TweetEvery time Victor Davis Hanson comments on the economics of international trade he displays his utter ignorance of the most basic facts and theories of that topic. Editor, Real Clear Politics Editor: Victor Davis Hanson’s declaration of victory for Trump’s tariffs is premature and confused (“The Decline and Fall of Our So-Called Degreed Experts,” July…
Victor Davis Hanson Continues to Write Foolishly About Economics
Victor Davis Hanson Continues to Write Foolishly About Economics
07 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, international economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: tarrifs
Emotions and Policy Views
07 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, behavioural economics, economics of information, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA
I would call this a story of negative emotional contagion: This paper investigates the growing role of emotions in shaping policy views. Analyzing social citizens’ media postings and political party messaging over a large variety of policy issues from 2013 to 2024, we document a sharp rise in negative emotions, particularly anger. Content generating anger […]
Emotions and Policy Views
Federal Judge Rules Against Trump on Use of “Invasion” Powers to Expedite Deportations
05 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in international economic law, international economics, International law, labour economics, labour supply, politics - USA Tags: economics of immigration
In Washington, D.C., District Court Judge Randolph Moss has issued a notable decision against the Trump Administration in Refugee and Immigrant Center for Legal and Educational Services v. Noem. Judge Moss rejected the use of Trump’s January 20 “invasion” executive proclamation to block undocumented immigrants from pursuing asylum applications and other legal pathways. The court essentially rules […]
Federal Judge Rules Against Trump on Use of “Invasion” Powers to Expedite Deportations
US Health Care Expenditures: An Ominous Trend Returns?
04 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in health economics, politics - USA Tags: health insurance
In the 2010s, it appeared that US health care expenditures as a share of GDP had peaked. But there group at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that continually carries out and updates these estimates and forecasts. Their most recent projections suggest that US health spending is about to start rising again as a…
US Health Care Expenditures: An Ominous Trend Returns?
Another Open Letter to Howard Lutnick
04 Jul 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, development economics, growth miracles, international economic law, international economics, politics - USA Tags: tarrifs, Vietnam
TweetMr. Howard Lutnick Secretary, U.S. Department of Commerce Washington, DC Mr. Lutnick: Yesterday you tweeted this: Our trade deal with Vietnam is a massive win for America’s businesses, manufacturers, and farmers! For the FIRST TIME EVER, Vietnam will open its market to the United States. They will pay 20% to sell their products here, and…
Another Open Letter to Howard Lutnick
The Weird and Lovely Surge of US Productivity Growth
04 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, economic growth, economic history, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, politics - USA
In the long run, a rising standard of living is always and everywhere based on productivity growth. Thus, Austan Goolsbee notedin a keynote address at the “Summit” conference held at the Stanford Institute of Economic Policy Research (SIEPR) in February (“Remarks on Productivity Growth and Monetary Policy,” February 28, 2025): As Goolsbee notes, annual productivity…
The Weird and Lovely Surge of US Productivity Growth
“The End Goal of Seizing the Means of Production”: Yup, Mamdani is a Hardcore Marxist
03 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economics of bureaucracy, economics of education, economics of regulation, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, Public Choice
Below is my column on Fox.com on the debate that Democratic New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is a socialist, a Democratic Socialist, or a communist. What is clear is that Mamdani is a Marxist and that is a serious problem for New York. Here is the column:
“The End Goal of Seizing the Means of Production”: Yup, Mamdani is a Hardcore Marxist
The gender wage gap uses bogus statistics | FACTUAL FEMINIST
02 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, econometerics, economics of regulation, gender, health and safety, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: gender wage gap, sex discrimination
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
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
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
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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