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
Property, liberty, transparency: the principled basis for the Regulatory Standards Bill
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
Mocking European Statism
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
DON BRASH: Equality is not a dirty word
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
Good Riddance, Joe Biden
20 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, budget deficits, economic growth, economic history, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, fiscal policy, global warming, industrial organisation, labour economics, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking, survivor principle Tags: 2024 presidential election, regressive left
This is the last full day of Joe Biden’s dismal presidency, so let’s do what we did with Justin Trudeau and reflect on his pathetic legacy. I’ve already provided my own economic assessment of Biden’s record, so now let’s review how he is seen by others. We’ll start with the American people. According to a […]
Good Riddance, Joe Biden
Further proof the Council just made things worse
17 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking, survivor principle
Stuff reports: Reading Cinemas is set to return to Wellington after it was revealed on Tuesday night that the cinema chain’s owner, Reading International, intends to undertake a redevelopment of the old building. The company has entered into a Sale and Purchase Agreement with Prime Property Group, with part of the deal including a seismic upgrade […]
Further proof the Council just made things worse
Margaret Thatcher, Michael Curley, and the 19th Theorem of Government
16 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, Austrian economics, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economic growth, economic history, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, financial economics, fiscal policy, human capital, income redistribution, international economics, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, liberalism, libertarianism, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, regulation, rentseeking
In this 12-second video, Margaret Thatcher is talking about the Labour Party in the United Kingdom, but her warning has universal application. And when I say her warning has universal application, I’m not joking. Politicians generally can’t resist the temptation to buy votes. And I fear that this can and will happen at all levels […]
Margaret Thatcher, Michael Curley, and the 19th Theorem of Government
Winston Peters: “Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi – Deletion” Bill…
15 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, discrimination, economic history, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: constitutional law
The New Zealand Centre for Political Research dipped into the Parliamentary archives and retrieved Winston Peters’ speech on the first reading of New Zealand First’s “Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi – Deletion” Bill on 8 June 2005 Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) : I move, That the Principles of the Treaty […]
Winston Peters: “Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi – Deletion” Bill…
Noah Smith on L.A: fire lessons
13 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, economics of natural disasters, environmental economics, environmentalism, income redistribution, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, urban economics Tags: unintended consequences
The best piece I have seen so far, here is one bit: Basically, the lessons I take away from the horrific L.A. fires are: The insurance industry as we know it is in big trouble. Climate change is making wildfires worse, but there’s not much we can do about that right now. Forest management needs […]
Noah Smith on L.A: fire lessons
‘A Huge Win’: Woke ‘Cartel’ Of Financial Giants Dealt Death Blow 11 Days Before Trump Takes Office
13 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of climate change, energy economics, entrepreneurship, environmental economics, environmentalism, financial economics, global warming, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: efficient markets hypothesis
“The news of BlackRock’s departure from NZAM should be music to the ears of every American consumer,” Will Hild, executive director of conservative nonprofit Consumers’ Research, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “NZAM is an illegitimate cartel of asset managers pushing harmful and costly net zero policies across the entire economy. The activities of NZAM and its members raise prices on Americans everywhere from the gas pump to the grocery store.”
‘A Huge Win’: Woke ‘Cartel’ Of Financial Giants Dealt Death Blow 11 Days Before Trump Takes Office
Some Links
12 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, budget deficits, development economics, economic growth, economic history, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, fiscal policy, global financial crisis (GFC), great recession, growth disasters, growth miracles, human capital, income redistribution, industrial organisation, international economics, job search and matching, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, monetary economics, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, rentseeking, survivor principle, unemployment
TweetGMU Econ alum Holly Jean Soto busts the myth of “greedflation.” Scott Lincicome identifies an interesting contrast between the facts and opinion about China. George Will decries the spinelessness of the modern U.S. Congress. A slice: The incoming president will be able, on a whim, to unilaterally discombobulate international commerce — and the domestic economy…
Some Links
Price controls destroy wealth: California Fire Insurance
11 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of natural disasters, economics of regulation, environmentalism, financial economics, income redistribution, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, regulation, rentseeking, urban economics Tags: price controls
Noah Smith via Marginal Revolution, and Kim Mai Cutler. The CA insurance regulator is elected, and is reluctant to allow higher rates for fire insurance, despite the big risks, lest she be voted out of office. As a consequence, expected profits are low, so a majority of top insurers have stopped issuing fire insurance in CA.…
Price controls destroy wealth: California Fire Insurance
Left-Wing Economists Were Wildly Wrong about Javier Milei and his Libertarian Agenda for Argentina
10 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, Austrian economics, budget deficits, business cycles, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, economic growth, economics of regulation, financial economics, fiscal policy, growth disasters, growth miracles, history of economic thought, income redistribution, international economics, labour economics, law and economics, liberalism, libertarianism, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, monetarism, monetary economics, political change, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking, unemployment Tags: Argentina
It’s easy to mock economists. Consider the supposedly prestigious left-leaning academics who asserted in 2021 that Biden’s agenda was not inflationary. At the risk of understatement, they wound up with egg on their faces.* Today, we’re going to look at another example of leftist economists making fools of themselves. It involves Argentina, where President Javier […]
Left-Wing Economists Were Wildly Wrong about Javier Milei and his Libertarian Agenda for Argentina
Claims about fires?
09 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of natural disasters, economics of regulation, environmental economics, environmentalism, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking
From Isaiah Taylor: In 2007 the Sierra Club successfully sued the Forest Service to prevent them from creating a Categorical Exclusion (CE) to NEPA for controlled burns (the technical term is “fuel reduction”). The CE would have allowed the forest service to conduct burns without having to perform a full EIS (the median time for […]
Claims about fires?
A Reading deal that doesn’t cost ratepayers
08 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, survivor principle
NewstalkZb reports: The derelict Reading Cinema complex on Wellington’s Courtenay Place has finally been sold, with a local developer snapping up the 1.5-hectare plot. The property was at the centre of a controversial deal between Wellington City Council and Reading International last year, after the council tried to buy the land under the quake-prone building […]
A Reading deal that doesn’t cost ratepayers
JOHN MENDZELA: Submission on the Treaty Principles Bill
07 Jan 2025 1 Comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, discrimination, economic history, income redistribution, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: constitutional law, racial discrimination
4 January, 2025 Justice Committee Parliament of New Zealand Dear Committee Members, I wish to make a submission on the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill that you will be considering in the near future. As the map below demonstrates, I have independently consulted on governance and management in dozens of diverse nations. Many…
JOHN MENDZELA: Submission on the Treaty Principles Bill
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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