Eric Crampton writes – A lot of changes are coming in competition policy. Last week, the government announced a package of reforms that, overall, set the Commerce Commission on a more activist tack. One proposed reform will align New Zealand more closely with Australia’s regime, guarding against so-called ‘killer acquisitions’.
Not-so-killer acquisitions
Not-so-killer acquisitions
27 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic history, economics of regulation, industrial organisation, law and economics, politics - USA, theory of the firm Tags: competition law
Michael Clemens on H1-B visas
24 Sep 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, economic growth, economic history, entrepreneurship, human capital, international economics, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, politics - USA Tags: economics of immigration
From 1990 to 2010, rising numbers of H-1B holders caused 30–50 percent of all productivity growth in the US economy. This means that the jobs and wages of most Americans depend in some measure on these workers. The specialized workers who enter on this visa fuel high-tech, high-growth sectors of the 21st century economy with skills like computer […]
Michael Clemens on H1-B visas
Climate Alarmism: Not Science, But Superstition
24 Sep 2025 1 Comment
in economic history, economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, politics - USA Tags: climate alarmism
Brian C. Joondeph writes at American Thinker, CO2 Alarmism: Science or Superstition? Excerpts in italics with my bolds and added images. When Americans hear about carbon dioxide (CO2), it’s often shown as a harmful pollutant that threatens the planet. Politicians, activists, and media outlets warn that if we don’t reduce emissions right away, disaster will […]
Climate Alarmism: Not Science, But Superstition
Two bits from Bill Maher’s latest show
23 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economics of crime, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, television, TV shows
Here are two short (ca. 7 minutes each) clips from Friday’s “Real Time” show with Bill Maher; watch ’em before they take them down. They’re both good–and larded with humor. The first is his opening monologue about the censorship and fear of American media. Maher points out that Jimmy Kimmel’s firing occurred exactly 24 years […]
Two bits from Bill Maher’s latest show
Families and friends on opposite sides in a war
23 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in defence economics, politics - USA, war and peace Tags: American Civil War
This has some relevance to today’s wars. Families and friends who ended up on opposite sides in the U.S. Civil War (1861–1865) experienced some of the most painful consequences of the conflict. The war was not just between North and South—it cut across states, towns, and even households. Here’s what happened in different situations: Families […]
Families and friends on opposite sides in a war
California Dems Scramble To Boost Oil Production After Running Refiners Out Of Town
22 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, politics - USA
“After years of pushing radical climate policies that punished working families, Governor Newsom is finally waking up to what Californians need, he’s now scrambling to secure the very fossil fuels he tried to eliminate,” CEO of the American Energy Institute Jason Isaac told the Daily Caller News Foundation previously. “This sudden embrace of petroleum isn’t leadership, it’s survival. California’s energy future depends on realism, not green delusions.”
California Dems Scramble To Boost Oil Production After Running Refiners Out Of Town
Better Permitting and More Building: Possible?
20 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economics of regulation, environmental economics, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: housing affordability, land supply, zoning
It seems natural enough, at least based on US experience, to believe that building and permitting are in a natural opposition: that is, stronger permitting means less building. Zachary Liscow has been looking for a way out of this opposition. He spells out some of his thoughts in “Reforming Permitting to Build Infrastructure” (Hutchins Center…
Better Permitting and More Building: Possible?
No Friend of the Left
19 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA
Charlie Kirk exposed the “achievements” of the Woke Left for the paltry performative parodies of politics they have always been. Chris Trotter writes – HE LOOKS LIKE the son most professional middle-class parents would be proud to call their own. There’s an ease about him, a confidence, that speaks to a background of near universal […]
No Friend of the Left
Alarmists Fail to Refute Realistic Climate Report
17 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, politics - USA Tags: climate activists, climate alarmism
They shoot, they miss, we score. David Wojick reports on the laughable failure of alarmists in his CFACT article Attack on DOE Climate Report is a comedy of criticism. Excerpts in italics with my bolds and added images. The DOE science report saying the impact of CO2 on climate is exaggerated was quickly followed by […]
Alarmists Fail to Refute Realistic Climate Report
Bill Maher: The price of free speech (clearly “offense”)
16 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, television, TV shows Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left
Here’s the latest “New Rules” interlude from Bill Maher’s Real Time show, called “New Rule: The price of free speech.” It’s a big hooray for the First Amendment, including Maher’s opposing (as I do) Trump’s ban on flag-burning. But he also call’s out the Left’s attempted curbs on free speech (I didn’t know that Lisa […]
Bill Maher: The price of free speech (clearly “offense”)
Short (?) review: “Sex is a spectrum”
16 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of education, gender, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, gender gap, political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination
Reading time: Whatever. . . You’ll probably guess from the title of this short (150-page) book by Agustín Fuentes (Princeton University Press) that I am not keen on its thesis, and you’d be right. In fact, the thesis is nothing new, even if you have read Fuentes’s article about it in Natural History and Scientific […]
Short (?) review: “Sex is a spectrum”
When Words No Longer Matter: Nancy Pelosi and Politics of Violence
13 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: free speech, law and order, political correctness, regressive left
It appears that words no longer matter to Nancy Pelosi. For years, Pelosi and other Democrats have blamed President Donald Trump and Republicans for their “inciteful rhetoric.” In seeking Trump’s impeachment, Pelosi bellowed that the use of “words such as a cry ‘to fight like hell’” produces violence and added, “words matter. Truth matters. Accountability […]
When Words No Longer Matter: Nancy Pelosi and Politics of Violence
Coleman Hughes interviews Ben Shapiro
11 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
This is a new video interview from the “Conversations with Coleman” series at the Free Press, but I found it posted just this morning on YouTube. Before you go running to the hills when you hear and see “Ben Shapiro”, let me remind you of the salubrious effect of listening to those whose views differ […]
Coleman Hughes interviews Ben Shapiro
Vernon Smith on Donald Trump’s Protectionism
11 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, history of economic thought, income redistribution, international economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: free trade, tariffs
TweetMy emeritus Nobel-laureate colleague, Vernon Smith, sent the following email to me in response to this post. I share Vernon’s note with his kind permission. Don, Trump, like all businesspersons turned political, wants government favors, that is Mercantilism which is as bad today as when Adam Smith railed against such cozy relationships. Same for labor…
Vernon Smith on Donald Trump’s Protectionism
Why Do Americans Work So Many Hours?
10 Sep 2025 1 Comment
in health economics, labour economics, labour supply, politics - USA
Compared to workers in most other high-income countries, Americans tend to work more hours per year. Here’s a figure from the OECD, which is based on taking the total number of hours worked in an economy and dividing it by the number of workers for the most recent year available. Because different countries will measure…
Why Do Americans Work So Many Hours?
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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