The Challenge of Opening Closed Minds The media and many politicians worldwide continue to push a narrative of impending climate catastrophe. Whether or not you are a climate change pessimist, we live on a gradually warming planet and will need to adapt to this. As global temperature rise continues, alarmists will continue to ascribe much…
JOHN RAINE: DRIVE CLIMATE CHANGE POLICY WITH EVIDENCE NOT ALARMISM
JOHN RAINE: DRIVE CLIMATE CHANGE POLICY WITH EVIDENCE NOT ALARMISM
14 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of climate change, economics of education, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA Tags: climate alarmism
Time to Stop Pretending Renewables Are Cheap
14 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, entrepreneurship, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: celebrity technologies, solar power, wind power
Policymakers would do well to heed energy experts like Schernikau and Stein. Chasing luxury beliefs do not cost well-heeled climate bureaucrats and renewables ideologues much, but the burdens of irrational energy policies will be borne by the world’s poorest. The real path forward lies in pragmatic, technology-neutral approaches that prioritise energy abundance over austerity.
Time to Stop Pretending Renewables Are Cheap
Humanity Has a Huge Surplus of Economic Misunderstanding
13 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, international economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: free trade, tarrifs
TweetHere’s a letter to AP Fact Check. Editor: Melissa Goldin does a deep dive into the cause(s) of the U.S. “agricultural trade deficit” (“FACT FOCUS: Trump blames Biden for the agricultural trade deficit. It’s not that simple,” December 10). To what extent is this “deficit” caused by the policies of Biden? To what extent is…
Humanity Has a Huge Surplus of Economic Misunderstanding
The Legacy of Manifest Destiny: America’s Ambitious—and Controversial—Dream
13 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in economic history, politics - USA
On December 2, 1845, U.S. President James K. Polk addressed Congress, advocating for the aggressive westward expansion of the United States—a philosophy widely known as “Manifest Destiny.” I first encountered the term in the 1970s when I heard it mentioned in Redbone’s song Wounded Knee. For years, however, I misheard the lyrics, thinking they sang […]
The Legacy of Manifest Destiny: America’s Ambitious—and Controversial—Dream
Greenpeace Asks a DUTCH Court to Overturn a $345 Million Dakota Pipeline Judgement
12 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, environmental economics, environmentalism, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: constitutional law
Greenpeace appears to think European courts have pre-eminence over US courts, even for events which happened in the USA.
Greenpeace Asks a DUTCH Court to Overturn a $345 Million Dakota Pipeline Judgement
Congressional leadership is corrupt
11 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, economic history, financial economics, politics - USA, Public Choice
Using transaction-level data on US congressional stock trades, we find that lawmakers who later ascend to leadership positions perform similarly to matched peers beforehand but outperform them by 47 percentage points annually after ascension. Leaders’ superior performance arises through two mechanisms. The political influence channel is reflected in higher returns when their party controls the…
Congressional leadership is corrupt
Humphrey’s Estate and Jackson’s Experts: Supreme Court Justice Offers Surprising View of the Separation of Powers
10 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, law and economics, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: constitutional law
As I discussed in yesterday’s coverage of the oral arguments in Trump v. Slaughter, the argument went poorly for those…
Humphrey’s Estate and Jackson’s Experts: Supreme Court Justice Offers Surprising View of the Separation of Powers
Antitrust at the Agencies: Meta Analysis Edition
09 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, industrial organisation, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: competition law
The memorandum and order in FTC v. Meta Platforms Inc. that U.S. District Court Judge James E. Boasberg filed Nov. 18, ruling in favor of Meta, has now been followed by a Dec. 2 revised order that contained fewer redactions. The memorandum doesn’t exactly provide the law & economics analysis I would have produced, had…
Antitrust at the Agencies: Meta Analysis Edition
Three Royal Societies abandon their mission to promote global and universalist science
09 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of education, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA Tags: conjecture and refutation, philosophy of science
A Kiwi who wishes to remain anonymous (of course) sent me this link to an announcement of a meeting of three Royal (Scientific) Societies: those of New Zealand, Australia, and Canada. The screenshot below also links to two other short documents, a communiqué and a statement by the Presidents of all three Societies. The object…
Three Royal Societies abandon their mission to promote global and universalist science
Supreme Court should not let climate lawfare set US energy policy
08 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: nuisance suits
Let’s hope the Supreme Court agrees that Boulder’s lawsuit is an excellent opportunity to terminate frivolous climate lawfare, expand on the guidance it provided in these two previous cases – and end attempts by climate activists to impose destructive national policies through local and state courts.
Supreme Court should not let climate lawfare set US energy policy
Climate Doomsday Prophecy Peddled By Academia Retracted In Disgrace
07 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, climate change, econometerics, economics of climate change, economics of education, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, politics - USA Tags: academic bias, climate activists
A widely-referenced 2024 study that predicted massive global economic damages due to climate change has now been retracted, The New York Times (NYT) reported on Wednesday.
Climate Doomsday Prophecy Peddled By Academia Retracted In Disgrace
Metrics, Markets, and Merger Scrutiny: A Netflix-WBD Combination
06 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, politics - USA Tags: competition law, creative destruction
This morning’s announced merger between Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) would create a global media company of unprecedented scale. The transaction will also almost certainly attract scrutiny from antitrust regulators—most likely the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) Antitrust Division, rather than the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The deal would offer a direct test of the…
Metrics, Markets, and Merger Scrutiny: A Netflix-WBD Combination
Medicaid: What It Has Become
06 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in health economics, politics - USA Tags: health insurance
As Craig Garthwaite and Timothy Layton point out: “Originally a small, inexpensive safety-net program, Medicaid has grown into a major national health-insurance provider, covering nearly one in four Americans and more people than the public health insurance programs of the United Kingdom, Germany, or France.” They review the program and offer some recommendations in “Coverage Isn’t…
Medicaid: What It Has Become
Political pressure on the Fed
05 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in business cycles, econometerics, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: monetary policy
From a forthcoming paper by Thomas Drechsel: This paper combines new data and a narrative approach to identify variation in political pressure on the Federal Reserve. From archival records, I build a data set of personal interactions between U.S. Presidents and Fed officials between 1933 and 2016. Since personal interactions do not necessarily reflect political…
Political pressure on the Fed
My Econoboi Poverty Debate vs. Matt Bruenig
04 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, welfare reform Tags: child poverty, family poverty, social insurance
Tomorrow at 2 PM ET, I’ll be debating “What is the best policy response to poverty?” versus Matt Bruenig. Venue: Econoboi channel P.S. You might recall that… 9 more words
My Econoboi Poverty Debate vs. Matt Bruenig
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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