in 2013, I debated Joe Biden’s top economist on the death tax. Everything I said then (and wrote four years before then) is still true today. In the interview, I mentioned nations that have abolished their death taxes, including Australia. I should have mentioned Sweden as well. As a general rule, I don’t want […]
Slowly Strangling the Death Tax
Is ‘by Maori for Maori’ shifting the dial?
21 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of bureaucracy, health economics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice Tags: racial discrimination
On June 18, 2025, Health New Zealand published extensive data (March 2025 quarter) in a two-page spread contained in The Post. I assume this was replicated in other New Zealand newspapers. Included were childhood immunisation rates. At the bottom of the table for full immunisation at 24 months are Northland and Tairawhiti districts (improving trend) followed…
Is ‘by Maori for Maori’ shifting the dial?
A new ferry that didn’t cost us a cent
20 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, transport economics
Stuff reports: There has been a lot written about Cook Strait ferries lately but far off in the distance, a new ship that will sail between the North and South Islands is slowly making its way here. Called Livia, the ship has had a fresh coat of paint to transform it from the Stena Line colours into […]
A new ferry that didn’t cost us a cent
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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