“Independent education consultants” help high school students and their parents navigate the competitive college-admissions process (creative destruction and how the economy just keeps creating new types of occupations & professions)
01 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of education, entrepreneurship Tags: college wage premium
See Inventing the Perfect College Applicant: For $120,000 a year, Christopher Rim promises to turn any student into Ivy bait by Caitlin Moscatello. This is a fascinating article, even beyond the issue I focus on. Excerpts:”For the past nine years, Rim, 28, has been working as an “independent education consultant,” helping the one percent navigate the…
“Independent education consultants” help high school students and their parents navigate the competitive college-admissions process (creative destruction and how the economy just keeps creating new types of occupations & professions)
*The Case Against Education* Makes the WSJ
01 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, economics of education, economics of information, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, poverty and inequality Tags: screening, signaling

Douglas Belkin, who has an admirably adversarial publication record on higher ed, spotlights my The Case Against Education in his latest piece in The Wall Street Journal:One result of this transactional attitude has been a sharp increase in cheating. College is one of the few products whose consumers try to get as little out of…
*The Case Against Education* Makes the WSJ
No, Omar Cannot be Denaturalized on the Basis of her “Somalians First” Speech
31 Jan 2024 Leave a comment
in law and economics, politics - USA
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) yesterday called for the denaturalization of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) after a controversial speech was uncovered in which she pledged to put Somalia first in Congress and her work. While I have been a long critic of Omar, her views expressed in this speech are not only protected speech, but […]
No, Omar Cannot be Denaturalized on the Basis of her “Somalians First” Speech
MICHAEL BASSETT: Shane Jones deserves support about the Waitangi Tribunal
31 Jan 2024 Leave a comment
in constitutional political economy, income redistribution, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: constitutional law
Michael Bassett writes – Shane Jones deserves full support for his round-arm swing at the Waitangi Tribunal which is now fiddling about with a constitutional inquiry and deciding who can take part in it. A clause in New Zealand First’s coalition agreement with the National Party commits the government to amending the Waitangi Tribunal’s legislation […]
MICHAEL BASSETT: Shane Jones deserves support about the Waitangi Tribunal
MICHAEL BASSETT: SHANE JONES DESERVES SUPPORT ABOUT THE WAITANGI TRIBUNAL
31 Jan 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, income redistribution, law and economics, liberalism, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking Tags: constitutional law
Shane Jones deserves full support for his round-arm swing at the Waitangi Tribunal which is now fiddling about with a constitutional inquiry and deciding who can take part in it. A clause in New Zealand First’s coalition agreement with the National Party commits the government to amending the Waitangi Tribunal’s legislation so that the body…
MICHAEL BASSETT: SHANE JONES DESERVES SUPPORT ABOUT THE WAITANGI TRIBUNAL
January 30, 1649: King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland is executed in Whitehall, London.
31 Jan 2024 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of crime, law and economics Tags: British history
King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland was the second son of King James VI of Scotland and Princess Anne of Denmark, the second daughter of King Frederik II of Denmark and Princess Sophie of Mecklenburg-Güstrow. Prince Charles was born in Dunfermline Palace, Fife, on November 19, 1600. At a Protestant ceremony in the […]
January 30, 1649: King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland is executed in Whitehall, London.
Creative destruction
31 Jan 2024 Leave a comment
in entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, survivor principle Tags: creative destruction
Prosperity Essentials: Why Coal, Oil & Gas Keep Delivering Heaven on Earth
31 Jan 2024 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic history, economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, growth miracles Tags: life expectancies, The Great Enrichment

Coal, then oil and gas, have driven the mechanization and industrialisation responsible for lifting billions out of agrarian poverty, and all in the space of little more than a century. As a band of miserable misanthropes would have it, oil, coal and gas are an unadulterated evil to be driven back to the earthly depths […]
Prosperity Essentials: Why Coal, Oil & Gas Keep Delivering Heaven on Earth
Māori official in New Zealand’s Coast Guard insists that prayer to a god is the key to reducing drowning
30 Jan 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of religion, transport economics Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, Freedom of religion, political correctness, regressive left

This very short article appeared in Waatea News, which I gather is a purveyor of news related to the Māori of New Zealand. (It also runs, I believe, the country’s only Māori radio station.) I’m putting it up for one reason, and then we’ll get a break from the Kiwis and the iwi for a […]
Māori official in New Zealand’s Coast Guard insists that prayer to a god is the key to reducing drowning
Some Thoughts On The Dissolution And Calling Of Parliament Bill
30 Jan 2024 Leave a comment
in constitutional political economy, law and economics Tags: British constitutional law
The House of Lords is now considering the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Bill that was passed by the Commons back in September. It would repeal the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 and restore the pre-2011 status quo whereby the Sovereign dissolved Parliament at the request of the Prime Minister. Regular readers of my blog will […]
Some Thoughts On The Dissolution And Calling Of Parliament Bill
Royal Incapacity and Medical Procedures
30 Jan 2024 1 Comment
in economic history, law and economics Tags: British politics, constitutional law
The King returned from the hospital today after undergoing treatment for an enlarged prostate on Friday. According to the BBC, there was no delegation of royal authority during his stay in the hospital. This approach is in marked contrast to that of the United States where Presidents have temporarily transferred their powers to the Vice-President […]
Royal Incapacity and Medical Procedures

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