In their continued push to outflank Labour on the left, the Green Party have promised to abolish private landlords. It works politically, in that left-leaning voters for whom more wealth redistribution is beneficial, are also more likely to be renters, because they cannot afford the deposit to buy a property.… Read More »Evicting Private Landlords – clever politics but terrible economics
The populist right loves to hate on the climate crisis narrative. But even if we overlook the environmental consequences of burning fossil fuels, these guys really need to update their perspective in the light of the latest (spring 2026) shenanigans in the middle east. The populist right is down to… Read More »Populists love their Oil dependency?
Imagine an office filled with people and activity. Maybe it’s part of a company or maybe it’s in a public hospital or a school. A few of the workers enjoy a cup of coffee and the office doesn’t provide anything, so those workers band together and buy a kettle and… Read More »Hand in the Coffee Jar?
On Profit In his economic theory, Karl Marx defines profit as the difference between the sale price of a product and the total cost of manufacture of the product, including fixed costs and worker wages. Because of his theory of labour value, he wants the workers to be paid all… Read More »Demythologising Profit and Competition
Every state makes theft illegal: if I cosh you in the street and steal your money, I am breaking the law, and should expect to go to prison for it. Yet, curiously, there are numerous examples of the state legalising theft. 1) William the Conqueror In 1066, William of Normandy… Read More »State Legalisation of Theft
When analysing the effect of a National Minimum Wage (NMW), the first point to consider is whether the mandatory NMW is higher or lower than the market wage for the same work in the same location. Setting a national level minimum wage is therefore problematic, in that the market… Read More »Effects of Minimum Wage laws
Is Green Capitalism a Contradiction in Terms? Certain voices lay the blame for the incipient climate crisis at the door of capitalism. In this view, it is the very system of capitalist economics which is the proximate cause of the pervasive environmental degradation, which poses a threat to future food… Read More »Green Capitalism?
There is an apparent paradox in the relative values of water and diamonds, which has been analysed by numerous authors over the centuries, including Plato, Adam Smith and John Locke. This so-called “paradox of value” notes that while water is essential to life and diamonds are not, the market price… Read More »The Paradox of Value
Economic Growth is frequently pitched as the objective of politicians (esp those on the right) and their nations. But much of what we perceive as economic growth is actually an illusion. Notably….. 1a) Faulty Measurements – GDP Economic growth is usually measured as an increase in GDP, where GDP is… Read More »The Illusion of Growth / A Green Economics
On page 169 of Man, Economy and State, Murray Rothbard asserts that “the origin of all property is ultimately traceable to the appropriation of an unused nature-given factor by a man and his “mixing” his labor with this natural factor to produce a capital good or a consumers’ good.” He… Read More »On Rothbard