Eric Crampton writes – New medicines are slow to be authorised for the New Zealand market. Even if a medicine has already been approved by many other trustworthy overseas regulators like those in Canada, the UK, Australia, and the EU, Medsafe can take a very long time to evaluate a medicine.
New medicine approvals plan an exercise in not solving the problem
New medicine approvals plan an exercise in not solving the problem
28 May 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, health economics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice Tags: drug lags
One last post on Investment Boost
27 May 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic growth, fiscal policy, macroeconomics, politics - New Zealand, public economics Tags: taxation and investment
After the discussion in my post yesterday on the Investment Boost subsidy scheme announced in the Budget I thought a bit more about who was likely to benefit the most from it. The general answer of course is the purchasers of the longest-lived assets. Why? Because if you have an asset which IRD estimates to […]
One last post on Investment Boost
Some more post-Budget thoughts
27 May 2025 Leave a comment
in budget deficits, business cycles, economic growth, fiscal policy, macroeconomics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, public economics Tags: taxation and investment
On two separate themes; aggregate fiscal policy, and the Investment Boost initiative. Aggregate fiscal policy Over the weekend for some reason I was prompted to look up the Budget Responsibility Rules that Labour and the Greens committed to in early 2017 (my commentary on them here). At the time, the intention seemed to be to […]
Some more post-Budget thoughts
The Justices Must At Long Last Deal with Chronic Injunctivitis
27 May 2025 Leave a comment
in politics - USA Tags: constitutional law
Below is my column on the continuing confusion over national or universal injunctions. The last week has shown that this chronic injunctivitis must end. Here is the column:
The Justices Must At Long Last Deal with Chronic Injunctivitis
Updates on the Reform Act and Fixed-Date Elections
26 May 2025 Leave a comment
in constitutional political economy, politics, Public Choice Tags: Canada, constitutional law
Nova Scotia Shows a Better Way In February, I outlined a government bill tabled by Tim Houston, Premier of Nova Scotia, which contained a line to repeal the province’s fixed-date elections law, amongst other things. The omnibus Government Organization and Administration Act received Royal Assent on 26 March 2025, and thus makes Nova Scotia both […]
Updates on the Reform Act and Fixed-Date Elections
Deficits forever?
24 May 2025 Leave a comment
in budget deficits, fiscal policy, macroeconomics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, public economics
Eric Crampton writes – This week’s budget projected no return to balanced books. It is difficult to see how recent budgets from National and Labour comply with the Public Finance Act’s fiscal responsibility provisions. It is a problem.
Deficits forever?
The (deeply underwhelming) Budget
23 May 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, budget deficits, economic growth, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, fiscal policy, macroeconomics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, public economics
Michael Reddell writes – There were good things in the Budget. There may be few/no votes in better macroeconomic statistics and, specifically, a monthly CPI but – years late (for which the current government can’t really be blamed) – it is finally going to happen.
The (deeply underwhelming) Budget
US State-Level Abortion Regulations: Causes and Effects
23 May 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, econometerics, economic history, gender, health economics, labour economics, politics - USA, population economics Tags: abortion law reform
Regulations about abortion are often wildly controversial. But what effects to they actually have? Caitlin Myers addresses these issues in “From Roe to Dobbs: 50 Years of Cause and Effect of US State Abortion Regulations” (Annual Review of Public Health 2025, pp. 433-446). As a starting point, consider the years before and after the 1973 US Supreme Court…
US State-Level Abortion Regulations: Causes and Effects
The cost of Labour’s botched pay equity scheme
23 May 2025 1 Comment
in discrimination, gender, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, politics - New Zealand, poverty and inequality Tags: gender wage gap, sex discrimination
The Herald reports: During her Budget presentation, Willis said that pay equity costs in 2020 were initially expected to reach $3.7b but there had since been a “blowout” with costs rising steeply, especially due to Labour’s 2022 decision to fund claims in the “funded sector”. The exact figure isn’t known, but as they have announced […]
The cost of Labour’s botched pay equity scheme
Econ 101 is Underrated: Pharma Price Controls
22 May 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, health economics, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: 2024 presidential election, patents and copyrights, price controls, price discrimination
Econ 101 is often dismissed as too simplistic. Yet recent events suggest that Econ 101 is underrated. Take the tariff debate: understanding that a tariff is a tax, that prices represent opportunity costs, that a bilateral trade deficit is largely meaningless, that a so-called trade “deficit” is equally a goods surplus or an investment surplus—these […]
Econ 101 is Underrated: Pharma Price Controls
Racist or righteous? Privileges Committee versus Te Pāti Māori
21 May 2025 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand Tags: constitutional law
Ani O’Brien writes – I have written many times before about narratives and the role of constructing the binary of good and evil in politics. This week we again see how storytelling is shaping a prominent political conflict with the race to own the narrative as the Privileges Committee hands down its recommendations. On the […]
Racist or righteous? Privileges Committee versus Te Pāti Māori
The Nail in the Coffin for Maori Seats
21 May 2025 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand Tags: constitutional law
Don Brash writes – I don’t know about you, but I have had a gutsful of the disrespect and disdain Te Pāti Māori show for our Parliament and for all of us. With their hateful rhetoric and disruptive antics they have demonstrated that Māori seats have become the home of the most extreme race activists.
The Nail in the Coffin for Maori Seats
“For Posterity’s Sake”: Why the Biden-Hur Tapes is a Virtual Racketeering Indictment
21 May 2025 Leave a comment
in politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election, media bias
“For posterity’s sake.” Those words from President Joe Biden sum up the crushing impact of the leaked audiotapes from the interview between then-President Joe Biden and Special Counsel Robert Hur. Not only did they remove any serious doubt over Biden committing the federal crimes charged against President Donald Trump, but they also constituted what is […]
“For Posterity’s Sake”: Why the Biden-Hur Tapes is a Virtual Racketeering Indictment
Labour goes all in with Te Pāti Māori
20 May 2025 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand Tags: constitutional law
The Labour Party can’t form a potential Government without TPM, so they appear to have decided to go all in on their behalf. Evidence: Personally I’m delighted. The more Labour hug the toxic TPM, the more it will doom them come the election as voters realise that a vote for Labour is a vote for…
Labour goes all in with Te Pāti Māori
Courting Controversy: Justices’ Side Commentaries Undermine the Supreme Court
20 May 2025 Leave a comment
in politics - USA Tags: constitutional law
Below is my column in The Hill on the controversy this month over extrajudicial comments made by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. These are only the latest such comments by justices that became distractions during the discussion of pending cases before the Court. Here is the column:
Courting Controversy: Justices’ Side Commentaries Undermine the Supreme Court
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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