Sent in a few minutes ago. Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill I thank you for the opportunity to make a Submission on this very important Treaty Principles Bill which I support very strongly for a number of reasons – not least of those being the undemocratic way the the Labour Government in the […]
My Submission On The Treaty Principles Bill
My Submission On The Treaty Principles Bill
22 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economic history, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: constitutional law
Eminently Overdue: The Supreme Court Considers New York Case That Could Overturn the Infamous Kelo Decision
21 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: constitutional law, takings

As an academic and a legal commentator, I have sometimes disagreed with the United States Supreme Court, but I often stress the good-faith differences in how certain rights or protections are interpreted. One case, however, has long stood out for me as wildly off-base and wrongly decided: Kelo v. New London. The case allowed the […]
Eminently Overdue: The Supreme Court Considers New York Case That Could Overturn the Infamous Kelo Decision
The Danger of White Knight Pardons: Biden Could Fundamentally Change Presidential Power
19 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election

Below is my column in the New York Post on the news reports that President Joe Biden is seriously considering preemptive pardons for political allies. In granting what I have called “White Knight pardons,” Biden would achieve more of a political than legal purpose. Democrats are worried about the collapsing narrative that President-elect Donald Trump […]
The Danger of White Knight Pardons: Biden Could Fundamentally Change Presidential Power
So will they call the Supreme Court racist names now?
19 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
The Herald reports: The Supreme Court has ruled the majority of the Court of Appeal “erred” in a major decision that ultimately eased the test for Māori to gain customary rights for use of the foreshore and seabed. Its just-issued ruling allows an appeal by the Attorney-General against the Court of Appeal’s decision last October, at a time the […]
So will they call the Supreme Court racist names now?
GARY JUDD KC: SUBMISSION ON TREATY PRINCIPLES BILL
18 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: constitutional law
Support for the bill 1. I support the bill. My primary reason is the need for robust affirmation of the twin pillars of our constitution: New Zealand’s commitment to the rule of law and to the sovereignty of Parliament (Senior Courts Act 2016, s 3(2)). I wish to be heard in support of my submission.…
GARY JUDD KC: SUBMISSION ON TREATY PRINCIPLES BILL
Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman’s GDP Graph Confirms the Bottom has Fallen Out of the New Zealand Economy
18 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in budget deficits, business cycles, economic growth, economic history, fiscal policy, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - New Zealand

High profile US Economist Paul Krugman has written a New York Times article in which he shows in one graph the incredible resilience and performance of the American Economy. The dark blue line below tracks the pre-pandemic long-run trend in Real GDP. Meanwhile the orange line is actual real GDP. Krugman remarks that now, in…
Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman’s GDP Graph Confirms the Bottom has Fallen Out of the New Zealand Economy
Some Simple Economics of the Google Antitrust Case
17 Dec 2024 1 Comment
in applied price theory, economics of information, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, law and economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, survivor principle, theory of the firm Tags: competition law
The case is straightforward: Google pays firms like Apple billions of dollars to make its search engine the default. (N.B. I would rephrase this as Apple charges Google billions of dollars to make its search engine the default–a phrasing which matters if you want to understand what is really going on. But set that aside […]
Some Simple Economics of the Google Antitrust Case
Now In A New Wrapping
17 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in environmental economics, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA Tags: recycling

Most plastic simply cannot be recycled – Greenpeace, October 24, 2022 I posted about this matter a couple of years ago, based mainly on 1996 article in, of all places, the NYT, that trashed the whole concept. The writer of that original article, John Tierney, says he got more hate mail for it than any […]
Now In A New Wrapping
Call in the Bailiffs: How the NZ Government’s Green Investment Fund Turned Itself Into an Unpleasant Predatory Lender and Debt Collection Agency.
16 Dec 2024 1 Comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, energy economics, entrepreneurship, environmental economics, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: solar power
The just resigned Chair of the NZ Green Investment Fund (NZGIF) and Chancellor of Auckland University, Cecilia Tarrant, previously worked at Morgan Stanley Bank in New York, starting in 1997 and finishing in 2009. She’s a very nice person, a lawyer by training, and Structured Products expert, in particular on Mortgage Backed Securities. The collapse of…
Call in the Bailiffs: How the NZ Government’s Green Investment Fund Turned Itself Into an Unpleasant Predatory Lender and Debt Collection Agency.
Democrats now about identity, not working class
16 Dec 2024 1 Comment
in liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left

This graphic from Nate Silver is fascinating. Up until 2010, Democrats were mainly seen as representing the working class, but now they are mainly seen as standing for marginalised groups and only 11% now identify them as representing the working class. This partially led to Trump winning white working class voters in 2016, and a…
Democrats now about identity, not working class
OWEN JENNINGS: Banks Flout their Social Contract
14 Dec 2024 1 Comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, financial economics, global warming, politics - New Zealand
For a civil society to work smoothly and effectively certain ‘social contracts’ need to have broad acceptance and be honoured by all individuals and groups. They are unwritten rules we tacitly observe. They provide a framework of understandings that allow us to live harmoniously. Some of these ‘rules’ or social contracts get defined or backed…
OWEN JENNINGS: Banks Flout their Social Contract
Democracy Briefing: First among equals? New Zealand First’s year in government
14 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
Bryce Edwards writes – For the governing coalition of National, Act and New Zealand First, its first year in power can be divided into three distinct periods. During the first phase, spanning from its formation in late November 2023 until early March, the coalition increased in popularity. This was the era of “the great rollback”, […]
Democracy Briefing: First among equals? New Zealand First’s year in government
New Study: Achieving A ‘Net Zero’ Emissions Policy Would Have A ‘Negligible’ 0.28°C Climate Effect
14 Dec 2024 1 Comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, development economics, economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, growth miracles, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA

Cost-benefit analyses affirm it would be better to abandon Net Zero policy initiatives and instead “do nothing” about greenhouse gas emissions. New research finds CO2’s largest possible climate impact is “negligible.” The cumulative expected temperature change in doubling CO2 from 400 to 800 ppm is only 0.81°C at most, and this is “certainly not cause…
New Study: Achieving A ‘Net Zero’ Emissions Policy Would Have A ‘Negligible’ 0.28°C Climate Effect
It’s the Maori Party that is driving division
14 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: racial discrimination
New Zealand women got the vote in 1893; they got the right to stand for parliament a generation later in 1919. But there has never been a parliamentary party based on gender. That’s because most women do not put being female first and foremost in their lives. Their gender is an accident of birth. So…
It’s the Maori Party that is driving division
Warren’s “Warning”: Democratic Senator Explains Thompson was Murdered Because “You Can Only Push People So Far.”
13 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: crime and punishment, criminal deterrence, law and order

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is under fire for her statement to Joy Reid on MSNBC explaining why Luigi Mangione allegedly murdered UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Warren explained that this was a “warning ” that “you can only push people so far.” After a public outcry, Warren walked back her statement. Yet, the statement captures the […]
Warren’s “Warning”: Democratic Senator Explains Thompson was Murdered Because “You Can Only Push People So Far.”
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