The Open Market Blog

• By: Ryan Young
• 08/30/2012

When Armstrong, Aldrin, and Michael Collins returned to Earth after the Apollo 11 mission, they actually filled out a customs form.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 08/29/2012

David Deerson and I look at how such a committee might work in a piece over at RealClearPolicy:…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 08/27/2012

76 new rules and1,687 Federal Register pages, from offshore drilling to odometers.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 08/24/2012

A creative way to get around liquor permits, plus more.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 08/23/2012

Senior Fellow Matt Patterson argues that when government is big and powerful enough to dispense favors like bailouts, special interests will flock to Washington to…

Labor and Employment

• By: Ryan Young
• 08/23/2012

The NFL has a 53-man roster limit, but it doesn't prescribe how many linemen or quarterbacks the team must carry. That's up to the GMs.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 08/23/2012

The FDA recently decided to delay implementing about $1.4 billion of food safety regulations until after the November election. We think the FDA should scrap…

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 08/20/2012

65 new rules, from offshore drilling to closed captioning.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 08/17/2012

Fines for inaccurate weather forecasts, illegal chocolate egg smuggling, plus more.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 08/16/2012

Severe drought in the Midwest has driven corn prices to record levels. Policy Analyst Brian McGraw argues that ending the federal government's ethanol mandate could…

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 08/16/2012

Agencies are well-equipped for passing regulations, but not for repealing them. This becomes a problem as the years march on, and dusty old rules that…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 08/13/2012

68 new rules, from health care to Glasflugel gliders.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 08/10/2012

Nathan Duszynski is 13 years old and lives in Holland, Michigan. His stepfather has multiple sclerosis. His mother has epilepsy. Neither is able to work.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 08/10/2012

If you want different results, you need different rules. Allowing two-thirds majorities of the states to repeal federal laws and regulations is one rule change…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 08/09/2012

When the TSA installed full-body scanners in airports across the country, they did so illegally. Land-use and Transportation Policy Analyst Marc Scribner explains how a…

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 08/06/2012

85 new regulations, from prairie dogs to corporate jets.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 07/31/2012

Kern County, California's government takes morality very seriously. Chapter 9.12.010 of the County Code states that “No vendor shall vend stuffed articles depicting the female…

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 07/30/2012

86 new rules last week, covering everything from Florida tomatoes to tug boat races.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 07/24/2012

Research Associate David Deerson explains why past efforts to rein in unfunded mandates failed, and why new legislation that Congress is set to vote on…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 07/23/2012

81 new rules and 1,283 Federal pages last week, covering everything from sippy cups to perch fishing in Alaska.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 07/19/2012

Congress will soon vote on a package of reforms for holders of the H-1B visa for high-skilled immigrants. Policy Analyst David Bier unpacks the proposed…

Immigration

• By: Ryan Young
• 07/16/2012

84 new rules and 1,412 Federal Register pages, covering everything from fair use of the FBI's anti-piracy seal airline pilot's working hours.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 07/13/2012

Britain bans starting pistols from track meets, plus more.

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 07/13/2012

A small food company in Canada has grown an apple that doesn’t turn brown after being sliced. Not everyone thinks it’s a great idea.

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 07/10/2012

Everyone's favorite sexy-searchers are back in the news, but not for the right reasons.

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 07/10/2012

A cool startup company called Uber operates in about half a dozen cities in the U.S. and Canada, and is growing fast. Think of…

Labor and Employment

• By: Ryan Young
• 07/09/2012

71 new rules and 1,388 Federal Register pages covering everything from wedding entertainment to collisions at sea.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 07/05/2012

Prohibition ended 79 years ago, but in Washington, D.C., it is still illegal to buy liquor on Sundays. Fellow in Consumer Policy Studies Michelle Minton…

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 07/03/2012

Sebastian Trager built a replica of Fred Flintstone’s car, but regulators won't let him drive it.

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 07/02/2012

According to federal regulations, you may not, in fact, stick a feather in your hat and call it macaroni.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 07/02/2012

101 new final regulations, covering everything from Costa Rican flowers to tanning.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 06/28/2012

The Supreme Court upheld the health care bill, as you've no doubt heard by now. Over at the Daily Caller, I offer a few quick…

Consumer Well-Being

• By: Ryan Young
• 06/28/2012

The federal government regulates the slopes of miniature golf courses.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 06/25/2012

Our innate tendency to truck and barter, as Adam Smith put it, is very strong indeed.

Trade and International

• By: Ryan Young
• 06/25/2012

77 new final rules and 1,633 Federal Register pages, covering everything from prison rape to airport concession workers.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 06/21/2012

Labor Policy Counsel Vinnie Vernuccio explains why today's 7-2 Supreme Court decision in the Knox v. SEIU case is an important victory for free speech.

Labor and Employment

• By: Ryan Young
• 06/18/2012

84 new regulations, covering everything from gopher frogs to cotton gins.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 06/15/2012

The IRS' proposed real-time tax system is a Trojan horse for a return-free system, in which the IRS would become your tax preparer as well…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 06/13/2012

When the federal government gives out transportation funding to the states, it attaches a lot of strings. The solution, according to Land-use and Transportation Policy…

Labor and Employment

• By: Ryan Young
• 06/11/2012

"There are only two alternatives to the market: the state, and prayer. It turns out the two were merged in one."…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 06/11/2012

65 new regulations last week, covering everything from substance abuse to the official taxonomy of the endangered African wild ass.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 06/08/2012

A math professor has invented a driver's side mirror that eliminates the dreaded blind spot, but regulators won't let car makers use them.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 06/07/2012

Over at ?The Washington Times?, Wayne Crews and I praise President Obama's recent regulatory reforms. They're small, but they're better than nothing:…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 06/06/2012

The 2012 edition of “Ten Thousand Commandments” is out now. If you don’t feel like reading all 66 pages (though I recommend you do!),…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 06/04/2012

58 new rules despite the short work week, covering everything from dishwashers to Maine lobsters.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 05/31/2012

Congress passed 81 bills last year, while agencies passed 3,807 regulations. This, according to Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews, is regulation without representation.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 05/29/2012

95 new final rules published last week, covering everything from crocodiles to the definition of "unblockable drain."…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 05/24/2012

A prototype driverless car made by Google recently made the rounds in Washington, DC, and Land-use and Transportation Policy Analyst Marc Scribner got to take…

Labor and Employment

• By: Ryan Young
• 05/14/2012

62 new final rules and 1,577 new Federal Register pages covering everything from sunscreen to commericial driver's licenses.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 05/10/2012

Current immigration policy keeps many immigrants in dangerous black markets, raises food prices for consumers, makes it difficult for farmers to hire workers and create…

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 05/07/2012

70 new final rules, covering everything from Pell grants to underground storage tanks.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 05/03/2012

Unemployment remains stubbornly high, more than three years after the financial crisis hit. John Berlau, CEI’s Senior Fellow for Finance and Access to Capital, suggests…

Labor and Employment

• By: Ryan Young
• 04/30/2012

81 new regulations passed last week, covering everything from Medicare to fishing for northeast skate.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 04/26/2012

Pat-down reduces a woman to tears in Madison, WI, a supermodel is searched with surprising thoroughness, and a frustrated flyer strips naked in Portland, Oregon.

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 04/24/2012

In a new study, Cato’s Michael Tanner finds that “Despite nearly $15 trillion in total welfare spending since Lyndon Johnson declared war on poverty…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 04/23/2012

In a city as big as Tokyo, there is plenty of room for niche businesses. One niche is the neko café; neko is the Japanese…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 04/23/2012

84 new rules, 1,675 Federal Register pages, including new regulations for medical exams for commercial drivers, Chilean pomegranates, and springsnail habitats.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 04/20/2012

Alpaca tax breaks, IRS seeks power to confiscate tax delinquents' passports, and more.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 04/19/2012

Indiana is becoming a right to work state, which means unions will no longer be able to force workers who don't want their representation to…

Labor and Employment

• By: Ryan Young
• 04/17/2012

Stolen iPads, harassing drag queens, and a former TSA chief calls for reform -- three years after his departure.

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 04/16/2012

Street musicians were recently banned from playing bagpipes in Vancouver, British Columbia. Just in time for the city’s Scotland Week celebration, Mayor Gregor Robertson happily…

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 04/16/2012

77 new regulations were published last week, the Federal Register grew by 1,475 pages, and the federal government is liberalizing its golden nematode policy.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 04/12/2012

Yesterday the Justice Department sued Apple and five major publishers over their e-book pricing model, alleging price fixing. Associate Director of Technology Studies Ryan Radia…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 04/09/2012

The mayor of La Torba, Spain recently issued a 65-point Courtesy Charter making it illegal to burp in public or slurp your soup, among other…

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 04/09/2012

A new Prison Bureau regulation allows inmates to publish under their own name as of May 3, plus more.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 04/06/2012

Public school bans a 3-year old with cerebral palsy from using her walker at school, plus more.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 04/05/2012

The good folks at the London-based Institute for Economic Affairs have just released an excellent book by Eammon Butler, Public Choice: A Primer.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 04/02/2012

A group of parents in Brooklyn's Park Slope neighborhood want to ban ice cream vendors from parks. One parent wrote, “I should not have to…

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 04/02/2012

2,191 new pages were added to the 2012 Federal Register last week, for a total of 19,487 pages. At this pace, the 2012 Federal Register…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 03/29/2012

First, a TSA manager at Dulles airport has been arrested for running a prostitution ring. Second, two Miami TSA employees were arrested for trashing a…

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 03/29/2012

Immigration Policy Analyst Alex Nowrasteh talks about the reasons behind the major historical shifts, and suggests reforms that would make today's immigration system fairer and…

Immigration

• By: Ryan Young
• 03/27/2012

A group of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs has found a peaceful use for unmanned attack drones that almost everyone can support: delivering food to hungry people.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 03/26/2012

The reason it cost $400 was not because of restaurant business practices but because of television labor practices.

Labor and Employment

• By: Ryan Young
• 03/26/2012

75 new final rules were published last week, up from 72 the previous week. That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every 2 hours and…

Regulatory Reform