Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
16 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, industrial organisation, international economics, International law, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: 2024 presidential election, game theory, tariffs
Last week, my ECONS101 class covered game theory. At the end of the final lecture, after we had been covering repeated games and tit-for-tat strategies, a really perceptive student asked me about Trump’s tariffs. A lot of the rhetoric about tariffs has been posed in terms of tit-for-tat (see here and here, for example). The…
Why tit-for-tat tariffs may not work against Trump
14 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economic history, entrepreneurship, history of economic thought, income redistribution, industrial organisation, labour economics, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: The Great Enrichment
Long ago, I co-blogged for EconLog with Arnold Kling. Now he’s running a book club for Liberty Fund. Last month, Arnold invited me and philosopher Rachel Ferguson to discuss Mike Huemer’s new Progressive Myths. Enjoy!
*Progressive Myths*: The Kling Club Convo
12 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economic history, income redistribution, International law, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: Age of Enlightenment, constitutional law, free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
Ananish Chaudhuri writes – Dame Anne Salmond recently wrote a column on Newsroom berating people for having views on the Treaty of Waitangi when they cannot even read the Māori version of the treaty. So, what she is saying is that even when customs, laws or treaties impinge on your daily life, you cannot hold any views […]
Inability to understand te reo Māori does not prevent people from asking questions about race relations in New Zealand
09 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, entrepreneurship, health economics, history of economic thought, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking
I have a new working paper out. It proposes a price theory-based explanation of why states nationalize the production of “public goods” (i.e., non-excludable and non-rivalrous). This is different than existing explanations as the theory ignores whether private provision is efficient or superior to public provision. I call it the “redistributive engine” theory whereby the […]
Working paper: Why nationalize the production of public goods?
08 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, entrepreneurship, human capital, income redistribution, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, occupational choice, occupational regulation, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking
I review a very good new book on occupational licensing, The Licensing Racket by Rebecca Haw Allensworth in the WSJ. Most people will concede that licensing for hair braiders and interior decorators is excessive while licensing for doctors, nurses and lawyers is essential. Hair braiders pose little to no threat to public safety, but subpar […]
The Licensing Racket
06 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in constitutional political economy, discrimination, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: Age of Enlightenment, constitutional law, free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
Hon Tama Potaka Minister of Maori Development 28 February 2025 Dear Minister, After careful consideration I must resign as a Member of the Waitangi Tribunal. The treaty is not just our founding document, it makes New Zealand unique. Two peoples peacefully agreeing to form a nation. Over the summer I have been reading Tribunal reports […]
RICHARD PREBBLE: Letter of resignation from the Waitangi Tribunal
01 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, fiscal policy, industrial organisation, macroeconomics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking, survivor principle Tags: corporate welfare
Newsroom has a summary of taxpayer money spent on Mt Ruapehu: How often have we been told this is the final assistance. We are now deep into the sunk cost fallacy.
$50 million of taxpayer money on a ski field
28 Feb 2025 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, rentseeking Tags: carbon tax
The government’s commitment to the Paris Accord has garnered opposition from farmers and farming organisations. Federated Farmers is not supportive: The Government’s announcement today of a 2035 climate target of a 51-55% emissions reduction has signed New Zealand up for a decade more of planting pine on productive land, Federated Farmers meat and wool chair […]
Paris Accord could determine election
27 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of education, economics of information, economics of media and culture, entrepreneurship, financial economics, industrial organisation, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: 2024 presidential election, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
Below is my column in the Hill on the new American emigres: “disinformation experts” who are finding themselves unemployed with the restoration of free speech protections. Here is the column:
The American Rōnin: How Displaced “Disinformation Experts” Are Seeking New Opportunities in Europe and Academia
11 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, income redistribution, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, transport economics, urban economics Tags: housing affordability, land supply, zoning
There is much work yet to be done in New Zealand to improve housing affordability, despite recent declines in valuations. Eric Crampton writes – It wasn’t that long ago that New Zealand’s housing market made international news because of its insanity. In 2016, The Guardian tagged Auckland as the “hottest property market in the world” […]
The long road to housing affordability
05 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economic history, economics of education, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, occupational choice, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking Tags: affirmative action, Age of Enlightenment, constitutional law, free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
Just to show you how, in the hiring process, New Zealand gives much more weight to identity than to merit, I enclose part of the job description for the position of Chief Operating Officer of Wellington Water, the water utility for the Greater Wellington region (Wellington, a lovely city, is the capital of New Zealand). […]
Identity-based hiring goes wild in New Zealand
05 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, development economics, economic history, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: industry policy
In arguments over industrial policy, there’s often a moment where someone makes an assertion like: “Every nation has industrial policy. Even not having an industrial policy is a type of industrial policy. The only relevant question is what kind of industrial policy we should choose.” In my experience, the people who make this argument then…
Levels of Industrial Policy
04 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in Adam Smith, applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking
Bryce Wilkinson writes – If you believe some of its critics, the pending Regulatory Standards Bill is a demonic measure to end New Zealand society as we know it. This is beyond false; it is ridiculous. In fact, it is a modest transparency measure. It will better inform the public about laws and regulations likely […]
Property, liberty, transparency: the principled basis for the Regulatory Standards Bill
04 Feb 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, Austrian economics, comparative institutional analysis, economic growth, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, environmental economics, financial economics, industrial organisation, international economics, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, liberalism, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking, survivor principle, theory of the firm Tags: employment law, European Union
I have a special page for humor involving Europe, but I have not added to it since sharing some Brexit humor in 2016. Let’s being the process of catching up with some amusing cartoons and memes mocking our government-loving cousins on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. I’ve made the serious point that bureaucrats […]
Mocking European Statism
21 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, health economics, income redistribution, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: constitutional law, racial discrimination
Surely, in a liberal democracy, there are few words more chilling to read written in earnest than the “flawed concept of ‘equality’”. But there they were, in print, in an opinion piece by the National Urban Māori Authority’s Lady Tureiti Moxon published in the NZ Herald on Tuesday last week. The Treaty Principles Bill has…
DON BRASH: Equality is not a dirty word
Econ Prof at George Mason University, Economic Historian, Québécois
Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
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Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
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