From a recent paper: Populists are often defined as those who claim that they fill “political representation gaps” -differences between the policymaking by established parties and the “popular will.” Research has largely neglected to what extent this claim is correct. I study descriptively whether representation gaps exist and their relationship with populism. To this end, I analyze […]
A median voter theory of right-wing populism
A median voter theory of right-wing populism
16 Aug 2025 1 Comment
in labour economics, labour supply, Public Choice Tags: voter demographics
Hitler’s British appeasers admitting fault
16 Aug 2025 1 Comment
in development economics, war and peace
1. The public face of appeasement after 1939When Britain went to war in September 1939, prominent supporters of appeasement such as Neville Chamberlain (then still Prime Minister) and Lord Halifax publicly shifted their stance, claiming that they had pursued appeasement to buy time for rearmament and preserve peace as long as possible. This allowed them to avoid […]
Hitler’s British appeasers admitting fault
Why Climate Doomsters Can’t Recant
16 Aug 2025 1 Comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming Tags: climate alarmism
Ted Nordhaus writes at The EcoModernist Why I Stopped Being a Climate Catastrophist, And why so many climate pragmatists can’t quit catastrophism. Excerpts in italics with my bolds and added images. In the book Break Through, Michael Shellenberger and I argued that if the world kept burning fossil fuels at current rates, catastrophe was virtually […]
Why Climate Doomsters Can’t Recant
Fred Hockley-Executed 9 hours after Japanese surrender.
15 Aug 2025 1 Comment
in defence economics, economic history, economics of crime, International law, law and economics, laws of war, war and peace Tags: World War II
Following the Hiroshima bombing on August 6, the Soviet declaration of war and the Nagasaki bombing on August 9, the Emperor’s speech was broadcast at noon Japan Standard Time on August 15, 1945, and did reference the atomic bombs as a reason for the surrender. The broadcast was recorded a day earlier but was broadcast […]
Fred Hockley-Executed 9 hours after Japanese surrender.
FERC Must Seize the Supreme Court’s Energy Opportunity
15 Aug 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: nuisance suits
The Court has provided the legal framework. FERC must provide the will to use it.
FERC Must Seize the Supreme Court’s Energy Opportunity
Study: Ocean sediments support theory that comet impact triggered Younger Dryas cool-off
15 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, environmental economics, environmentalism
Analysis of ocean sediments has surfaced geochemical clues in line with the possibility that an encounter with a disintegrating comet 12,800 years ago in the Northern Hemisphere triggered rapid cooling of Earth’s air and ocean.
Study: Ocean sediments support theory that comet impact triggered Younger Dryas cool-off
Blackmar–Diemer Gambit Explained | Powerful Attack After 1.d4 d5
14 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in chess
BBC News uses ‘shared’ Gaza footage to promote a narrative
14 Aug 2025 1 Comment
in defence economics, International law, laws of war, war and peace Tags: Gaza Strip, Israel, media bias, Middle-East politics, war against terror
Three days after the announcement of the resumption of airdrops of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, the BBC News website published a filmed report showing Jeremy Bowen on one of the Jordanian flights, the synopsis to which states: “The BBC’s international editor Jeremy Bowen boarded a Jordanian military plane dropping humanitarian aid into Gaza. […]
BBC News uses ‘shared’ Gaza footage to promote a narrative
Treasury states what we all knew
14 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in fiscal policy, health economics, income redistribution, macroeconomics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, public economics Tags: economics of pandemics
The Herald reports: A new Treasury paper has criticised the last Government for overspending during the pandemic, leaving the country with a high level of public debt that makes it vulnerable to future shocks. The paper calculated the total cost of the pandemic at about $66 billion. It put the total fiscal contribution to the […]
Treasury states what we all knew
Judge Crushes Charleston Climate Case
14 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: nuisance suits
EID covers the legal thrashing visited upon Charleston plaintiffs seeking a judgment punishing Big Oil for their role in climate misfortunes. The article is Judge Shuts Down Charleston Climate Case, Warns of “Boundless” Liability. Excerpts in italics with my bolds and added images. A South Carolina judge has dismissed Charleston’s climate lawsuit, delivering a decisive setback […]
Judge Crushes Charleston Climate Case
“Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics”: Trump Takeover Renews Questions Over D.C. Crime Data
13 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA
Washington, D.C. is a city that has long spun statistics to the point that they become more fable than fact. It reaffirms the famous view that there are “lies, damned lies, and statistics.” The line is the perfect warning to the unwary about politicians citing statistics. The quote itself is widely misrepresented as the work […]
“Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics”: Trump Takeover Renews Questions Over D.C. Crime Data
The Climate Beat Goes On
13 Aug 2025 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
My response to 10 questions from the Associated Press on the DOE CWG report
The Climate Beat Goes On
Former Minister refuse to appear before Covid-19 Royal Commission
13 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand Tags: economics of pandemics
The former Ministers spent $60 billion of taxpayers’s money and imposed massive restrictions on New Zealander’s rights as part of the Covid-19 response. They are now refusing to answer questions on their decision making, unless it is done in secret, rather than in public. This is such a huge contempt for the public. They were […]
Former Minister refuse to appear before Covid-19 Royal Commission
A Final Attempt to Explain My Disagreement With John Lott on Trump’s Tariffs
13 Aug 2025 1 Comment
in applied welfare economics, industrial organisation, international economics, politics - USA Tags: tarrifs
TweetHere’s a follow-up letter to a new correspondent. Mr. K__: Thanks for your follow-up email, and no need to apologize for what you call your “continued confusion about tariffs as taxes.” It’s I who apologize for communicating unclearly. So, especially because you’re not the only person who I managed to confuse, I’ll take one more…
A Final Attempt to Explain My Disagreement With John Lott on Trump’s Tariffs
BBC News avoids the full background to Hamas ‘disarmament’ story
12 Aug 2025 1 Comment
in defence economics, International law, laws of war, war and peace Tags: Gaza Strip, Israel, Middle-East politics, war against terror
On August 2nd the BBC News website published a report by Thomas Mackintosh headlined “Hamas refuses to disarm until Palestinian state established”. Readers of the current version of that report are told that: “Hamas has reaffirmed that it will not agree to disarm unless a sovereign Palestinian state is established, in response to one of […]
BBC News avoids the full background to Hamas ‘disarmament’ story
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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