A number of readers attended both the recent National Party Annual Conference and the Local Government annual conference. They were struck by the differences between the two. A key factor being that those who attend the National conference pay the cost themselves and those who attend the LG conference have ratepayers pay the cost. National […]
A tale of two conferences
A tale of two conferences
28 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
Former Labour PM’s Clark and Ardern wrecked NZ’s Health System: they should be held accountable for the lives that have been lost
28 Aug 2024 1 Comment
in economic history, economics of bureaucracy, health economics, industrial organisation, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, theory of the firm Tags: health insurance
Enough is enough. Former PMs Helen Clark and Jacinda Ardern should come clean about how they were the Chief Architects of the omni-shambles that has become our health system. They should take responsibility for the folks who suffered from long waiting lists and declining health-care quality, some of whom didn’t make it. The person who…
Former Labour PM’s Clark and Ardern wrecked NZ’s Health System: they should be held accountable for the lives that have been lost
Karen Chhour and Moana Maniapoto debate section 7aa of the Oranga Tamari…
27 Aug 2024 1 Comment
in law and economics, politics - New Zealand
Fiscal and monetary policy
27 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in budget deficits, business cycles, econometerics, economic growth, economic history, financial economics, fiscal policy, history of economic thought, inflation targeting, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: monetary policy
Over the last few years, The Treasury seems to have been toying with bidding for a more significant role for fiscal policy as a countercyclical stabilisation tool It seemed to start when Covid hubris still held sway – didn’t we do well? – and the first we saw of it in public was at a […]
Fiscal and monetary policy
The Cascade of Failures in the Biofuel Industry: A Case of Economic and Environmental Mismanagement
26 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, industrial organisation, politics - USA, survivor principle Tags: biofuels
…the biofuel experiment has left behind a trail of bankruptcies, environmental degradation, and unfulfilled promises.
The Cascade of Failures in the Biofuel Industry: A Case of Economic and Environmental Mismanagement
Price Controls Reflect Utter Economic Insanity
25 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election, price controls, regressive left, rent control
TweetIn the print edition of tomorrow’s (Friday’s) Wall Street Journal, Richard McKenzie and I explain some of the many unintended ill-consequences of the price controls proposed by Kamala Harris. A slice: Price-control proponents often justify their position by claiming that grocery stores are monopolies. They point to a fantasy economic theory that purports to show how…
Price Controls Reflect Utter Economic Insanity
Rowling Reportedly Sued by Olympic Boxer Over Gender Criticism
24 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of crime, economics of education, economics of media and culture, gender, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, property rights Tags: Age of Enlightenment, British politics, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
We have previously discussed the cancel campaigns targeting JK Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series. Rowling was not only the greatest selling author of all time but a wildly popular writer until she publicly opposed certain transgender policies as inimical to the advances in feminism. Now, she is the target of a lawsuit […]
Rowling Reportedly Sued by Olympic Boxer Over Gender Criticism
Women lose again
24 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of crime, gender, law and economics, politics - Australia, property rights Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination
Giggle for Girls and its owner Sall Grover have lost the case in which they were accused of discrimination. Transgender woman Roxanne Tickle has won a novel gender identity case brought against a women’s-only social media app and its owner after she was excluded her from the platform. Federal Court Justice Robert Bromwich found Giggle for Girls and […]
Women lose again
Meanwhile at the Democratic National Convention. . .
23 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in economic history, income redistribution, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice Tags: 2024 presidential election
I’m off to the Blyde River Canyon today and most of tomorrow, so posts will be nonexistent or thin for a few days—save for Matthew’s postings of the Hili Dialogues. I’ve largely avoided reading the news, as I find it depressing and not conducive to a relaxing vacation, but two readers sent me stuff about […]
Meanwhile at the Democratic National Convention. . .
Tangled Comparisons: Renewables Versus Fossil Fuels
23 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, politics - USA Tags: solar power, wind power
Wind or solar costs around five times more per megawatt hour compared to, for example, natural gas.
Tangled Comparisons: Renewables Versus Fossil Fuels
‘Third Rail’: Here’s Why Team Kamala Isn’t Peddling the Typical Dem Climate Panic This Election
23 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election, climate alarmism, fracking
,,,they can’t afford to lose Pennsylvania. So, they don’t want to talk about climate, because when you talk about climate, then you have to talk about fracking, and then they’re going to have to talk about how she wants to stop fracking, regardless of what she says.”
‘Third Rail’: Here’s Why Team Kamala Isn’t Peddling the Typical Dem Climate Panic This Election
Guest Post: Criticising Cuba
23 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, economic history, economics of crime, growth disasters, history of economic thought, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice Tags: Cuba
A guest post by Lucy Rogers: Today (as of the time of writing) I saw Associate Professor Michael Mawson of the theology faculty at Auckland University advertise on Facebook an event hosting Professor Miguel De La Torre, a Cuban academic specialising in liberation theology. The event is to be held at the Maclaurin Chapel at […]
Guest Post: Criticising Cuba
The Intellectual Roots of YIMBYism
23 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economic history, economics of regulation, history of economic thought, politics - USA, urban economics Tags: housing affordability, zoning
At the Democratic National Convention former President Obama came out strongly in favor of housing deregulation saying “we need to build more homes and clear away some of the outdated laws and regulations that make it harder to build homes”. Robert Kwasny asks on X, “What are the intellectual roots of present-day YIMBYism?” Looking at […]
The Intellectual Roots of YIMBYism
Promised debate at Auckland University on indigenous ways of knowing vs. science fails to materialize
22 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of education, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice Tags: Age of Enlightenment, conjecture and refutation, free speech, philosophy of science, political correctness, regressive left
In 2021, the Listener Letter fracas erupted in New Zealand when seven professors at Auckland University argued that the indigenous “way of knowing,” Mātauranga Māori (MM), while valuable in anthropology and sociology classes, should not be taught, as the government planned, as coequal with modern science. The seven signers were right: while MM does contain […]
Promised debate at Auckland University on indigenous ways of knowing vs. science fails to materialize
More on the decline and fall of science education in New Zealand
22 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of education, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: Age of Enlightenment, conjecture and refutation, constitutional law, free speech, philosophy of science, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
Skip this if you don’t care about science education in New Zealand, but plenty of scientists there are worried about it. And it’s a harbinger of what may happen to science education in the U.S. as science courses add requirements to teach indigenous “ways of knowing” and the curriculum itself pushes out traditional material to make […]
More on the decline and fall of science education in New Zealand
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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