Plenty of people have commented on New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s proposal to lower food prices by creating city-owned grocery stores, but there is still more to be said about this plan. Mamdani either thinks or believes that voters think that store owners are making huge profit through … Continue reading →
Failing to Learn the Lessons of History
Failing to Learn the Lessons of History
01 Jul 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, entrepreneurship, income redistribution, industrial organisation, labour economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, public economics, unions, urban economics
Quotation of the Day…
01 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, income redistribution, international economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: tarrifs
Tweet… is from page 45 of Milton & Rose Friedman’s great 1980 book, Free To Choose: Another source of “unfair competition” is said to be subsidies by foreign governments to their producers that enable them to sell in the United States below cost. Suppose a foreign government gives such subsidies, as no doubt some do.…
Quotation of the Day…
The End is Nigh: Liberal Justices Predict “Chaos” and the Demise of Public Education Without Mandatory LGBTQ Material
30 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of education, economics of religion, politics - USA
Below is my column in The Hill on the ruling in Mahmoud v. Taylor in favor of parents who want to withdraw their children from LGBTQ lessons in public schools. I agreed with the majority, but it was Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s dissent (joined by Justices Kagan and Jackson) that was the most striking in its […]
The End is Nigh: Liberal Justices Predict “Chaos” and the Demise of Public Education Without Mandatory LGBTQ Material
The Chilling Jurisprudence of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson
28 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in law and economics, politics - USA Tags: constitutional law
Below is my column in the New York Post on the controversial dissenting opinion of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson in the injunction ruling in Trump v. CASA on Friday. The opinion seemed to fan the flames of “democracy is dying” claims of protesters, suggesting that basic limits on injunctive relief could result in the collapse […]
The Chilling Jurisprudence of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson
Bad Economic History Fuels Bad Present-Day Economic Policies
28 Jun 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, Austrian economics, comparative institutional analysis, development economics, economic history, history of economic thought, income redistribution, industrial organisation, international economics, liberalism, politics - USA, Public Choice
TweetAt CapX, I explain what motivated Phil Gramm and me to write our book, The Triumph of Economic Freedom: Debunking the Seven Great Myths of American Capitalism. A slice: Likewise with America’s own industrial revolution, the ‘Gilded Age’. American schoolchildren are taught that the final third of the 19th century witnessed John D. Rockefeller and…
Bad Economic History Fuels Bad Present-Day Economic Policies
The Icarian Gene: The Rise and Fall of the Expert Class
27 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of education, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
The warning was stark. At issue was a privileged class that has long dictated policy despite countervailing public opinion. At issue, the luminary warned, is nothing short of democracy itself. No, it was not the continued rallies of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., VT) to “fight oligarchy.” It was Justice Clarence Thomas rallying his colleagues to […]
The Icarian Gene: The Rise and Fall of the Expert Class
An important article by Andrew Sullivan
27 Jun 2025 1 Comment
in discrimination, gender, health economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination
Before I leave for the airport, I wanted to call people’s attention to this new, long op-ed piece by Andrew Sullivan in the NYT. Click to read, or find it archived for free here: Sullivan’s thesis is that extreme trans-activism has not only been inimical for society in several ways, but has also eroded respect […]
An important article by Andrew Sullivan
Unfettered: Fishback 25 Years Later
25 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic history, history of economic thought, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, politics - USA, poverty and inequality Tags: economics of immigration, employment law, monopsony
A quarter century ago, economist Price Fishback published “Operations of ‘Unfettered’ Labor Markets: Exit and Voice in American Labor Markets at the Turn of the Century” 1,762 more words
Unfettered: Fishback 25 Years Later
Racial Disparities in Mortality by Sex, Age, and Cause of Death
25 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, econometerics, health economics, politics - USA Tags: cancer survival rates, life expectancies, racial discrimination
Racial differences in mortality are large, persistent and likely caused, at least in part, by racism. While the causal pathways linking racism to mortality are conceptually well defined, empirical evidence to support causal claims related to its effect on health is incomplete. In this study, we provide a unique set of facts about racial disparities […]
Racial Disparities in Mortality by Sex, Age, and Cause of Death
Supreme Court Delivers Blow To California Climate Zealots
24 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, transport economics
“The Supreme Court put to rest any question about whether fuel manufacturers have a right to challenge unlawful electric vehicle mandates,” American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) President and CEO Chet Thompson said in a statement.
Supreme Court Delivers Blow To California Climate Zealots
The Claude Rains School of Constitutional Law: Democrats Denounce Iranian Attack as Unconstitutional
23 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in defence economics, politics - USA, war and peace Tags: constitutional law, Middle-East politics, regressive left, war against terror
Yesterday, I wrote a column in the Hill discussing how Trump is unlikely to go to Congress in launching an attack on Iran and how he has history on his side in acting unilaterally. The column noted that many Democratic politicians and pundits who were supportive of such unilateral actions by Democratic presidents such as […]
The Claude Rains School of Constitutional Law: Democrats Denounce Iranian Attack as Unconstitutional
Slowly Strangling the Death Tax
23 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, Austrian economics, economic growth, macroeconomics, politics - USA, Public Choice, public economics Tags: death taxes, taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment, taxation and savings
Back in 2013, I debated Joe Biden’s top economist on the death tax. Everything I said then (and wrote four years before then) is still true today. In the interview, I mentioned nations that have abolished their death taxes, including Australia. I should have mentioned Sweden as well. As a general rule, I don’t want […]
Slowly Strangling the Death Tax
Dunajtschik backs Chung
23 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in politics - USA Tags: Wellington
The Herald reports: A key donor of Wellington mayoral candidate Ray Chung has been revealed, with rich-list philanthropist Sir Mark Dunajtschik confirming his financial backing for the mayoral hopeful. Chung, currently a first-term city councillor, is running to lead the capital city on a platform of cutting key projects to implement zero rates increases. … […]
Dunajtschik backs Chung
The Supreme Court Delivers a Blow to Transgender Cases
21 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of regulation, gender, health economics, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination
Yesterday, the Supreme Court issued its 6-3 ruling upholding a Tennessee ban on transgender medical treatments for adolescents. The ruling has major implications for pending transgender cases, particularly the concurrence of Justice Amy Coney Barrett rejecting the claim that transgender status qualifies as a group entitled to heightened scrutiny under the Constitution. One of those […]
The Supreme Court Delivers a Blow to Transgender Cases
The Profit Motive Will Ensure Adequate Supplies of Rare Earths
21 Jun 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, international economics, politics - USA, resource economics Tags: China
TweetHere’s a letter to the Wall Street Journal: Editor: You’re correct that “Trump has no China trade strategy” (June 12). Nearly all trade talk coming from this administration is economically incoherent bluster from which we Americans can expect only diminished prosperity. You err, however, in describing China as having a “stranglehold on rare-earth minerals.” China…
The Profit Motive Will Ensure Adequate Supplies of Rare Earths
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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