Jonathan Haidt wrote the book The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion. It is about how polarized and nasty our politics have become, how everyone loves to demonize and ridicule anyone from a different political party. But these are things that Adam Smith talked about in his book The Theory…
Adam Smith Meets Jonathan Haidt (on political polarization and the animosity of hostile factions)
Adam Smith Meets Jonathan Haidt (on political polarization and the animosity of hostile factions)
22 Aug 2024 1 Comment
in Adam Smith, economics of education, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left. Age of Enlightenment
Why Top CEOs Earn Big Paychecks
22 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic history, economics of education, entrepreneurship, human capital, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, liberalism, managerial economics, market efficiency, occupational choice, organisational economics, personnel economics, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, survivor principle Tags: CEO pay, superstar wages
CEO compensation at large firms is high, especially in comparison to average worker wages, sparking debates over income inequality. Critics argue that such pay packages are unfair and disproportionate to actual company performance. Proponents contend that high pay reflects productivity and is necessary to attract scarce top talent to large firms. Let’s go to the […]
Why Top CEOs Earn Big Paychecks
How Chlöe Swarbrick struggled to accept the PM’s position on sovereignty
21 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economic history, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice Tags: constitutional law
Bob Edlin writes – Historian and former Labour Government cabinet minister Michael Bassett, in an article posted here earlier today, said those who spend time on the web examining the Treaty of Waitangi will find claims there are four or even five articles when officially there have never been more than three. Bassett went on […]
How Chlöe Swarbrick struggled to accept the PM’s position on sovereignty
“Keyboard Warrior”: British Crackdown Results in Three-Year Sentence Over Anti-Migrant Postings
21 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: British politics, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
Three years ago, we discussed the conviction of a British man for “toxic ideologies,” under the draconian laws criminalizing inciteful or dangerous speech. The erosion of free speech appears to have only accelerated in the UK. As is often the case, the attacks on free speech increase during periods of unrest, anger or fear. With […]
“Keyboard Warrior”: British Crackdown Results in Three-Year Sentence Over Anti-Migrant Postings
The censored school speech
20 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of education, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: Age of Enlightenment, conjecture and refutation, free speech, philosophy of science, political correctness, regressive left
This is the speech by Oliver Jull that won him a spot in the speech competition finals, but then his school canceled as it was worried it may offend some people. You don’t have to agree with it, to think he should be allowed to express his beliefs.
The censored school speech
STEM and matauranga Māori
18 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in economic history, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: Age of Enlightenment, conjecture and refutation, free speech, philosophy of science, political correctness, regressive left
Professor John Raine notes: As regards STEM subjects, when European colonists arrived in the late 18th and into the 19th century, Māori scientific/technical knowledge was approximately at the stage of other developing societies at or pre-3,000 BC, acknowledging that the spiritual/vitalist/animist parts of matauranga Māori would have been differentiated form those of other societies by the…
STEM and matauranga Māori
Kamala Harris, Price Controls, and the Contest for the Dumbest Policy Proposal of 2024
17 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, energy economics, health economics, history of economic thought, income redistribution, industrial organisation, international economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: 2024 presidential election, price controls, tariffs
As a Senator, Kamala Harris embraced all sorts of terrible ideas, such as the Green New Deal and Medicare for All. But she’s now disavowed those proposals in an attempt to make herself seem more reasonable. Trump, by contrast, is consistent. For better or worse, he’s pushing in 2024 the same agenda that he ran […]
Kamala Harris, Price Controls, and the Contest for the Dumbest Policy Proposal of 2024
DON BRASH: WHO IS MISLEADING THE PUBLIC?
16 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in income redistribution, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, resource economics Tags: constitutional law, native title
A letter signed by more than 170 legal “experts” has been circulated around the media in the last few days and quoted extensively. Unfortunately, I have not been able to locate the letter in its entirety but have gathered some quotes. The letter claims to fact check Hobson’s Pledge’s ad which was published on…
DON BRASH: WHO IS MISLEADING THE PUBLIC?
Friedman vs Stiglitz, Chile vs Venezuela
16 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic growth, economic history, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, growth disasters, growth miracles, history of economic thought, income redistribution, labour economics, law and economics, liberalism, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, Milton Friedman, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking Tags: Chile, free speech, political correctness, regressive left, The Great Enrichment, Venezuela
I’ve repeatedly praised Chile’s pro-market reforms (see here, here, and here) and I’ve repeatedly condemned Venezuela’s shift to socialism (see here, here, and here). But if you don’t have time to read all those columns, this chart from the Maddison database tells you everything you need to know. Simply stated, Chile’s reforms have delivered huge […]
Friedman vs Stiglitz, Chile vs Venezuela
Ed Miliband’s Hard Left Policy Team
15 Aug 2024 1 Comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, liberalism, Marxist economics Tags: British politics, climate activists, Internet
By Paul Homewood Guido has news on the batch of SpAds advising the clueless Ed Miliband. Their extreme backgrounds are s concerning as Miliband’s own. The fact that he has picked these says it all.
Ed Miliband’s Hard Left Policy Team
“An America Issue”: Washington Post Reporter Calls on White House to Censor Trump for America
14 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: 2024 presidential election, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
In my new book on free speech, I discuss at length how the mainstream media has joined an alliance with the government and corporations in favor of censorship and blacklisting. The Washington Post, however, appears to taking its anti-free speech campaign to a new level with open calls for a crackdown. The newspaper offered no objection […]
“An America Issue”: Washington Post Reporter Calls on White House to Censor Trump for America
A Harris-Walz Administration Would Be A Nightmare for Free Speech
12 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election
Below is my column in The Hill on why a Harris-Walz Administration would be a nightmare for free speech. A long-standing advocate for censorship and other speech controls, Vice President Kamala Harris just added an equally menacing candidate to her ticket for 2024. Here is the column: The selection of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) as the…
A Harris-Walz Administration Would Be A Nightmare for Free Speech
Update: Woke Tyranny Vs. Jordan Peterson
12 Aug 2024 1 Comment
in economics of education, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics Tags: Age of Enlightenment, Canada, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
Jordan Peterson writes at National Post this update on his battle against censoring bureaucrats I will see this contemptible ‘re-education’ process through to its absurd end. Excerpts in italics with my bolds and added images. Having failed to persuade the Supreme Court, I am going to see what constraints are put on my speech, and […]
Update: Woke Tyranny Vs. Jordan Peterson
Police use National’s 2005 billboard slogan as an example of hate speech!
07 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, liberalism, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left
Stuff reports: A transphobic post on social media, racist taunts, and a slogan from New Zealand’s largest neo-Nazi group are among a number of scenarios in police’s hate crime training. … Some examples of hate speech used as part of the training include racist remarks, a transphobic post on social media as well as a […]
Police use National’s 2005 billboard slogan as an example of hate speech!
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
Recent Comments