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 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…
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, […]
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 […]
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/
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…
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.
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.”
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 […]
Democratic governments, despite their commitment to rule of law, civil liberties, and political accountability, have occasionally undertaken temporary extreme measures when facing grave national crises. These actions are typically justified as necessary to preserve the state or protect the population, though they can be controversial or later seen as overreach. Here are several notable examples: 1. Suspension […]
It has long been predicted that replacing conventional synchronous generators, which rotate together with the grid, with asynchronous inverter-based resources like wind, solar, and batteries will increase the risk of blackouts. Grid planners recognize that unanticipated adverse events—such as line outages, generator trips, substation failures, and major faults—will continue to impact power grids.
The Hollywood Reporter has a good piece on Trump’s proposed movie tariffs: Even if such a tariff were legal — and there is some debate about whether Trump has the authority to impose such levies — industry experts are baffled as to how, in practice, a “movie tariff” would work. “What exactly does he want […]
Following up on an earlier post, Reciprocal tariffs as a tit-for-tat strategy in a repeated prisoners’ dilemma From NY Times:Trump imposed, quickly withdrew and then threatened to bring back huge tariffs on dozens of countries. Immediately, they began calling and asking what they could do to stop him. “More than 100 countries have already come to…
Mark Carney announced last week that the King will open the Canadian Parliament in person later this month. It’s unusual for the Canadian Monarch to give the Speech from the Throne. The last time this happened was in 1977 when Queen Elizabeth II opened Parliament during her Silver Jubilee tour. Carney’s invitation is notable because […]
Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
In Hume’s spirit, I will attempt to serve as an ambassador from my world of economics, and help in “finding topics of conversation fit for the entertainment of rational creatures.”
“We do not believe any group of men adequate enough or wise enough to operate without scrutiny or without criticism. We know that the only way to avoid error is to detect it, that the only way to detect it is to be free to inquire. We know that in secrecy error undetected will flourish and subvert”. - J Robert Oppenheimer.
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