Martin Gurri has a very good, deep-dive on the current situation in Cuba. The wreckage of the Cuban economy really can’t be exaggerated. The perpetual blackouts are an apt symbol of a country that is headed for the dark ages. For the first time since the revolution, Cuba is begging the United Nations for food aid. Nearly […]
Cuba Libre
Cuba Libre
05 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of crime, growth disasters, history of economic thought, human capital, income redistribution, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking Tags: Cuba
J’Accuse . . . ! : The University of Chicago is not a “free speech university”
04 Apr 2024 1 Comment
in defence economics, economics of crime, economics of education, law and economics, laws of war, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, war and peace Tags: free speech, Gaza Strip, Israel, Middle-East politics, political correctness, regressive left, war against terror

This is a story about how the University of Chicago, famed as the #1 Free Speech School of America, is now allowing the suppression of speech, either not punishing those who engage in suppression or giving them ridiculously light punishments. The result is that there is no palpable deterrent to students who want to silence […]
J’Accuse . . . ! : The University of Chicago is not a “free speech university”
The Big Lie Behind DEI
04 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, gender, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, occupational choice, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, Public Choice Tags: affirmative action, Age of Enlightenment, free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left, sex discrimination

Below is an article describing how the woke industry started and expanded by advancing a fundamental lie about human happiness and social fairness. The image above calls attention to the notion that sorts individuals into classes and attributes inequalities in status or prosperity to oppression by others. The lie is that any disappointment or disadvantage […]
The Big Lie Behind DEI
Biden’s Signature Climate Law Has a Major Achilles’ Heel — And Dems Are Making It Worse
31 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: land supply, solar power, wind power, zoning
…you can’t get anything built because of these statutes,” Mike McKenna, a Republican strategist with extensive experience in and around the energy sector, told the DCNF about Congressional gridlock on permitting reform.
Biden’s Signature Climate Law Has a Major Achilles’ Heel — And Dems Are Making It Worse
New Rule: Stuck on Stupid | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO)
31 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, health economics, politics - USA, television, TV shows Tags: economics of pandemics
Say It Ain’t So, Joe: The House Formally Invites President Biden to Testify in Impeachment Inquiry
30 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: 2020 presidential election, 2024 presidential election

House Oversight Committee chairman James Comer has sent a seven-page letter (below) to invite President Joe Biden to testify in the Republican impeachment inquiry. The letter is the latest, and best, reduction of the glaring contradictions in the President’s past statements on his family’s well-documented influence peddling operation. President Biden is not expected to testify. […]
Say It Ain’t So, Joe: The House Formally Invites President Biden to Testify in Impeachment Inquiry
The Gag and the Goad: Trump Should Appeal Latest Gag Order
28 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election
New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan this week became the latest court to impose a gag order on former president Donald Trump with a stinging order that found a history of Trump attacks that threatened the administration of justice. The order will bar public criticism of figures who are at the center of the […]
The Gag and the Goad: Trump Should Appeal Latest Gag Order
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
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