Archives

• By: Ryan Young
• 10/08/2009

Few things are more taxing than our elected officials’ economic illiteracy. How sad that visiting a wonderful country like ours may soon be one of…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 10/06/2009

Kahlua contains 20% alcohol in 49 states. But in Ohio, it is 21.5%. Weird, huh? Turns out regulations are the reason.

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 10/05/2009

Net neutrality proposals give companies the incentive to seek rents at each other’s expense when they could be benefitting from each other’s innovations instead.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 09/23/2009

Over at the Washington Examiner's Opinion Zone, I apply what I learned back in Economics 101 to the net neutrality debate. It's all about scarcity.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 09/23/2009

If cap and trade passes, almost all homes for sale would be required to undergo an environmental inspection. The home cannot be sold until it…

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 09/16/2009

In Arlington County, Virginia, there exist twelve restaurants that are required to sell $350 of food per one gallon of liquor purchased from the Virginia…

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 09/16/2009

One may be a Republican and the other a Democrat, but make no mistake. Bush and Obama are two peas in a pod.

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 09/15/2009

In Jersey City, New Jersey, the school district is requiring students to “sanitize their hands when they walk into the class in the morning, before…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 09/14/2009

The burden is on tariff supporters to explain why they think people who live in one country are more deserving of economic opportunity than people…

Labor and Employment

• By: Ryan Young
• 09/10/2009

Politicians make themselves look bad far more effectively than any heckler could. They don’t need the help.

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 09/10/2009

If Congress can’t pass laws abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, maybe they can pass laws abridging the freedom of speech and…

Consumer Freedom

• By: Hans Bader, Ryan Young
• 09/10/2009

Intel's battle for the ages against the European Commission's antitrust regulators has a surprising new twist: Intel is claiming that its human rights were violated.

Banking and Finance

• By: Ryan Young
• 09/09/2009

Want to be a barber in Nevada? You’ll need to get a license first. One of the requirements is a chest X-ray, of all things.

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 09/08/2009

It is bad policy to keep perfectly good food off the market because of its shape, especially during times of recession and high food prices.

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 09/04/2009

If your company exports chemical weapons, make sure you keep good records. Every year, on company letterhead, you have to list ten things for the…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 09/03/2009

Even the humble wooden crate cannot escape the government’ watchful regulatory eye.

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 09/02/2009

In Wisconsin, you need a license to work as a soil scientist.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 09/01/2009

Bryan Caplan says there are only two ways for a monopoly to form: government protection, or being the best.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 09/01/2009

It is a federal offense for telemarketers to charge their customers without permission. In English, this is called stealing. Which was already against the law…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 08/31/2009

It’s certainly possible to blame Herbert Hoover’s policies for the Great Depression. Just not on the grounds that those policies were free-market.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 08/31/2009

In Virginia, state law requires hearing aids to be calibrated at least annually. Records must be kept for three years.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 08/27/2009

Having already solved all of the country's economics woes, the FTC now has time to threaten to step in and stop Budweiser from selling cans…

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 08/26/2009

In the long run, a competitive, cut-throat market process driven by innovation is better for consumers than if government were to fund and direct research.

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 08/26/2009

Want to fly a plane? The FAA just published 72 pages worth of changes to its already extensive certification rules. 173 changes in all.

Labor and Employment

• By: Ryan Young
• 08/26/2009

For the sake of consumers, nanotech firms should compete in the marketplace, not in Washington. Otherwise a vibrant, dynamic, and innovative sector risks…

Banking and Finance

• By: Ryan Young
• 08/25/2009

Appliances have to have little badges on them that say they comply with rule that requires the little badges. Perhaps the rule came from the…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 08/24/2009

If anything qualifies as an anti-competitive practice, fining and jailing people for competing with you would certainly top the list. Which brings us to a…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 08/24/2009

As expected, The Department of Justice is launching an antitrust investigation into the Microsoft-Yahoo search engine partnership. As I've said before, this is not an…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 08/21/2009

It is illegal for children to sell lemonade in New York City without a permit.

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 08/20/2009

The $787,000,000,000 stimulus contains a provision requiring the Department of Homeland Security to buy american textiles. Basically, that means TSA uniforms will go up in…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 08/19/2009

In 49 states, it is illegal to practice medicine outside of the state in which you are certified. Tennessee is the lone state with an…

Regulatory Reform