The taxing problem of zombie and phoenix companies
04 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, economics of crime, fiscal policy, law and economics, macroeconomics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking Tags: Germany
Eric Crampton writes – Damien Grant isn’t normally the one making the case that the government needs to take more in tax. The liquidator and libertarian-minded columnist at the Sunday Star Times more typically wants what libertarians generally want – a government that spends less and that can let each of us keep more of […]
The taxing problem of zombie and phoenix companies
My Econoboi Poverty Debate vs. Matt Bruenig
04 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, welfare reform Tags: child poverty, family poverty, social insurance
Tomorrow at 2 PM ET, I’ll be debating “What is the best policy response to poverty?” versus Matt Bruenig. Venue: Econoboi channel P.S. You might recall that… 9 more words
My Econoboi Poverty Debate vs. Matt Bruenig
Quotation of the Day…
03 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, history of economic thought, labour economics, labour supply, poverty and inequality
Tweet… is from page 181 of the late UCLA economist William Allen’s superb 1989 collection of the transcripts of his radio addresses, The Midnight Economist; specifically, it’s from Allen’s April 1985 address “Employment and Wages, Competition and Fairness”: The more valuable the worker, the higher the bid for his services. The high wage offer reflects…
Quotation of the Day…
It is Time to End Our Sedition Addiction
03 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in politics - USA Tags: free speech
Below is my column in USA Today on the revival of sedition as a speech crime in the United States.…
It is Time to End Our Sedition Addiction
The Sensible Swiss Strike Again, Overwhelmingly Rejecting Class Warfare
03 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in economic growth, fiscal policy, macroeconomics, Public Choice, public economics Tags: Switzerland, taxation and investment
Congratulations to Switzerland, the “improbable success” that is home to the world’s most sensible voters. The left put a referendum on the ballot to impose a national death tax and the people of Switzerland overwhelmingly voted against the class warfare initiative. Every single canton in every single region voted no. More than 90 percent of […]
The Sensible Swiss Strike Again, Overwhelmingly Rejecting Class Warfare
Japan’s Growing Burden of Government Means an Inevitable Fiscal Crisis
03 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in budget deficits, economic growth, economic history, financial economics, fiscal policy, macroeconomics, population economics, public economics Tags: ageing society, Japan, population bust
I often get asked when the United States will suffer a Greek-style fiscal crisis. My answer is always “I don’t know,” though I freely admit we are heading in that direction. My lack of specificity isn’t merely because economists are lousy forecasters. I tell people it’s all about investor sentiment, and it’s hard to know […]
Japan’s Growing Burden of Government Means an Inevitable Fiscal Crisis
Bill Maher prognosticates the headlines
02 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in television, TV shows
It looks as if “Real Time” will be off the air for a two months: yahoo! news says, “. . . . Maher will be taking a break from Real Time until late January.” I’ll miss the humor and also the posts. We don’t even have a “new rules” post today, but below are two minutes…
Bill Maher prognosticates the headlines
The wagons are circling
02 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
1 News reports: Speaking in Māori, former party president Dame Naida Glavish said Te Pāti Māori was not established to belittle people, but rather for the betterment of all Māori. She said that had not been evident this year. Dame Naida, Sir Pita Sharples, Te Ururoa Flavell, Marama Fox, Hone Harawira, and Tukoroirangi Morgan were…
The wagons are circling
What should we sell?
02 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, industrial organisation, politics - New Zealand, privatisation
Newsroom has an article on the 10 SOEs that a Government could sell. I’ve done a matrix looking at which could be best to sell. Asset Competitive Value Sensitivity Prospects QV B $54m D Y Landcorp A $1.6b B Y AsureQuality B $100m C Y Kordia B $62m C Y Kiwibank B $2.6b A Y…
What should we sell?
Why didn’t the border states join the confederacy? (Short Animated Docum…
02 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economic history, politics - USA, war and peace Tags: American Civil War
Why did the 1945 Japanese Army coup against the Emperor fail? (Short Ani…
01 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economic history, war and peace Tags: Japan, World War II
US Poverty and Policy
01 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, labour economics, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, welfare reform Tags: child poverty, family poverty
The US economy is the largest in the world, and at least among the large-population countries of the world (setting aside smaller economies strongly influenced by international capital flows like Monaco, Cayman Islands, and Ireland or by oil resources), it also has the highest per capita GDP. But at the same time, according to the…
US Poverty and Policy
*FDR: A New Political Life*
30 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
in politics - USA Tags: free speech
From historian David T. Beito, here is one excerpt: FDR gave unquestioning support to President Wilson’s crackdown on free speech during World War I, including his enforcement of the Sedition and Espionage Acts. According to Kenneth S. Davis, Roosevelt “went along with prevailing trends in the realm of the national spirit, uninhibited by any strong…
*FDR: A New Political Life*
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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