Rob MacCulloch writes – The underlying aim of the Treaty of Waitangi, at least in economic terms, was to promote a higher standard of living for Māori and non-Māori alike. This article’s purpose is to argue how its words were unambiguously designed to achieve that purpose, but have since been hijacked by political operatives and NZ’s legal […]
Treaty of Waitangi legal “experts” have misunderstood its economic rationale – and endangered national prosperity
Treaty of Waitangi legal “experts” have misunderstood its economic rationale – and endangered national prosperity
20 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, economic history, history of economic thought, liberalism, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice Tags: constitutional law
IRS Whistleblowers Sue Hunter Biden’s Lawyer Abbe Lowell for Defamation
15 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in law and economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election, constitutional law, defamation law, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
Last January, I received a letter threatening me with a defamation lawsuit if I continued my criticism of Hunter Biden, including allegations of criminal conduct. It all seemed part of a “Legion of Doom” defense hatched by Biden supporters reportedly to target critics and even potential witnesses. I proceeded to write three more columns repeating […]
IRS Whistleblowers Sue Hunter Biden’s Lawyer Abbe Lowell for Defamation
Managed Democracy: Letting The People Decide, But Only When They Can Be Relied Upon To Give the Right Answer.
14 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in economic history, law and economics, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: constitutional law
Uh-uh! Not So Fast, Citizens! The power to initiate systemic change remains where it has always been in New Zealand’s representative democracy – in Parliament. To order a binding referendum, the House of Representatives must first to be persuaded that, on the question proposed, sharing its decision-making power with the people is a good idea. Not…
Managed Democracy: Letting The People Decide, But Only When They Can Be Relied Upon To Give the Right Answer.
Farewell, my (hereditary) lords?
12 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in law and economics, politics, Public Choice Tags: British politics, constitutional law
Last week, the Government unveiled legislation to remove the remaining hereditary peers from the House of Lords. It’s a fairly straightforward bill that seeks to repeal section 2 of the House of Lords Act 1999, thereby making the exclusion of hereditary peers absolute rather than qualified. It also abolishes the Upper House’s jurisdiction over peerage […]
Farewell, my (hereditary) lords?
SHOWDOWN: Willie Jackson vs David Seymour on the Treaty Principles Bill
11 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, economic history, law and economics, liberalism, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice Tags: constitutional law, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
More on the decline and fall of science education in New Zealand
22 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of education, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: Age of Enlightenment, conjecture and refutation, constitutional law, free speech, philosophy of science, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
Skip this if you don’t care about science education in New Zealand, but plenty of scientists there are worried about it. And it’s a harbinger of what may happen to science education in the U.S. as science courses add requirements to teach indigenous “ways of knowing” and the curriculum itself pushes out traditional material to make […]
More on the decline and fall of science education in New Zealand
How Chlöe Swarbrick struggled to accept the PM’s position on sovereignty
21 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economic history, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice Tags: constitutional law
Bob Edlin writes – Historian and former Labour Government cabinet minister Michael Bassett, in an article posted here earlier today, said those who spend time on the web examining the Treaty of Waitangi will find claims there are four or even five articles when officially there have never been more than three. Bassett went on […]
How Chlöe Swarbrick struggled to accept the PM’s position on sovereignty
PETER WILLIAMS: Waitangi Tribunal Report Predictable
18 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in economic history, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: constitutional law
Seymour’s courageous but who will support him? That the Waitangi Tribunal was highly critical of the Act party’s proposed, although currently undrafted, Treaty Principles Bill was as predictable as the sun rising in the east. The timing is not surprising either. The Tribunal has become an extraordinarily political body, one that in this instance has…
PETER WILLIAMS: Waitangi Tribunal Report Predictable
DON BRASH: WHO IS MISLEADING THE PUBLIC?
16 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in income redistribution, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, resource economics Tags: constitutional law, native title
A letter signed by more than 170 legal “experts” has been circulated around the media in the last few days and quoted extensively. Unfortunately, I have not been able to locate the letter in its entirety but have gathered some quotes. The letter claims to fact check Hobson’s Pledge’s ad which was published on…
DON BRASH: WHO IS MISLEADING THE PUBLIC?
A Most Insignificant Office: A History of the US Vice Presidency
14 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in economic history, politics - USA Tags: constitutional law
Jurisdiction Stripping or Court Killing? The “No Kings Act” is a Decapitation of the Constitution
08 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: constitutional law
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) has introduced the “No Kings Act” with great fanfare and the support of most of his Democratic colleagues. Liberal groups have heralded the measure to legislatively reverse the ruling in Trump v. United States. It is obviously popular with the press and pundits. It is also entirely unconstitutional in […]
Jurisdiction Stripping or Court Killing? The “No Kings Act” is a Decapitation of the Constitution
DON BRASH: John Key’s Call for “Caution” in Race Relations
06 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: constitutional law
He doesn’t want to have difficult conversations. Former National Party leader Sir John Key has urged people to “take the temperature down a wee bit” in the debate surrounding race issues. He believes this is an area where any government needs to “tread carefully.” He also mentioned recent issues such as ACT’s Treaty Principles Bill, the…
DON BRASH: John Key’s Call for “Caution” in Race Relations
The Chameleon Party
05 Aug 2024 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand Tags: constitutional law
Oliver Hartwich writes – As Marx once said, “Those are my principles, and if you don’t like them… well, I have others.” Of course, this quote was from Groucho, not Karl. However, Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick’s interest in utilising the waka-jumping law against former colleague Darleen Tana certainly has something Marxist about it.
The Chameleon Party
Biden Abandons the Court . . . and His Last Inviolate Principle
31 Jul 2024 Leave a comment
in law and economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election, constitutional law
Below is my column in the New York Post on President Joe Biden’s call to reform the Supreme Court by ending lifetime tenure for Supreme Court justices. Here is the column:
Biden Abandons the Court . . . and His Last Inviolate Principle
Tikanga, law and information asymmetry
27 Jul 2024 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economic history, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: constitutional law
Justice Joe Williams in his 2013 paper Lex Aoteoroa made a case for Māori tikanga being recognized as New Zealand’s “first law”. Tikanga existed prior to New Zealand’s development of a legal system based on the British model. Without written language pre-European Māori tikanga is not well documented. However, its customs and norms governed, for […]
Tikanga, law and information asymmetry
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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