Oral submissions to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee
Inclusion of UNDRIP in India FreeTrade Agreement
Inclusion of UNDRIP in India FreeTrade Agreement
03 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in constitutional political economy, economic history, economics of regulation, international economics, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: constitutional law
Lord Cooke’s Indictment
02 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in constitutional political economy, law and economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: constitutional law
This column was first published in LawNews on 1 June 2026. It continues a series examining the Supreme Court’s departure from the constitutional limits of judicial power. * Roger Partridge writes – The debate about New Zealand’s Supreme Court has been framed as a question about the current court – its composition, its appointments, its judicial philosophy. This column […]
Lord Cooke’s Indictment
Jamieson Greer’s Ignorance of Economics and History Is Alarming
02 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, Austrian economics, economic history, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, international economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking, survivor principle Tags: free trade, tarrifs
TweetHere’s a letter to F&D Magazine, a publication of the IMF. Editor: U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer wrote more than 2,100 words about trade yet managed to get correct approximately nothing (“Economics for the Real Economy,” June 2026). Just listing his errors would take nearly as many words, so I here address only one of…
Jamieson Greer’s Ignorance of Economics and History Is Alarming
Brazil’s Google News Case and the Art of Not Letting Go
01 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of regulation, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: competition law
Some legal cases age like wine. Others age like browser tabs left open too long. Brazil’s Google News inquiry belongs firmly in the latter category. On April 3, Brazil’s Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) announced that its Tribunal had unanimously decided to send a seven-year-old administrative inquiry concerning Google’s use of journalistic content—whether for…
Brazil’s Google News Case and the Art of Not Letting Go
New Rule from Bill Maher: Let’s be Frank
31 May 2026 1 Comment
in politics - USA, television, TV shows
Here’s the latest opinion/comedy bit from Friday’s Real Time show with Bill Maher, with the episode called “Let’s be frank.” Maher starts out by citing the recent Democratic Party Autopsy (here) about why the party lost the Presidency and Congress in 2024. But he then faults both parties for having politicians in office who won’t…
New Rule from Bill Maher: Let’s be Frank
Did incapacitation, deterrence, or rehabilitation reduce crime in Baltimore?
31 May 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA
The Free Press: Bates, “a new tough-on-crime prosecutor, … replaced a scandal-plagued `progressive.’” ” Incapacitation (selection): sometimes referred to as “specific deterrence.” Bates said that his office has identified about about 6,000 frequent, violent offenders and put between 3,000 and 3,500 of them in prison. The cooperation of federal law enforcement has helped take a…
Did incapacitation, deterrence, or rehabilitation reduce crime in Baltimore?
What do Muslim immigrants think?
31 May 2026 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economics of crime, economics of media and culture, economics of religion, law and economics, liberalism, politics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA Tags: economics of immigration
Tomas Pueyo has collated a huge amount of public opinion data from Muslims in Western countries. He finds: Depending on the country of origin and destination:~10-40% of Muslims are moderate & well integrated~20-50% are conservative, religious, pious~25% are fundamentalists~Of which 15% (pp) are radical Islamists Some findings in the US: He concludes: In summary, the…
What do Muslim immigrants think?
How Much Has Shale Gas Saved U.S. Consumers?
30 May 2026 Leave a comment
in energy economics, politics - USA
It may seem like a distant memory now, but as of the mid-2000s, U.S. natural gas production had been flat for a decade, and the U.S. was importing liquefied natural gas (LNG), with plans to import much more. Then shale gas happened. Advances in hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling caused U.S. natural gas production to…
How Much Has Shale Gas Saved U.S. Consumers?
The Courts and Climate Change
28 May 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: climate activists, climate alarmism, nuisance suits
Legislation or Litigation The Smith v Fonterra case was brought by climate change spokesperson for the Iwi Chairs Forum Michael Smith (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu) against several major emitters. Smith was attempting to use tort law to address the diffuse, cumulative harms of climate change to his property, culture, and iwi. When the matter came before the Court […]
The Courts and Climate Change
Trade Deficit Illiteracy, Part III
28 May 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, budget deficits, economic growth, fiscal policy, history of economic thought, international economics, macroeconomics, politics - USA
Looking at Part I and Part II, and considering the focus of today’s column, this series should actually be entitled “Trade Deficit Literacy.” That’s because the material I cite explains that a trade deficit is merely the flip side of an investment surplus. And it is good that the United States is a magnet for […]
Trade Deficit Illiteracy, Part III
NZ First’s foray into transgender issues might be ethically dubious, but politically it could be a winner
27 May 2026 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of regulation, gender, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, property rights Tags: 2024 presidential election, sex discrimination
One political advertisement stood out from the thousands that blitzed the US presidential campaign of 2024. It inflicted enormous damage on the Democratic Party’s flagbearer, Kamala Harris. The ad’s central tagline deployed just two sentences: “Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you.” Former President Bill Clinton urged the Harris Campaign to come back […]
NZ First’s foray into transgender issues might be ethically dubious, but politically it could be a winner
Schumpeter comes to Wellington
27 May 2026 Leave a comment
in economic growth, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, macroeconomics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice
(And what we can learn from the Luddites) In 1987 Telecom New Zealand employed about 25,000 people. By 1997 it employed under 8,000. A single corporation shed 17,000 jobs in a decade, in a country of 3.3 million. The cost of Telecom’s long-distance calls fell by 60 per cent between 1987 and 1992. The decade that followed […]
Schumpeter comes to Wellington
1,600 more homes in Upper Hutt, if the Council doesn’t block it
26 May 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, politics - New Zealand, urban economics Tags: housing affordability, land supply, zoning
Radio NZ reports: A developer is calling on the Upper Hutt City Council to let it build what it believes to be a crucial road, so it can construct 1600 homes. Guildford Timber Company (GTC) wants to build the road through an area of council-owned land known as the Silverstream Spur, home to a number…
1,600 more homes in Upper Hutt, if the Council doesn’t block it
The bigger cost saving for NZ Super
22 May 2026 Leave a comment
Henry Cooke writes: There are good reasons for our politicians to look seriously at the long-term affordability of superannuation. It is by far our largest benefit, and largest single-ticket item, taking up around 16.6% of tax revenue and 5% of GDP. It costs close to five times what we spend on the unemployment benefit or…
The bigger cost saving for NZ Super
A federal judge takes apart Nicholas Kristof’s controversial accusations against Israel
22 May 2026 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economics of crime, law and economics, laws of war, politics - USA, war and peace Tags: free speech, Gaza Strip, Israel, media bias, Middle-East politics, political correctness, regressive left, war against terror
If you’re getting weary of the endless but necessary attacks on Nicholas Kristof for his misleading and almost antisemitic column about Israel’s “policy” of sexually assaulting Palestinian prisoners, Roy K. Altman has written in the Free Press the definitive critique of Kristof’s column—that is, until investigations by Israel reveal more information. Wikipedia identifies Altman as…
A federal judge takes apart Nicholas Kristof’s controversial accusations against Israel
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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