Newsroom asked some pollsters for their predictions for 2026. Mine are below: Every poll (or almost every poll) will show that both National and Labour will need two partner parties to govern, not just one – that is: only National/Act/New Zealand First and Labour/Greens/Te Pāti Māori will have enough seats to make 61. All 71…
My polling predictions at Newsroom
My polling predictions at Newsroom
22 Jan 2026 Leave a comment
“It’s Going to Get Really Serious”: Liberal Influencers Discuss Public Trials and Court Expansion After Democratic Takeover
22 Jan 2026 Leave a comment
in politics - USA Tags: constitutional law
Former CNN correspondent Jim Acosta spoke with popular podcaster Jennifer Welch, discussing the plans for radical changes after a Democratic…
“It’s Going to Get Really Serious”: Liberal Influencers Discuss Public Trials and Court Expansion After Democratic Takeover
Britain to extend life of ageing nuclear plants to keep the lights on
21 Jan 2026 1 Comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming Tags: British politics, nuclear energy
By Paul Homewood h/t Ian Cunningham From the Telegraph: Two of Britain’s oldest nuclear power plants could be kept running for an extra two years because of an acute electricity shortage in the UK.
Britain to extend life of ageing nuclear plants to keep the lights on
Yes Islamist terrorism is religiously inspired
21 Jan 2026 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economics of crime, economics of religion, law and economics, liberalism, war and peace Tags: regressive left, war against terror
A crazy article by Halim Rane at the ABC: In the aftermath of violent attacks, public commentary quickly reaches for a familiar label like “religiously motivated terrorism”. The term sounds intuitive but it is analytically flawed, socially harmful and counter-productive to both national security and social cohesion. I would argue that a more accurate and useful…
Yes Islamist terrorism is religiously inspired
Endangered Republicans at Yale
21 Jan 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of education, politics - USA Tags: academic bias
The NY Post reports: A recent report from the Buckley Institute found that there are no Republican faculty members across 27 departments at Yale University. … It found that nearly 83% of faculty are registered Democrats or primarily support Democratic candidates. More than 15% identify as independent, and fewer than 3% are Republicans, according to the report. Most notably, 27 of 43 undergraduate…
Endangered Republicans at Yale
Part II: Oxfam Is a Leftist Joke, not a Real Charity
20 Jan 2026 1 Comment
in applied price theory, development economics, economic growth, economic history, growth miracles, income redistribution, labour economics, liberalism, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, technological progress Tags: regressive left, The Great Enrichment
As I wrote nine years ago, Oxfam is a pathetic organization. Originally created to help the poor, it has been captured by activists who peddle class warfare. But they play that role in an incredibly sloppy fashion. In all the debates I’ve been part of over the years, no left-leaning academic has been willing to […]
Part II: Oxfam Is a Leftist Joke, not a Real Charity
Is there a British productivity comeback?
20 Jan 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, economic growth, economic history, industrial organisation, macroeconomics Tags: British disease
Let us hope: Britain is seeing early signs of a long-awaited turnaround of its productivity woes, according to an alternative measure that suggests output per hour worked has risen at a pace not seen since before the financial crisis. The Resolution Foundation said a “blistering” productivity surge has been masked by problems with official statistics and pointed…
Is there a British productivity comeback?
A functional organization helps Apple innovate
20 Jan 2026 1 Comment
in entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, managerial economics, organisational economics Tags: creative destruction
HBR: SUMMARY:THE CHALLENGE: Major companies competing in many industries struggle to stay abreast of rapidly changing technologies. ONE MAJOR CAUSE: They are typically organized into business units, each with its own set of functions. Thus the key decision makers—the unit leaders—lack a deep understanding of all the domains that answer to them.THE APPLE MODEL: The company is organized…
A functional organization helps Apple innovate
Have the Greens lost their mojo?
19 Jan 2026 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand Tags: regressive left
Bryce Edwards writes – The Green Party should be flying high right now. They’re not. As the 2026 election year begins in earnest, the Greens find themselves in a deeply anomalous position: polling has slumped, internal organisation has been shaken by staff departures and scandals, and the co-leaders seem strangely detached from the scale of […]
Have the Greens lost their mojo?
We’re still better off than ever before
18 Jan 2026 Leave a comment
in economic history, liberalism Tags: The Great Enrichment
Steven Pinker wrote at the Free Press: Human progress continues, with some backsliding. Since publishing two books on human progress (The Better Angels of Our Nature, 2011, and Enlightenment Now, 2018), every year I update my graphs on the major dimensions of human well-being. Most people think everything’s gotten worse, but that can be a misleading…
We’re still better off than ever before
AI, labor markets, and wages
18 Jan 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, economic growth, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, poverty and inequality Tags: creative destruction, pessimist bias
There is a new and optimistic paper by Lukas Althoff and Hugo Reichardt: Artificial intelligence is changing which tasks workers do and how they do them. Predicting its labor market consequences requires understanding how technical change affects workers’ productivity across tasks, how workers adapt by changing occupations and acquiring new skills, and how wages adjust…
AI, labor markets, and wages
‘Market Power in Antitrust Cases,’ by William M. Landes and Richard A. Posner
17 Jan 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, law and economics, politics - USA, Richard Posner Tags: competition law
William M. Landes and Richard A. Posner’s 1981 Harvard Law Review article “Market Power in Antitrust Cases” is a true classic. Showing the value of interdisciplinary work within the law & economics tradition, it brought real clarity to what “market power” means and how courts should assess it—cutting through vague labels like “monopoly power” and…
‘Market Power in Antitrust Cases,’ by William M. Landes and Richard A. Posner
Yellen on Fiscal Dominance
17 Jan 2026 Leave a comment
in budget deficits, financial economics, fiscal policy, macroeconomics, monetary economics
“Fiscal dominance” refers to a situation where government debt grows so large that the nation’s central bank feels that it has little choice except to focus on making sure the government does not default–even if it means a surge of inflation. Janet Yellen described the issue and risks of fiscal dominance concisely in her comments…
Yellen on Fiscal Dominance
The Guardian defends a moral monster
16 Jan 2026 1 Comment
in defence economics, economics of crime, economics of media and culture, International law, law and economics, laws of war, war and peace Tags: Gaza Strip, Israel, media bias, Middle-East politics, regressive left, war against terror
When we say that the Guardian is institutionally antisemitic, we mean, in party, that they’re willing to defend, or publish sympathetic coverage of, almost… The post The Guardian defends a moral monster appeared first on CAMERA UK.
The Guardian defends a moral monster
Silence on Iran’s murder of its own people: more hypocrisy from anti-Israel protesters
16 Jan 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, International law, law and economics Tags: Iran, Israel, media bias, Middle-East politics, regressive left
It is reported that Iran has massacred 12,000 pro-freedom protesters in less than a fortnight: https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/least-12-000-possibly-20-185320083.html Where is everyone who has been protesting Israel’s actions weekly over the past two years? The Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa accused Israel of genocide three days after the Iranian-funded massacre of Israeli civilians on October 7, before Israel had…
Silence on Iran’s murder of its own people: more hypocrisy from anti-Israel protesters
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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