Afternoon roundup

Easing back into the office after a summer break and already the tabs have multiplied.

Today's worthies:

• Alex Penk on the value of free speech
• Zoning Reform in Gotham. One option sounds a lot like NZ's National Policy Statement on Urban Development. 
• Bryce Edwards expects a big politician pay increase after the election. I'd forgotten about the MP pay freeze. I like that a nominal pay freeze for the politicians responsible for the dilution of the Reserve Bank's mandate and erosion of accountability for meeting its inflation target means substantial real pay cuts for them. 
• Bryan Caplan is working on a book on zoning reform. Will look forward to it!
• Regime uncertainty around investment in thermal generation is a problem:

  “Mitigating the winter 2023 operational coordination issue with further information is insufficient by itself, particularly considering the limited timeframe to resolve the issue,” the system operator says. The key issues are the influx of unreliable wind generation, the paucity of fast-start thermal generation, and the weakening market incentives for slow-start thermal generation. And Transpower says the EA’s proposed measures won’t address these underlying problems.

  The article notes some more complex multi-hour generation contracts as a potential solution. 

• Getting more energy generation seems like a good idea and people get unreasonably upset about landfills. And so a waste-to-energy plant gets knocked back for want of an adequate cultural impact assessment. 
• But, on the plus side, there is more generation coming through - including 168MW of geothermal
• Medicaid expansions in the US did not reduce mortality. In line with the results of the now-old RAND experiment. 
• Some details are up on the new smokefree regs. New Zealand's Planning Board has mapped out where cigarette stores will be allowed to be. Oamaru and Queenstown will each be allowed to have two stores. Balclutha can only have one. Auckland will be allowed 13. These are all clearly the scientifically-determined correct number of stores. If you disagree, you have a couple of months to make your submission.