Here is a recent paper by Benjamin S. Kay, Aeimit Lakdawala, and Jane Ryngaert: Using a novel dataset linking professional forecasters in the Wall Street Journal Economic Forecasting Survey to their political affiliations, we document a partisan bias in GDP growth forecasts. Republican-affiliated forecasters project 0.3-0.4 percentage points higher growth when Republicans hold the presidency, […]
Partisan Bias in Professional Macroeconomic Forecasts
Partisan Bias in Professional Macroeconomic Forecasts
27 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in business cycles, economic growth, macroeconomics, politics - USA Tags: forecasting errors
Horseshoe Theory: Trump and the Progressive Left
26 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, history of economic thought, income redistribution, international economics, International law, labour economics, labour supply, Marxist economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: 2024 presidential election, regressive left, tarrifs
Many of Trump’s signature policies overlap with those of the American progressive left—e.g. tariffs, economic nationalism, immigration restrictions, deep distrust of elite institutions, and an eagerness to use the power of the state. Trump governs less like Reagan, more like Perón. As Ryan Bourne notes, this ideological convergence has led many on the progressive left […]
Horseshoe Theory: Trump and the Progressive Left
Should Catalonia receive more financial independence?
26 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in constitutional political economy, development economics, Federalism, fiscal policy, macroeconomics, Public Choice, public economics Tags: Spain
Jesús details how Spain already operates one of the most decentralized fiscal systems in the world, “more latitude than most U.S. states,” he notes, yet Catalonia now seeks the bespoke privileges long enjoyed by the Basque Country and Navarra. The Regional Authority Index rates how much self‑rule and shared rule each country’s sub‑national governments actually wield. In its last […]
Should Catalonia receive more financial independence?
Will the BBC’s Gaza documentary internal review make any difference?
26 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in defence economics, war and peace Tags: Gaza Strip, Israel, media bias, Middle-East politics, regressive left, war against terror
On July 14th the BBC published the findings of its internal review into the documentary ‘Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone’ which it had de-platformed in February after one of the main child narrators was revealed to be the son of a Hamas official. A BBC Media Centre press release described the breach of […]
Will the BBC’s Gaza documentary internal review make any difference?
Expanding the Milei Miracle: Trade Liberalization
25 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in development economics, growth disasters, growth miracles, international economics, liberalism, libertarianism Tags: Argentina, tariffs
Part I of this series celebrated Javier Milei’s amazing success, Part II pointed out that labor market liberalization is still a big challenge, while Part III noted that the tax system still needs to be fixed. This final video in the series explains the need for free trade. As noted in the video, Milei inherited […]
Expanding the Milei Miracle: Trade Liberalization
California Dems Reportedly Scrambling To Find Buyer For Refinery After Running Owner Out Of Town
25 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, politics - USA Tags: California
The California Energy Commission (CEC) is reportedly actively seeking buyers to stop the upcoming closure of the Valero refinery in Benicia, California, according to three people familiar with the matter that spoke to Reuters. Democrat officials are now reportedly scrambling to keep the refinery operating in California after enforcing stringent regulations that have helped prompt refineries to close across the state for years.
California Dems Reportedly Scrambling To Find Buyer For Refinery After Running Owner Out Of Town
Tasmania’s unstable electoral system
25 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in constitutional political economy, politics - Australia, Public Choice Tags: Tasmania
Tasmania’s electoral system, particularly its implementation of the Hare-Clark proportional representation method, has frequently faced criticism for its tendency to produce unstable governments. This instability largely arises from the system’s inherent design, which promotes a fragmented parliament and necessitates coalition-building and negotiations that may ultimately compromise governmental efficacy and stability. The Hare-Clark system, in theory, […]
Tasmania’s unstable electoral system
The youth of today
24 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: useful idiots
Shorting Your Rivals: A Radical Antitrust Remedy
24 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, financial economics, industrial organisation Tags: competition law, competition law enforcement, mergers
Conventional antitrust enforcement tries to prevent harmful mergers by blocking them but empirical evidence shows that rival stock prices often rise when a merger is blocked—suggesting that many blocked mergers would have increased competition. In other words, we may be stopping the wrong mergers. In a clever proposal, Ayres, Hemphill, and Wickelgren (2024) argue that […]
Shorting Your Rivals: A Radical Antitrust Remedy
Revolution by Judicial Decree: A Review of Professor Peter Watts KC’s “Ellis v R, A Revolution in Aotearoa New Zealand, Welcome or Not”
24 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice Tags: constitutional law
Roger Partridge writes – Revolutions conjure images of violent uprisings, the storming of institutions, and the forcible overthrow of existing orders. But constitutional foundations can be destroyed through more subtle means. When judges discard long-established constitutional principles and remake the law according to their preferences, they engage in a revolution that may be no less […]
Revolution by Judicial Decree: A Review of Professor Peter Watts KC’s “Ellis v R, A Revolution in Aotearoa New Zealand, Welcome or Not”
Markets in everything, bet on tariff repeal edition
23 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, entrepreneurship, financial economics, international economics, politics - USA Tags: tarrifs
Cantor Fitzgerald, a financial services company led by the sons of US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, has offered to buy the right to hundreds of millions of dollars in potential refunds from companies that have paid Trump’s tariffs. The offer means that the sons of the pro-tariff commerce secretary, Kyle and Brandon, have made a way for […]
Markets in everything, bet on tariff repeal edition
Planned Parenthood going the way of the ACLU and the SPLC?
23 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, gender, health economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination
Luana called my attention to an article on wokeness, in this case describing the ideological erosion of Planned Parenthood (henceforth “PP). Click the headline below to read the WSJ “Saturday essay”, or or find it archived free here. Notice that the author is Pamela Paul, formerly the Sunday book-review editor and then a columnist for […]
Planned Parenthood going the way of the ACLU and the SPLC?
Creative destruction
23 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in economic history, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation Tags: creative destruction
The Milei Miracle, Part II
23 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, budget deficits, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, economic growth, fiscal policy, growth disasters, growth miracles, law and economics, liberalism, libertarianism, macroeconomics, property rights Tags: Argentina
I almost feel sorry for the 108 leftist economists who predicted back in 2023 that Argentina would suffer if Javier Milei won the presidential election. Not only were they disappointed when he enjoyed a landslide victory, but the subsequent events in Argentina have shown that they were wildly wrong (all of which is discussed in […]
The Milei Miracle, Part II
Clean Power 2030 projects risk becoming stranded assets
22 Jul 2025 1 Comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming Tags: British politics, climate activists, solar power, wind power
By Paul Homewood London: 17 July 2025 For immediate release Net Zero Watch: Clean Power 2030 projects risk becoming stranded assets Reform’s Richard Tice has written to green energy bosses warning them that a Nigel Farage-led government would terminate green subsidy contracts associated with Labour’s Clean Power 2030 agenda. He argues that the […]
Clean Power 2030 projects risk becoming stranded assets
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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