Source: New Zealand Parliament – Members’ expense disclosure from 1 October to 31 December 2015.
Source: New Zealand Parliament – Members’ expense disclosure from 1 October to 31 December 2015.
@NZGreens MPs travel expenses in the 3 months to 31 December 2015 @dbseymour @JordNZ
28 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in environmental economics, global warming, politics - New Zealand, transport economics Tags: Green Left, Left-wing hypocrisy, Leftover Left, New Zealand Greens, rational irrationality
Ben Elton on the fraying of the Left
19 Jun 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of media and culture, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA Tags: Ben Elton, expressive voting, Green Left, Leftover Left, rational ignorance, rational irrationality, The fatal conceit, The pretence to knowledge
The essence of the Left over Left
12 Jun 2015 Leave a comment
in liberalism, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA Tags: expressive voting, Green Left, Leftover Left, political correctness, rational irrationality, Twitter left
@KayHymowitz i find it passing strange that counter-culturals left like Winner now are the most reactionary.. http://t.co/hj2MEc4Buu—
Old Whig (@aClassicLiberal) April 06, 2015
Land use regulation knocks 10 points of US GDP!
10 May 2015 Leave a comment
in economic growth, economics of regulation, income redistribution, macroeconomics, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, rentseeking, urban economics Tags: Enrico Moretti, Green Left, housing affordability, Inner-city Left, labour mobility, land supply, land use planning, land use regulation, NIMBYs, regional mobility, RMA, zoning
Bloomberg Business highlighted a great new study by Enrico Moretti on power of the regulatory restrictions on land supply to destroy wealth.
Moretti focused on the impact that restrictions on land supply have on the ability of workers to move to higher productivity cities. Moretti is the second best urban economist working at the moment. The best is Ed Glaeser. Moretti concluded that
A limited number of American workers can have access to these very high-productivity cities
He concluded that a more efficient distribution would be “a general benefit for the entire economy.”
The secret of his analysis was to look at how different US cities, the high productivity cities, contributed to national economic growth. He then explore the implications of fewer and fewer workers been able to move to these cities to take advantage of the great productive potential. The barrier to them moving was high housing prices and high rents.
For example, labour productivity grew quickly in San Francisco, New York and San Jose overt 45-years. All of these cities are famous for their human capital-intensive industries including technology and finance. These cities weren’t America’s growth engine:
The reason is that the main effect of the fast productivity growth in New York, San Francisco, and San Jose was an increase in local housing prices and local wages, not in employment.
Despite the large difference in local GDP growth between New York, San Jose, and San Francisco and the Rust Belt cities, both groups of cities had roughly the same contribution to aggregate output growth.
The drivers of US growth between 1964 and 2009 were southern U.S. cities and 19 other large cities. These cities attracted many residents because of good weather and abundant supply of cheap housing.
The lesson both the US and for New Zealand, and Auckland in particular, is this reallocation of population away from the expensive cities with restricted land supply reduced national output because these population movements bring workers to cities "where the marginal product of labour is low."
In a technology boom town such as San Francisco, it is now what like New Zealand will be as Generation Rent runs its course – 65% of residents are renters:
Over the past year, the City and County of San Francisco boasted the second strongest labour market in the nation, adding 25,000 new jobs. Yet only 2,548 new housing units were permitted and even fewer were built.
Just think: 25,000 new workers and their families have been knocking on San Francisco doors, but there are new units for less than 10 percent of them. It is not surprising that apartment prices get bid up.
The essence of the environmental movement summed up
03 May 2015 Leave a comment
in environmental economics, environmentalism Tags: Anti-Science left, expressive voting, Green Left, rational ignorance, rational irrationality, The Great Fact
The Green Left versus world hunger
20 Mar 2015 Leave a comment
in development economics, economics of information, economics of media and culture, economics of regulation, environmental economics, growth disasters, growth miracles, health economics Tags: extreme poverty, global poverty, GMOs, Green Left, Leftover Left, world poverty
RT if you think this summarises the Anti-Science Left
15 Mar 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of information, economics of media and culture, economics of regulation, environmental economics, global warming, health economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA Tags: Anti-Science left, conjecture and refutation, expressive voting, Green Left, progressive left, rational ignorance, rational irrationality
The anti-vaccination movement is drawn equally from across the political spectrum
20 Feb 2015 Leave a comment
in health economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: anti-vaccination movement, antiscience left, Green Left, opinion polls
Anti-science Left alert: the Greens on GMOs and vaccines
15 Feb 2015 Leave a comment
in health economics, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA Tags: anti-GMO movement, Anti-Science left, anti-vaccination movement, GMOs, green hypocrisy, Green Left, Greens
Anti-science Left alert: NZ Greens reject scientific consensus on GMOs but not global warming
11 Feb 2015 Leave a comment
in environmental economics, global warming, health economics, politics - USA Tags: antiscience left, argument from authority, climate alarmism, GMOs, green hypocrisy, Green Left, Green Party of New Zealand, Quacks
But I’m not going to focus this speech on the dire consequences of doing nothing on climate change. I’m sure all of us have heard the science; we’ve read about the wicked storms and wildfires and droughts, the risks to agriculture and forestry, the threats posed to our homes and wildlife. We’ve probably even seen some of the changes first hand in our own backyard.
Russel Norman, co-leader, Green Party of New Zealand, 10 February 2015,
But on genetic engineering,the Green Party of New Zealand takes its leave of the scientific consensus, scientific consensus as strong as that on global warming. To quote the policy platform of the Green Party of New Zealand:
GE crops have a huge effect on farmers, scientists and the market, and their development is driven by big agribusiness for big profits.
GE crops and foods have an uncertain effect on our health and the environment.
We have opposed the release of GE into the environment and have worked in parliament to improve legislation covering GE organisms.
The Green Party remains committed to keeping the Aotearoa New Zealand environment free of GE organisms.
GE needs to stay in the lab, releasing it would destroy our clean green image which is so important to our economy
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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