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
$50 million of taxpayer money on a ski field
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
Guest Post: NEW ZEALAND’s RETIREMENT PENSION
17 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in budget deficits, fiscal policy, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, public economics, welfare reform Tags: ageing society
A guest post by Sir Roger Douglas: Michael Littlewood’s ‘Guest Post’ for David Farrar on pensions, and his belief that our social welfare system is fit for purpose and doesn’t need change, reminded me of why New Zealand is currently well on the way to bankruptcy, and why our brightest young people are leaving the […]
Guest Post: NEW ZEALAND’s RETIREMENT PENSION
LIVE from Parliament: 2025 Jonesie Awards
13 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in budget deficits, economics of bureaucracy, fiscal policy, macroeconomics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, public economics
Ireland: Good Corporate Tax Policy vs. Bad Government Spending Policy
11 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in budget deficits, business cycles, economic growth, economic history, Euro crisis, fiscal policy, global financial crisis (GFC), great recession, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, macroeconomics, monetary economics, public economics Tags: Ireland, taxation and investment
I’m a big fan of Ireland’s low corporate tax rate for three reasons. First, it shows that good tax policy generates positive economic outcomes as per-capita GDP in Ireland has grown by record amounts. Second, it shows that lower tax rates can in some cases lead to more revenue. Sort of a turbo-charged version of […]
Ireland: Good Corporate Tax Policy vs. Bad Government Spending Policy
Goldilocks and the Laffer Curve
09 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, budget deficits, economic growth, entrepreneurship, fiscal policy, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, politics - USA, public economics Tags: taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment, taxation and labour supply
Other than Art Laffer, I think of myself as the world’s biggest advocate of the Laffer Curve. I’ve literally written hundreds of columns explaining and promoting the concept. My goal is to help people understand that there is not a linear relationship between tax rates and tax revenue. Why is this the case? Because when […]
Goldilocks and the Laffer Curve
Identity-based hiring goes wild in New Zealand
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
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
Can President Trump break the International Corporate Tax Cartel?
01 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in entrepreneurship, financial economics, fiscal policy, industrial organisation, International law, macroeconomics, politics - USA, Public Choice, public economics Tags: taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment
From the Economist: The international tax system has long suffered from two related problems: firms go to great lengths to book profits in low-tax jurisdictions, and governments thus have strong incentives to compete with each other in cutting levies so as to attract investment [only a dirigiste would consider this a problem]. Hoping to forestall…
Can President Trump break the International Corporate Tax Cartel?
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
One early report on congestion pricing in NYC
16 Jan 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, market efficiency, politics - USA, public economics, transport economics, urban economics Tags: road pricing
That is my latest Bloomberg column, here is one bit: The core version of the plan stipulates a $9 toll for drivers entering Manhattan below and including 60th Street. Implementation is by E-Z Pass, and the tolls can vary in complex ways. But if you don’t cross the line, you don’t pay. So residents below 60th Street are exempt, […]
One early report on congestion pricing in NYC
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
Scandinavian Governments Are Greedy, not Socialist
27 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic growth, entrepreneurship, fiscal policy, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, liberalism, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, public economics Tags: Denmark, Norway, social insurance, Sweden, taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment, taxation and labour supply
Scandinavian nations are not socialist, at least if we’re using the technical definition (government ownership, central planning, and price controls). But those countries do have big welfare states. And that means stifling tax burdens. And those harsh taxes don’t just apply to rich taxpayers. Lower-income and middle-class people also get pillaged. I’ve already explained that punitive value-added […]
Scandinavian Governments Are Greedy, not Socialist
Bye and Bye: Washington State Moves To Toward a “Wealth Tax” As the Wealthy Move to Leave the State
26 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, entrepreneurship, financial economics, fiscal policy, income redistribution, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, public economics Tags: regressive left, taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment, taxation and savings, wealth tax
Washington State’s unofficial state motto has long been “Al-ki” which means either “bye and bye” or “by and by” in Chinook. The former meaning now seems official as Gov. Jay Inslee pushed for a “wealth tax.” Wealthy citizens are already saying bye to the state in anticipation of what one Democratic billionaire recently called a […]
Bye and Bye: Washington State Moves To Toward a “Wealth Tax” As the Wealthy Move to Leave the State
Andrew Le Sueur: Finally, separation of powers in Jersey?
05 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of crime, law and economics, property rights, Public Choice, public economics Tags: British politics, constitutional law
The question of separating constitutional powers in Jersey is more complex than it appears. Here’s why. Jersey and Guernsey are unique globally in having constitutions that in the ancient office of Bailiff fuse together the roles of chief justice and presiding officer of their respective courts and parliaments. As I argue, this is further complicated […]
Andrew Le Sueur: Finally, separation of powers in Jersey?
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
Recent Comments