The war in Gaza has produced terrible suffering. Many thousands of civilians have been killed, families have been displaced, neighbourhoods have been destroyed, and ordinary life has become almost impossible. None of this should be minimised. But neither should it be assumed that every exceptionally destructive war is therefore a genocide. Words matter, especially words […]
War Is Not Genocide
War Is Not Genocide
14 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in defence economics, International law, laws of war, war and peace Tags: Gaza Strip, Israel, Middle-East politics, war against terror
Tehran Rose: Will Far-Left Influencers Face Charges in Rallying America’s Enemies?
14 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: free speech, Iran, regressive left
Below is my column in The Hill on the controversies involving far-left influencers rallying support for Iranian and anti-American interests.…
Tehran Rose: Will Far-Left Influencers Face Charges in Rallying America’s Enemies?
More academic censorship
14 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, health economics, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights
The FSU released: A peer-reviewed paper by a Māori clinical psychologist has been removed from her profession’s journal on the grounds that keeping it accessible could harm Māori. It was not retracted for error, fraud or misconduct, which are ordinarily the only reasons for such an action. Censorship knows no bounds. How dare she have…
More academic censorship
Does Costco Follow The Efficiency Wage Theory?
13 Jul 2026 1 Comment
in applied price theory, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, managerial economics, organisational economics, personnel economics
See He Earns $33 an Hour as a Costco Cashier, Now He’s a Millionaire: Long-tenured workers like cashier Tony Barzar are reliable, experienced and able to speed shoppers through a checkout line-Costco is willing to pay to keep them around by Sarah Nassauer of The WSJ. I explain The Efficiency Wage Theory below after article excerpts:”Costco has…
Does Costco Follow The Efficiency Wage Theory?
Radical Visions for Liberty | David Friedman, Bryan Caplan, John Devlin
13 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in David Friedman, law and economics, libertarianism
Germany Needs Milei-ism but Is Getting Romney-ism
13 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in economic growth, economic history, economics of regulation, fiscal policy, macroeconomics Tags: Germany
In the past year, I’ve written about Germany’s fiscal deterioration and its costly fixation on net-zero environmentalism. As illustrated by the chart, these policies have contributed to malaise and economic stagnation (and were caused by – or contributed to – eroding societal capital). The good news is that Friedrich Merz, the country’s chancellor, wants economic […]
Germany Needs Milei-ism but Is Getting Romney-ism
Death and Decency
12 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, economics of media and culture, law and economics
People generally refrain from speaking ill of the recently dead. The old maxim de mortuis nil nisi bonum—“of the dead, say nothing but good”—may be too absolute, but the custom behind it expresses an important principle of civilisation. The principal reason for restraint is not that death makes a person perfect or erases everything objectionable in […]
Death and Decency
What Economics Has To Do With Law | David Friedman
12 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in David Friedman, law and economics
The Supply And Demand Game
12 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of information, history of economic thought Tags: experimental economics
I played it in each class I taught. A former colleague taught it to me many years ago. As far as I know, I use the game invented by Edward Chamberlin and refined by Vernon Smith. Click here to see the Lessons From the Supply and Demand Game. Or just read it all here. Part…
The Supply And Demand Game
“It’s a Constitutional Thing”: Rubio Deports Convicted Rapist Protected by Walz and Minnesota Pardon Board
11 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has failed in his extraordinary effort to protect a Laotian rapist from deportation. Secretary of State…
“It’s a Constitutional Thing”: Rubio Deports Convicted Rapist Protected by Walz and Minnesota Pardon Board
Renewable Energy Will Impoverish Humanity
11 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming
A wholly or predominantly wind and solar fuelled economy will not be able to sustain those corrective technologies and at the same time provide a generous margin for other uses. So the system will shrink, energy consumption itself will fall and the human niche will narrow. General health will decline, rates of mortality will rise,…
Renewable Energy Will Impoverish Humanity
BREAKING: Trump Admin Hires Skeptic to Run National Climate Assessment…Mann Clutches Pearls
11 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: climate alarmism
Scrutiny of a government assessment by someone inclined to question it is not a threat to the science. It is a stress test. The post BREAKING: Trump Admin Hires Skeptic to Run National Climate Assessment…Mann Clutches Pearls appeared first on Watts Up With That?.
BREAKING: Trump Admin Hires Skeptic to Run National Climate Assessment…Mann Clutches Pearls
Coyne is keeping an eye on the legislation to define women and men
10 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in discrimination, gender, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: sex discrimination
Bob Edlin writes – News has reached Professor Jerry Coyne of the New Zealand Parliament debating a bill (which passed on its first reading) that would legally define a “man” and a “woman” this way: 13A Meaning of woman or female In any legislation, regardless of gender identity,— (a) woman means an adult human biological […]
Coyne is keeping an eye on the legislation to define women and men
Capital Gains Can Be Labor Income
10 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, fiscal policy, macroeconomics, Public Choice, public economics Tags: taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment, top 1%
Zwick and Zidar argue that a substantial share of the decline in labor share can be accounted for by changing forms of pay, including pass-throughs and equtiy compensation. In particular, if an employee is paid in stock and that stock increases in value then the tax rules tend to count some of that as capital…
Capital Gains Can Be Labor Income
How does an MP resign? The Chiltern Hundreds & the Manor of Northstead
09 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in economic history Tags: British constitutional law
Have you just heard that an MP has resigned by ‘taking the Chiltern Hundreds’? Our Senior Research Fellow, Dr Martin Spychal, explains the practice and explores its historical context… MPs are not allowed to resign from Parliament. However, a parliamentary loophole exists that allows an MP to vacate their seat by asking the chancellor of…
How does an MP resign? The Chiltern Hundreds & the Manor of Northstead
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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