A lot of media reporting on the election result in Saxony-Arnholt. It has two million people and is in former East Germany. Their Parliament is called a Landtag and they just went to the polls. The results so far are: So a huge swing from CDU to AFD. You need 42 seats to govern. The…
They’re anti-immigration, not Nazis
They’re anti-immigration, not Nazis
10 Sep 2026 Leave a comment
in income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, politics, Public Choice Tags: Germany
Saxony-Anhalt 2026
09 Sep 2026 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, Public Choice Tags: Germany
In the German state of Saxony-Anhalt on 6 September, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) won a strong plurality of votes and seats in the state parliament. The outcome is not a surprise, given that polling in advance of the election had been picking up a surge for the AfD and a decline for the Christian […]
Saxony-Anhalt 2026
Populist political party folly
08 Sep 2026 Leave a comment
in Economics of international refugee law, International law, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand Tags: British politics, France, Germany
I wonder whether the massive support for the (AFD) Alternatives for Germany party in the Saxony state election, along with the sight of hundreds of Brits trying to stop illegal migrants arriving by boat from France, while Pauline Hanson’s One Nation, out rates all the other parties, will finally get western elites to face the […]
Populist political party folly
Germany’s Industrial Suicide… Grid Agency Prepares Secret Power Rationing Plans Amid Electric Power Bottlenecks
04 Aug 2026 1 Comment
in economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming Tags: Germany
The threat of sudden, uncompensated power shutdowns creates immense operational uncertainty. This environment deters foreign investors and pressures domestic industrial companies to shift investment and production abroad. Forced curtailments would primary hit energy-intensive key industries, including aluminum, copper, steel, chemical, glass, and paper manufacturing. The post Germany’s Industrial Suicide… Grid Agency Prepares Secret Power Rationing…
Germany’s Industrial Suicide… Grid Agency Prepares Secret Power Rationing Plans Amid Electric Power Bottlenecks
The Most Depressing Chart about Germany
31 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, fiscal policy, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, poverty and inequality, welfare reform Tags: Germany
I’ve used the “most depressing chart” approach when writing about the United States, about Europe, about Japan, and about the western world. Today, let’s focus on Germany. And I’ll start with a caveat. I wrote about Germany earlier this month and that column included several charts that might qualify. Especially the last visual which showed […]
The Most Depressing Chart about Germany
Radio NZ at it again
30 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economics of crime, economics of religion, law and economics, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, war and peace Tags: Germany, media bias, war against terror
Simon O’Connor points out: So Radio NZ ran a story from Reuters about the terrible hate crime attack in Berlin which saw 1 killed and 29 wounded at a pride festival. However they removed a key detail from the story. That the attacker was an Islamist. Reuters had this in their story, yet Radio NZ…
Radio NZ at it again
Germany Needs Milei-ism but Is Getting Romney-ism
13 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in economic growth, economic history, economics of regulation, fiscal policy, macroeconomics Tags: Germany
In the past year, I’ve written about Germany’s fiscal deterioration and its costly fixation on net-zero environmentalism. As illustrated by the chart, these policies have contributed to malaise and economic stagnation (and were caused by – or contributed to – eroding societal capital). The good news is that Friedrich Merz, the country’s chancellor, wants economic […]
Germany Needs Milei-ism but Is Getting Romney-ism
The Troubled History of Government Equity in Technology
07 Jul 2026 1 Comment
in applied price theory, economic history, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, privatisation, Public Choice, rentseeking, survivor principle Tags: creative destruction, Germany
Even though Germany privatized Deutsche Telekom in 1996, the federal government retained a substantial ownership stake. This partial state ownership status, which remains to this day, presents a textbook example of how this type of arrangement distorts incentives and delays the competitive dynamism necessary for technological progress. Through the late 1990s and into the 2000s, Deutsche Telekom…
The Troubled History of Government Equity in Technology
Absurdity Alert: Writing About Germany’s Economic Decline Without Mentioning Green Energy Policies
02 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, economic growth, economic history, economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, income redistribution, industrial organisation, labour economics, macroeconomics, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: Argentina, Germany
I was astounded in 2020 when I read an article in the New York Times about the economic catastrophe in Venezuela and there was not a single mention of socialism. And I was even more astounded in 2024 when the NYT published another article about Venezuela’s economic misery and once again didn’t mention socialism. Today’s […]
Absurdity Alert: Writing About Germany’s Economic Decline Without Mentioning Green Energy Policies
Volkswagen Face $1.7 Billion Fine For Missing Emissions Targets
11 May 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, transport economics Tags: electric cars, Germany
By Paul Homewood AOL also cover the story:
Volkswagen Face $1.7 Billion Fine For Missing Emissions Targets
Renewables Are Cheap Myth
31 Mar 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming Tags: celebrity technologies, Germany, solar power, wind power
I have long been meaning to address the myth that renewables provide the cheapest electricity. This myth has achieved “everybody knows that” status which means that a rebuttal must have strong supporting arguments. A series of articles at the Science of Doom blog by Steve Carson explains why this myth is not true. He sums…
Renewables Are Cheap Myth
Energy Expert: Germany’s Nuclear Phaseout Was A “500 Billion Euro Mistake”
25 Mar 2026 1 Comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming Tags: atomic energy, Germany, wind power
Professor Fritz Vahrenholt revisits Germany’s transition to green energies (Energiewende), calling the country’s exit from nuclear power a huge mistake, one that even the current government now acknowledges. Prof. Fritz Vahrenholt (photo) looks at the high costs of green energy subsidies in Germany. In 2025, wind and solar operators received approximately €16.5 billion in government…
Energy Expert: Germany’s Nuclear Phaseout Was A “500 Billion Euro Mistake”
Wake-up Call: Survey Shows Majority Of Germans Now Favor Postponing Climate Targets!
16 Mar 2026 1 Comment
in economics of climate change, economics of information, economics of media and culture, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming Tags: Germany
According to the survey, 53 percent of Germans are in favor of pushing back the target for climate neutrality from 2045 to 2050. This shift would align Germany with the general European Union timeline and end the current “special path” (Sonderweg) of an accelerated exit.
Wake-up Call: Survey Shows Majority Of Germans Now Favor Postponing Climate Targets!
The Hidden Cost of Hard-to-Fire Labor Laws: Why European Firms Don’t Take Risks
08 Mar 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, labour economics, law and economics, managerial economics, organisational economics, personnel economics, property rights, Public Choice, theory of the firm, unemployment Tags: creative destruction, employment law, European Union, Germany
In our textbook, Modern Principles, Tyler and I write: Imagine how difficult it would be to get a date if every date required marriage? In the same way, it’s more difficult to find a job when every job requires a long-term commitment from the employer. In two new excellent pieces, Brian Albrecht and Pieter Garicano…
The Hidden Cost of Hard-to-Fire Labor Laws: Why European Firms Don’t Take Risks
Germany’s “Energy Transition” Hits the Ice: LNG Crisis Exposes the Costs of Shunning Nuclear and Baseload Power
05 Mar 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming Tags: celebrity technologies, Germany, solar power, wind power
Baseload power sources — whether nuclear or coal — were dismissed prematurely with pie-in-the-sky magical-thinking that a renewables-centric system could replace them quickly. But the reality of an industrialized society is that demand does not pause when the wind stops blowing or when Baltic ice slows a tanker. In that context, abandoning dispatchable power before…
Germany’s “Energy Transition” Hits the Ice: LNG Crisis Exposes the Costs of Shunning Nuclear and Baseload Power
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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