Q&A: Allis and Ronald Radosh
27 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economic history, International law, politics - USA Tags: Israel
Saving Democracy From Itself: The Democratic National Committee Moves To Block Third Party Candidates
27 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in politics - USA Tags: 2016 presidential election, 2024 presidential election
Below is my column in the New York Post on a reported plan of the Democratic National Committee and allied groups to try to block third-party candidates from the 2024 ballot. The contradiction is stunning as these groups raise money to “save democracy” by limiting democratic choice. In the meantime, the leading third-party candidate Robert […]
Saving Democracy From Itself: The Democratic National Committee Moves To Block Third Party Candidates
Universal Basic Income: The Freiman-Caplan Debate
27 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, fiscal policy, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, Public Choice Tags: child poverty, family poverty, negative income tax
As expected, I really enjoyed the Institute for Liberal Studies’ UBI debate between myself and Chris Freiman. Chris was definitely the least enthusiastic UBI supporter I’ve debated. All the way to the point of, “Given all the truly promising ideas we have, and the downside risks of the UBI, perhaps I shouldn’t even publicly defend…
Universal Basic Income: The Freiman-Caplan Debate
California’s Electricity Disaster In Seven Charts
25 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, politics - USA Tags: celebrity technologies, wind power
Residential electricity prices jumped nearly 12% in 2023 and they are going higher. But the carbon intensity of power generation isn’t falling and low-income ratepayers are subsidizing the rich.
California’s Electricity Disaster In Seven Charts
The “Perversity” of Michael Cohen: Federal Judge Denounces Cohen as a Serial Perjurer
25 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: 2016 presidential elections, 2020 presidential election, 2024 presidential election
Michael Cohen was back in court this week and it did not go well. The former fixer for Donald Trump was in court seeking a reduction in his federal sentence and to answer for his use of Google’s AI chatbot to submit arguments with fake case authority. However, things went off the rails when his […]
The “Perversity” of Michael Cohen: Federal Judge Denounces Cohen as a Serial Perjurer
The Dripping Away of the Democratic Party: Sir Thomas More and the Biden Corruption Scandal
25 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election
Below is my column on Fox.com for the hearing this week on the corruption scandal involving the Biden family. For years, the Democrats have opposed any effort to investigate the Bidens, including as part of the current impeachment inquiry. Various members misrepresented my earlier testimony during the hearing on the basis for the impeachment inquiry. […]
The Dripping Away of the Democratic Party: Sir Thomas More and the Biden Corruption Scandal
“Blatantly Misogynistic”: UC Berkeley Students Declare That They Feel Unsafe After Professor Shares Dating Advice
24 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, economics of education, economics of media and culture, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left
This week, parents of students at the University of California at Berkeley took the extreme step of hiring private security to protect their children at the school after years of complaints over rising crime and anti-police policies. The university, however, is focused this week on another threat that has led students to object that they […]
“Blatantly Misogynistic”: UC Berkeley Students Declare That They Feel Unsafe After Professor Shares Dating Advice
Why conservatives like Trump
23 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in politics - USA Tags: 2016 presidential election, 2020 presidential election, 2024 presidential election
I am no fan of Trump. No amount of good policies can make up his manifest psychological flaws. I’d take a zombie Biden over a robust Trump anyday. But Trump has won the GOP nomination for President, and has a better than even chance of winning in November. This can be quite baffling to people […]
Why conservatives like Trump
Climate: The Movie
22 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, movies, politics - USA Tags: academic bias, climate alarmism
Martin Durkin’s Climate:The Movie is now released: Climate The Movie from Martin Durkin on Vimeo. This film exposes the climate alarm as an invented scare without any basis in science. It shows that mainstream studies and official data do not support the claim that we are witnessing an increase in extreme weather events – hurricanes, […]
Climate: The Movie
Another “Least Surprising Headline” for High Speed Rail
22 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in politics - USA, transport economics, urban economics
California voters made a terrible mistake back in 2008 when they narrowly approved a referendum for a $33 billion high-speed train between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Opponents said the project was a boondoggle and they made several predictions. It will wind up costing far more than advertised. It will take much longer to build […]
Another “Least Surprising Headline” for High Speed Rail
Do Me a Personal Favor: Please Pre-Order *Build, Baby, Build* Now
22 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, income redistribution, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking Tags: land supply, zoning
I started writing Build, Baby, Build: The Science and Ethics of Housing Regulation, in the early weeks of Covid. Now, with the kind cooperation of the Cato Institute, my second non-fiction graphic novel releases on May 1, 2024. That’s less than six weeks away.The official coverPlease forgive my laughable arrogance, but I assure you that…
Do Me a Personal Favor: Please Pre-Order *Build, Baby, Build* Now
Nikole Hannah-Jones on reparations for descendants of slaves
21 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of crime, economics of education, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, occupational choice, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: affirmative action, free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
As you know, I go back and forth on the question of affirmative action for college and professional-school admissions, and even after I thought I’d settled on a view (i.e., give some preference to minorities among those equally qualified for admission), it still keeps changing. After I read the long New York Times piece below […]
Nikole Hannah-Jones on reparations for descendants of slaves
Elites’ Empty Climate Policies
20 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, politics - USA
Randall G. Holcombe writes at Independent Institute President Biden’s Climate Aspirations. Excerpts in italics with my bolds and added images. H/T John Ray Most of what the political class calls policies are really aspirations with no policy content. They are feel-good statements that promote goals most people would support, with no associated policies that would […]
Elites’ Empty Climate Policies
GARY JUDD KC: On judicial imperialism
19 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, law and economics, liberalism, libertarianism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, property rights
Why judges must ‘stay in their lane’ This article with minor differences was published by The Law Association’s Law News on 15 March 2024 Provoked by the Supreme Court’s decision in Smith v Fonterra and others [2024] NZSC 5, Professor James Allan, Garrick Professor of Law at the University of Queensland, a Canadian who taught law at…
GARY JUDD KC: On judicial imperialism
Politics is Ugly
18 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in defence economics, International law, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: free speech, Gaza Strip, Israel, Middle-East politics, political correctness, regressive left, war against terror, World War II
My Dad once told about how the famous British General Bernard Montgomery was asked after WWII whether he might like to go into politics and he declined, saying: War is a dirty business, but politics, by gum! I’ve never looked into the story to see if it’s apocryphal but given that politics appears at the […]
Politics is Ugly
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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