Seymour’s courageous but who will support him? That the Waitangi Tribunal was highly critical of the Act party’s proposed, although currently undrafted, Treaty Principles Bill was as predictable as the sun rising in the east. The timing is not surprising either. The Tribunal has become an extraordinarily political body, one that in this instance has…
PETER WILLIAMS: Waitangi Tribunal Report Predictable
PETER WILLIAMS: Waitangi Tribunal Report Predictable
18 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in economic history, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: constitutional law
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
Math Confirms Foolishness of Climate Alarmism
17 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, politics - USA Tags: climate alarmism
Whatever the motivations, spending trillions of dollars to replace fossil fuels with expensive and unreliable wind and solar sources is foolish, futile and dangerous.
Math Confirms Foolishness of Climate Alarmism
Should the government operate petrol stations?
17 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, law and economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, privatisation, property rights
The extent to which the government should be involved in the provision of goods and services generates a lot of debate. Most of that debate is unhelpful, since it involves small-government, market-fundamentalist types arguing against anti-market socialist types. It’s all ideological, and there’s a pretty good chance that neither of the sides in that argument…
Should the government operate petrol stations?
Rampell On Harris’s Economic Policy
17 Aug 2024 1 Comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election
Here is the Washington Post’s Catherine Rampell on Harris’s price control policy: It’s hard to exaggerate how bad this policy is. It is, in all but name, a sweeping set of government-enforced price controls across every industry, not only food. Supply and demand would no longer determine prices or profit levels. Some far-off Washington bureaucrats […]
Rampell On Harris’s Economic Policy
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
“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
School speech censorship
14 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of education, law and economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
Stuff reports: A speech which ordinarily would have failed to raise attention outside the walls of New Plymouth Boys’ High School has grabbed national attention after a student was banned from delivering it. Oliver Jull’s speech – The Decline of Western Civilization – was scratched from the school’s speech finals last week out of concerns […]
School speech censorship
Finally, exchange rate models seem to work pretty well
14 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in budget deficits, business cycles, econometerics, economic history, financial economics, history of economic thought, inflation targeting, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - USA Tags: exchange rates, monetary policy
Exchange-rate models fit very well for the U.S. dollar in the 21st century. A “standard” model that includes real interest rates and a measure of expected inflation for the U.S. and the foreign country, the U.S. comprehensive trade balance, and measures of global risk and liquidity demand is well-supported in the data for the U.S. […]
Finally, exchange rate models seem to work pretty well
“We are Monitoring”: EU Censor Threatens Musk Ahead of the Trump Interview
14 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in law and economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election, free speech, media bias, political correctness, regressive left
In my new book on free speech and various columns, I write about the European Digital Services Act (DSA) as one of the greatest assaults on free speech in history. One of the most notorious anti-free speech figures in the world is European Commissioner for Internal Markets and Services Thierry Breton. Where some censors express […]
“We are Monitoring”: EU Censor Threatens Musk Ahead of the Trump Interview
A Most Insignificant Office: A History of the US Vice Presidency
14 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in economic history, politics - USA Tags: constitutional law
Finally sanity on GE
13 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, politics - New Zealand Tags: anti-GMOs movement, Anti-Science left, regressive left
Judith Collins announced: The Government is ending New Zealand’s nearly 30-year ban on gene technology outside the lab in a move which will bring health, productivity and climate gains for New Zealanders. Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins today announced legislation ending the ban and implementing a dedicated regulator to oversee applications to use […]
Finally sanity on GE
Energy should play key role in 2024 Pennsylvania (and US) elections
13 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election
The threat of recurrent blackouts is rising, and we are getting closer than ever to having electricity when it happens to be available, instead of when we need it.
Energy should play key role in 2024 Pennsylvania (and US) elections
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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