The Open Market Blog

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/23/2007

That the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) is a far-left political activist group is hardly news. Yet the point needs to be made repeatedly, given…

• By: Cord Blomquist
• 01/23/2007

The Progressive Majority today reports that Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth has been banned by the The Federal Way School District in Washington…

• By: John Berlau
• 01/23/2007

Consumer Reports’ retraction last week of its flawed testing of infant car seats puts in question the magazine’s credibility as an unbiased product evaluator.

• By: Christopher C. Horner
• 01/22/2007

It is quite typical for pressure lobbies to claim that their issue has been provided a mandate by any given election outcome even where, as…

• By: Iain Murray
• 01/22/2007

With oil prices currently at a 19-month low and heading back to $50 a barrel, this is an excellent discussion of the causes…

• By: Gregory Conko
• 01/22/2007

Today’s Wall Street Journal has a feature (link here for subscribers) article discussing DuPont’s renewed efforts on crop biotechnology. DuPont “announced…

• By: Iain Murray
• 01/19/2007

Al Gore’s movie increases Informational and Reputational Cascades based on Availability bias… Hey, don’t complain to me, but to Oxford University’s Future of Humanity…

• By: Iain Murray
• 01/19/2007

The scandal of the US ethanol program – a mandate, a subsidy and a trade barrier all rolled into one – is now having dire…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/19/2007

It had to happen. Jokes about Starbucks’ ubiquity have become, well, ubiquitous, much like the coffee chain itself — so it was only a…

• By: Gregory Conko
• 01/19/2007

Last year, global biotech crop acreage increased more than 13 percent from 2005. By year-end 2006, 10.3 million farmers in 22 countries were growing biotech…

• By: Clyde Wayne Crews
• 01/19/2007

Jack Shafer ponders the case for abolishing FCC in Slate’s blog.  He wonders what things would be like if the philosophy of FCC’s control…

• By: Fran Smith
• 01/18/2007

The title says it all: The Improving State of the World: Why We’re Living Longer, Healthier, More Comfortable Lives on a Cleaner Planet. Read…

• By: Fred L. Smith, Jr.
• 01/18/2007

The decision by the Board of British Petroleum to accelerate the switch from the current chairman, John Brown (Lord Brown), is indicative of a growing…

• By: Marlo Lewis, Jr.
• 01/18/2007

Several automakers and dealers are suing (warning: big PDF file) California to overturn the “landmark” (pro-Kyoto) legislation requiring new vehicles sold in the state…

• By: Fran Smith
• 01/17/2007

At a press roundtable today, Deputy U.S. Trade Representative John Veroneau said that the U.S. would be renegotiating three completed Latin American free trade…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 01/17/2007

Living in a nation with a vibrant market economy and a predictable rule of law is generally considered a good thing. Lest we allow ourselves…

• By: Iain Murray
• 01/17/2007

Our sophisticated friends, the Europeans, are desperate to do anything to meet their Kyoto targets, which they are currently speeding away from in the wrong…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/17/2007

On November 21, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals voted to vacate and rehear its Abigail Alliance v. Von Eschenbach decision, which would have…

• By: Iain Murray
• 01/17/2007

That is, of course, one of the classic lines of untruth. A spectacular example comes from the UK: [The] invention looked like being a…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/16/2007

Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes observed in Towne v. Eisner (1918) that “a word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged, it is the skin of a…

• By: Fran Smith
• 01/16/2007

For those following trade issues, a World Trade Organization report published today gives one-page summaries of 103 cases brought before the WTO’s Dispute Settlement…

• By: Fran Smith
• 01/16/2007

With Congress focusing a lot of attention on identity theft, sometimes it’s important to note that individuals have some responsibility for protecting their personal…

• By: Angela Logomasini
• 01/12/2007

This week, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) denied the marketing of yet another wood preservative, meaning consumers will continue to have few choices when it…

• By: Fran Smith
• 01/12/2007

One of the top free market legislators — Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) — got kicked off the House Judiciary Committee, even though he had…

• By: Fran Smith
• 01/12/2007

A 2007 farm bill with generous support could run into problems, according to a New York Times article today. But despite possible budget problems,…

• By: Fran Smith
• 01/12/2007

In an opinion piece today in Le Figaro, Drieu Godefridi, director of L’institut Hayek in Brussels, points out that what is halting negotiations…

• By: Fred L. Smith, Jr.
• 01/08/2007

The populist rhetoric in the recent elections was widespread. We need to tax the rich and the greedy corporations – take from the rich and…

• By: Fran Smith
• 01/08/2007

Hopes are rising that the U.S. and the European Union may find ways to work out their differences on advancing more open international trade. Today…

• By: Marlo Lewis, Jr.
• 01/08/2007

Lester Brown, founder and President of the Earth Policy Institute, estimates that in 2008, U.S. ethanol distilleries will require 139 million tons of corn…

• By: Fred L. Smith, Jr.
• 01/08/2007

Over the Holidays, I sought to catch up on some long-deferred reading. One book, Climbing Mount Improbable by Richard Dawkins was on that…

• By: Fred L. Smith, Jr.
• 01/08/2007

Robert Samuelson wrote a recent column, “Myths and the Middle Class,” quoting statistics that indicate that only 2 percent of Americans see themselves as…

• By: Fred L. Smith, Jr.
• 01/08/2007

A news item (from researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle) found that cinnamon and vanilla levels in the Puget Sound rose over…

• By: Fred L. Smith, Jr.
• 01/08/2007

Thomas Sowell wrote a series of columns recently seeking to deconstruct the Left’s confusion over “fairness.” Their ideal, as many have noted, seems to be…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/07/2007

It should be expected that climate doomsayers would try to seize the unseasonal warm weather the Northeastern U.S. has been experiencing as another “sign” of impending global…

• By: Fran Smith
• 01/05/2007

Those of us concerned about national sovereignty and global governance — no, not the black helicopter style — should check out a recent speech…

• By: Fran Smith
• 01/04/2007

In the Christian Science Monitor’s Jan. 4 issue, GMU’s Don Boudreaux takes a whack at Dobbs in his “open letter” to the…

• By: Fran Smith
• 01/04/2007

Economist Jagdish Bhagwati does it again — in an FT opinion piece today, he pricks holes in the Dobbsian view that globalization has…

• By: Christine Hall
• 01/03/2007

In the news today, a group of San Francisco lefties + assorted friends who are renewing a pledge to forego shopping for the entire…

• By: Iain Murray
• 12/28/2006

From Numberwatch, the Sixth Annual Numby Awards.  Readers will be glad to know every effort was made to preserve the planet’s delicate ecosystem: Once…

• By: Fran Smith
• 12/22/2006

I came across a UK government site that looks into the future across a range of issues. It’s part of the UK’s Foresight Program.

• By: Fran Smith
• 12/22/2006

The Washington Post continued its hard-hitting series attacking farm subsidies today. The article notes that some important counter-forces to the big-bucks farm lobbies are…

• By: Iain Murray
• 12/22/2006

Frank Johnson, the Thatcherite journalist and wit, died recently at the tragically early age of 63. It has been a bad year for Thatcherites –…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 12/21/2006

Yesterday, President Bush announced that he may go along with Congressional Democrats’ proposal for an increase in the federal minimum wage, in exchange for…

• By: Fran Smith
• 12/20/2006

According to news reports, the U.S. Department of Agriculture will release on Wednesday a database showing just which farmers get part of the $56…

• By: Fran Smith
• 12/20/2006

Two books about her have been published this year, numerous book reviews have hailed her role in the Enlightenment, and an op-ed…

• By: Iain Murray
• 12/20/2006

In a world were geriatric actor Kirk Douglas can say to “America’s young people”: “THE WORLD IS IN A MESS and you are inheriting…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 12/20/2006

It’s almost cliched now to say that free market advocates expecting Republicans to control the growth of government shows the triumph of hope over experience,…

• By: Fran Smith
• 12/19/2006

I missed reading the Financial Times yesterday (Fred stole it), so missed until today Lucy Kellaway’s riotous column where she gives business jargon awards…

• By: Cord Blomquist
• 12/19/2006

The Charleston Daily Mail editorial page recently featured “Rockefeller is Out of Line” a critique of the Senator’s “intemperate attempt to squelch debate.” Sen.

• By: Fred L. Smith, Jr.
• 12/19/2006

Is it my imagination or is there an increasing trend to view the greenies and their fears as chicken littles, whiners, and basically nuts? It…

• By: Fran Smith
• 12/18/2006

Today the European Union’s trade commissioner, Peter Mandelson, rejected carbon border taxes as an approach to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by imposing tariffs…

• By: Iain Murray
• 12/18/2006

Those with longer memories may remember some hue and cry just over a year ago when various Inuit communities joined with environmental groups to claim…

• By: Iain Murray
• 12/18/2006

Daniel Schrag, a Harvard climatologist, is disgusted at the way the democratic process handles his issue. So disgusted, in fact, he…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 12/16/2006

The intersection between commerce and culture is a space that few people have occupied as successfully as Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun, who passed away…

• By: Fran Smith
• 12/15/2006

The U.S. and China completed their economic talks today, with both sides calling the dialogue successful in reaching agreement on several strategic issues.

• By: Fred L. Smith, Jr.
• 12/13/2006

The changes in Congress accelerate what has already been a trend toward the “universal health care plan” long endorsed by all “right thinking Americans.” One…