Murray Rothbard on the falling popularity of Pope Francis
25 Jul 2015 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of education, economics of regulation, economics of religion, energy economics, environmental economics, income redistribution, industrial organisation, international economics, Murray Rothbard, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking, survivor principle Tags: antiforeign bias, antimarket bias, Catholic social thought, climate alarmism, expressive voting, global warming, makework bias, Pope Francis, rational ignorance, rational irrationality, voter demographics
@Income_Equality there’s an Internet you know – was there next to no unemployment prior to the mid-1980s in New Zealand?
24 Jul 2015 Leave a comment
in business cycles, econometerics, economic growth, economic history, job search and matching, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, unemployment, unions, welfare reform Tags: antimarket bias, Don Brash, economic reform, expressive voting, Homer Simpson, Leftover Left, lost decades, makework bias, neoliberalism, rational ignorance, rational irrationality, Sir Roger Douglas, Twitter left
Today, Closing The Gap – The Income Inequality Project boldly claimed today that there was next to no unemployment in New Zealand prior to the onset of the curse of neoliberalism.
There is an Internet on computers now where it is easy to find data showing that the unemployment rate was rising rapidly in New Zealand in the 1970s and in double digits by the end of the 1980s – see figure 1.
Figure 1: harmonised unemployment rates, Australia and New Zealand, 1956-2014
Source: OECD StatExtract.
Figure 1 shows unemployment was rising rapidly in the 1970s and wasn’t much different by the end of the 1970s to the unemployment rates recorded after about 2000 in New Zealand.
One of the reasons that Sir Roger Douglas wrote There’s Got To Be A Better Way was the rapidly rising unemployment in New Zealand and the stagnant economic growth in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
New Zealand was one of the most regulated economies, so much so that Prime Minister David Lange said:
We ended up being run very similarly to a Polish shipyard.
As for those jobs on the railways, the then Reserve Bank Governor Don Brash said in 1996:
Railways cut its freight rates by 50 percent in real terms between 1983 and 1990, reduced its staff by 60 percent, and made an operating profit in 1989/90, the first for six years.
More on unemployment: In 1955 the New Zealand’s prime minister knew all unemployed personally.
– Atkinson’s new book http://t.co/x37Vxya97C—
Max Roser (@MaxCRoser) July 24, 2015
Some of the kidnapped ODA activists have been freed and can speak out at last!
23 Jul 2015 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic history, growth disasters, growth miracles, Marxist economics Tags: activists, anticapitalist mentality, antiforeign bias, antimarket bias, do gooders, expressive voting, Left-wing hypocrisy, Leftover Left, mass kidnappings, ODA, overseas aid, rational ignorance, rational irrationality, The Guardian
The role of the spread of capitalism and globalisation in massively reducing extreme poverty just gets a mention, begrudgingly, but it’s better than nothing From a newspaper of record of the Left over Left.
Do environmentalists oppose all energy subsidies?
22 Jul 2015 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: antimarket bias, Big Solar, Big Wind, expressive voting, green rent seeking, rational ignorance, rational irrationality, renewable energy, solar power, wind power
Foodborne Illness and Plastic Bag Bans
18 Jul 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, health economics Tags: antimarket bias, expressive voting, killer green technologies, meddlesome preferences, nanny state, plastic bag bans, plastic bags, rational ignorance, rational irrationality
Why is Labour so staunch on its left-wing policies – the voters must come to them – but opportunistic on race?
11 Jul 2015 Leave a comment
in constitutional political economy, international economics, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: antiforeign bias, antimarket bias, left-wing populists, New Zealand First, New Zealand Labour Party, political opportunism, racism, rational ignorance, rational irrationality, right-wing populists, traditional labour voter, working class Tory
Figure 1: who won the electorate vote of New Zealand First party voters, 2014 New Zealand election
Source: Electoral Commission.
New Zealand First vote splitting data in Figure 1 suggests many more Labour voters vote New Zealand First than for the National Party with their electorate votes.
1/3rd of voters who gave their party vote to New Zealand First voted Labour with their electorate vote. This compares to one in five New Zealand First voters who gave their electorate vote to the National Party.
The Labour Party can win back some traditional Labour voters by borrowing populist policies from New Zealand First and its ageing leader such as prohibiting foreigners from buying New Zealand land.
Who mentioned Shane Jones?
In politics we don't pull our punches, unless you've got one of the world's best in town! http://t.co/Xiz2l36btg—
Winston Peters (@winstonpeters) August 08, 2013
President Donald Trump? Just Say No
09 Jul 2015 Leave a comment
in politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: 2016 presidential election, antiforeign bias, antimarket bias, Donald Trump, expressive voting, rational ignorance, rational irrationality
A lot of voters want to protect themselves from the scourge of lower prices
09 Jul 2015 Leave a comment
in industrial organisation, international economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA Tags: antiforeign bias, antimarket bias, expressive voting, free trade, rational ignorance, rational irrationality, voter demographics
Who favors free trade?
(The affluent.)
nytimes.com/2015/05/28/ups… @BrendanNyhan http://t.co/kojmUWUtH0—
Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) May 27, 2015
Anthony Downs on the unsustainability of buses and trains as compared to cars
30 Jun 2015 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand, transport economics, urban economics Tags: Anthony Downs, antimarket bias, expressive voting, Leftover Left, makework bias, meddlesome preferences, nanny state, rational ignorance, rational irrationality
The different types of authoritarian personalities
28 Jun 2015 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: antiforeign bias, antimarket bias, economics of personality traits, expressive voting, Leftover Left, makework bias, political psychology, rational ignorance, rational irrationality
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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