The Mainstream World Is Not Free-Market
10 May 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, Austrian economics, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economic history, economics of education, economics of regulation, history of economic thought, human capital, labour economics, occupational choice
An excerpt from Chapter 1 of *Unbeatable*
The Mainstream World Is Not Free-Market
How Can You Tell if Health Insurance Helps Health?
10 May 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, health economics Tags: health insurance
It may seem obvious that health insurance helps health, but very few cause-and-effect conclusions are obvious to economists. For example, suppose that we just compared the health of everyone who has health insurance and everyone who doesn’t. It would be unsurprising to find that those with health insurance are healthier, but the two groups will…
How Can You Tell if Health Insurance Helps Health?
Policy whiplash risks eroding NZ’s investment stability
10 May 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights
Roger Partridge writes- Resources Minister Shane Jones recently floated a novel idea: Government-backed insurance for oil and gas investors to protect them against future policy reversals. Let that sink in. A New Zealand minister is contemplating taxpayer-funded insurance to compensate companies against… the decisions of future New Zealand Governments.
Policy whiplash risks eroding NZ’s investment stability
Wind And Solar Power Both Capricious and Costly
10 May 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming Tags: celebrity technologies, solar power, wind power
Bill Ponton reminds us that in addition to being fickle, renewables are also costly, in his American Thinker article What are the merits of renewables? Excerpts in italics with my bolds and added images. The Spanish blackout made us all aware of how unstable the grid can get when renewables are in the driver’s seat, […]
Wind And Solar Power Both Capricious and Costly
The Economic Consequences of Ever-Growing Government in Finland
10 May 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, economic growth, entrepreneurship, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, Public Choice Tags: Finland, taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment, taxation and labour supply
I’m currently in Finland for meetings with various people and I learned that the country’s bloated public sector and expensive welfare state are imposing a very heavy cost on the economy. How heavy of a cost? According to IMF data, there’s been no growth in per-capita GDP over the past 18 years. Why is Finland […]
The Economic Consequences of Ever-Growing Government in Finland
Why Is the US Economy Surging Ahead of the UK?
09 May 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, economic growth, macroeconomics, politics - USA, technological progress Tags: British politics
The US economy has emerged from the pandemic growing at a faster pace than the UK and other high-income countries. Simon Pittaway tackles the question of why in “Yanked away: Accounting for the post-pandemic productivity divergence between Britain and America” (Resolution Foundation, April 2025). The average standard of living in any economy, over time, will…
Why Is the US Economy Surging Ahead of the UK?
A Critique of the Apocalyptic Climate Narrative
08 May 2025 1 Comment
in economics of climate change, economics of natural disasters, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming Tags: climate alarmism
by Judith Curry and Harry DeAngelo We have a new paper published in the Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, entitled “A Critique of the Apocalyptic Climate Narrative.” The paper reflects the JACF’s ongoing interest in publishing articles that analyze important Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) issues in ways that are useful for investors, money managers, […]
A Critique of the Apocalyptic Climate Narrative
Why contempt needs to be met with contempt
08 May 2025 Leave a comment
It is clear Te Pati Maori holds Parliament in contempt. I don’t just mean in the technical sense of breaching the rules of the House, but in the more general sense of behaving with contempt. To publish the draft Privileges Committee report on the actions of three of their MPs on their social media feed […]
Why contempt needs to be met with contempt
EV Sales Stuck At 20%
08 May 2025 1 Comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming Tags: electric cars
By Paul Homewood EV sales remain stuck around the 20% mark, way short the government’s target of 28% for the year. It’s hard to see what carmakers can do to lift the EVs back to ZEV target levels. https://www.smmt.co.uk/vehicle-data/car-registrations/
EV Sales Stuck At 20%
Korea’s Low Fertility Rate
08 May 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of love and marriage, human capital, labour economics, law and economics, population economics Tags: ageing society, South Korea
Fertility rates are falling around the world, but Republic of Korea is the outlier, with a fertility rate of 0.72 in 2024. The International Monetary Fund, in its report on Korea’s economic situation (generally quite good), thought that Korea’s low fertility justified adding an “Annex” to its most recent report on Korea’s economy: “Addressing Korea’s…
Korea’s Low Fertility Rate
Net Zero Watch warns of growing grid instability
08 May 2025 1 Comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming Tags: celebrity technologies, solar power, wind power
With more than 50 million EU electricity consumers suffering blackouts yesterday, campaign group Net Zero Watch has reiterated its warning that the UK power grid is also becoming increasingly unstable.
Net Zero Watch warns of growing grid instability
Turley Testifies on Over-Criminalization Before the House Judiciary Committee
08 May 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: crime and punishment, law and order
Today, I will be testifying on the over-criminalization of federal law before the Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance Committee on the Judiciary. The testimony (linked below) is part of a hearing titled “Criminalizing America: The Growth of Federal Offenses and Regulatory Overreach.”
Turley Testifies on Over-Criminalization Before the House Judiciary Committee
Does he know what a woman is now?
07 May 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, economics of education, gender, health and safety, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, politics - New Zealand, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: gender wage gap, sex discrimination
Labour leader Chris Hipkins has joined the chorus of those opposing changes to pay equity legislation. Does this mean he knows what a woman is now? It is easy for opposition parties and their allies to criticise proposed changes but Heather du Plessis-Allan points out the problem with existing legislation: . . . Those pay […]
Does he know what a woman is now?
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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