An excerpt from Chapter 3 of *Unbeatable*
Excusing the Government
Excusing the Government
22 May 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, history of economic thought, income redistribution, international economics, labour economics, law and economics, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking, urban economics
Propping up the film sector or stimulating growth?
19 May 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of media and culture, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, movies, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, rentseeking, survivor principle, television Tags: corporate welfare
Ani O’Brien writes – On Friday night, having imbibed a few wines I strayed onto X to unwisely engage in some (slightly drunk) opinion sharing. I tweeted:
Propping up the film sector or stimulating growth?
Trump Administration Targets State Climate Laws
17 May 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: climate alarmism, nuisance suits
The Constitution explicitly states that neither the Congress nor any state may pass an “ex post facto Law,” which imposes criminal liability for past actions that weren’t restricted at the time. The Maryland, New York, and Vermont acts all propose to tax companies retroactively for legally producing fossil fuels.
Trump Administration Targets State Climate Laws
Supply is elastic, installment #6437
14 May 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, entrepreneurship, health economics, industrial organisation, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: price controls
Numerous empirical studies show a relationship between a drug’s expected market size and the magnitude of research and development investments. Early studies focused on changes to market size resulting from the demographics of disease burden (Acemoglu and Linn 2004) and policy changes influencing market demand (Finkelstein 2004). These findings have largely been confirmed by more […]
Supply is elastic, installment #6437
Does he know what a woman is now?
07 May 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, economics of education, gender, health and safety, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, politics - New Zealand, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: gender wage gap, sex discrimination
Labour leader Chris Hipkins has joined the chorus of those opposing changes to pay equity legislation. Does this mean he knows what a woman is now? It is easy for opposition parties and their allies to criticise proposed changes but Heather du Plessis-Allan points out the problem with existing legislation: . . . Those pay […]
Does he know what a woman is now?
Tabarrok on the Movie Tariff
07 May 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, international economics, movies, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: 2024 presidential election, free trade, tariffs
The Hollywood Reporter has a good piece on Trump’s proposed movie tariffs: Even if such a tariff were legal — and there is some debate about whether Trump has the authority to impose such levies — industry experts are baffled as to how, in practice, a “movie tariff” would work. “What exactly does he want […]
Tabarrok on the Movie Tariff
Trump Admin Sues to Block Blue States From Taking Fossil Fuel Companies To Court Over Climate Change
02 May 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, income redistribution, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: climate activists, nuisance suits
The Trump administration filed lawsuits Wednesday against Michigan and Hawaii in an attempt to block the states from seeking damages in court against fossil fuel companies for alleged environmental harm.
Trump Admin Sues to Block Blue States From Taking Fossil Fuel Companies To Court Over Climate Change
Twisted Illogic
02 May 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, international economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: 2024 presidential election, free trade, tarrifs
TweetHere’s a letter to The Hill. Editor: Pres. Trump said that “China probably will eat those tariffs” (“Trump says China ‘probably will eat those tariffs’,” April 29). So the president believes that the tariffs will be ‘eaten’ by China – meaning, he believes the tariffs won’t result in higher prices in America of Chinese goods.…
Twisted Illogic
Housing affordability
01 May 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, income redistribution, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, urban economics Tags: housing affordability, land supply, zoning
Ronald Reagan in 1982 on Free Trade
20 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic history, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, international economic law, international economics, liberalism, libertarianism, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: free trade, tariffs
TweetWhen President Ronald Reagan delivered this address in November 1982, I was a 24-year-old graduate student. Radically libertarian at that point for almost six years, I was sufficiently astute enough to know that Reagan wasn’t terrible on most of the issues that I cared about, but I was nevertheless insufficiently mature and astute enough to…
Ronald Reagan in 1982 on Free Trade
Daniel Hannan on the Logical Contradictions in the Case for Trump’s Tariffs
06 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic history, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, international economics, liberalism, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: 2024 presidential election, free trade, tariffs
Tweet The post Daniel Hannan on the Logical Contradictions in the Case for Trump’s Tariffs appeared first on Cafe Hayek.
Daniel Hannan on the Logical Contradictions in the Case for Trump’s Tariffs
Good principles for RMA reform
05 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, environmental economics, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, regulation, rentseeking, resource economics, urban economics Tags: housing affordability, land supply
Chris Bishop and Simon Court announced principles for the RMA replacement, and they generally look very good (but not perfect). Some key aspects: The new system will be based on the economic concept of “externalities”. Effects that are borne solely by the party undertaking the activity will not be controlled by the new system (for […]
Good principles for RMA reform
Trump’s tariff claims are even stupider than anyone thought
04 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic history, income redistribution, industrial organisation, international economic law, international economics, International law, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: 2024 presidential election, free trade, tariffs
The White House released a list of countries and the tariff rates they charged the US. It was clearly wrong as NZ has an average tariff of around 1.7% on US imports and the list said 20%. I thought it was because they were including our GST of 15%. That would have been very dumb, […]
Trump’s tariff claims are even stupider than anyone thought
Cultural Apartheid
03 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of education, health economics, human capital, income redistribution, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: affirmative action, free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
Muriel Newman writes – King’s Counsel Gary Judd has been at the forefront of a battle to defend New Zealand from the actions of Maori tribal leaders attempting to force their cultural apartheid onto our country. He’s defending the Rule of Law from attack by those pushing for ‘decolonisation’ by arguing that since ‘tikanga’ is an ‘amorphous […]
Cultural Apartheid
The Protectionism Edition of Economics Humor
01 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, economic history, history of economic thought, income redistribution, industrial organisation, international economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking, survivor principle Tags: 2024 presidential election, free trade, tarrifs
It appears that Trump wants to repeat the mistakes of the 1930s with a global trade war. That is going to be very bad news for workers, consumers, taxpayers, manufacturers, farmers, and exporters. But there are two bits of good news. At least for small slices of the populations First, lobbyists will get rich as […]
The Protectionism Edition of Economics Humor
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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