The Open Market Blog

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/27/2008

The global temperature has been stable since 1998 according to Ole Humlum at the University of Oslo. In the largest paper in Norway, he…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/27/2008

Former Indonesian dictator Suharto passed away today. I’m not going to comment on his legacy here, but simply note that for a dictator, he…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/25/2008

At Cafe Hayek, Don Boudreaux links to a comedy video that illustrates very effectively just how far we’ve come technologically over the past…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/25/2008

Germany is opening the door for a corn variety bred with molecular plant breeding methods, and neither activists nor Monsanto is happy about the…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/25/2008

Economist David Friedman sums up the flaws of the ridiculous “stimulus” plan that House leaders and the White House have proposed, which will…

• By: Cord Blomquist
• 01/25/2008

Thanks to Google, I am now addicted to the game Rock Band. I don’t own the game, but I do alternate between playing the demo…

• By: Christine Hall
• 01/25/2008

Yesterday, Senate Democrats held a hearing to, basically air grievances against EPA’s December decision to deny California the ability to regulate CO2 emissions. Looking at…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/25/2008

Under the "stimulus" plan proposed by House leaders and the White House, you get a "rebate" -- even if you work so little that…

• By: John Berlau
• 01/25/2008

Iain, you're so right that it's not just bad policy, but bad politics, for Republican candidates not to challenge costly regulations aimed at fending…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 01/24/2008

It appears that there is finally some scientific evidence that a warmer Atlantic ocean could have an effect on future hurricane activity. Unfortunately for the…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/24/2008

Today, former Bush economic adviser Lawrence Lindsey has a good, concise Washington Post op ed on the cognitive dissonance now affecting some Democrats. The…

• By: Cord Blomquist
• 01/24/2008

This Tuesday, CNet’s Anne Broache reported that FCC Commissioner Copps was NOT ready to support “new rules requiring wireless carriers to open…

• By: Iain Murray
• 01/24/2008

Jim Geraghty stirred up a minor hornet's nest yesterday with this post on Republican tactics on global warming. After coming in for some pretty…

• By: Marlo Lewis, Jr.
• 01/24/2008

Today, as I write, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is holding a hearing on the Environmental Protection Agency's denial of a…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/24/2008

The White House and Congressional leaders have reached an outrageous agreement to increase the deficit to pay for rebates that discriminate against married people,…

• By: Iain Murray
• 01/24/2008

Here’s an interesting case. In California, a solar panel owner found his access to sunlight blocked. Not by some man-made obstruction, but by California…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/23/2008

In today’s Wall Street Journal, former Department of Labor general counsel Eugene Scalia highlights a recent DOL effort to ensure that pension funds are…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/23/2008

Earlier, I wrote about how the multi-billion-dollar 1998 tobacco settlement between 46 states and the tobacco companies has inspired more lawsuits, and threatened lawsuits, against…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/23/2008

San Francisco’s Golden Gate Restaurant Association has sued to stop implementation of the city’s new health care mandate, which would require employers who hire more…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/23/2008

Congress is currently in the process of rewriting the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to make it even more costly for employers to employ people…

• By: Marlo Lewis, Jr.
• 01/23/2008

Rumors are flying that President Bush may propose to cap CO2 emissions from electric power plants in the upcoming state of the union speech (see…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 01/23/2008

Jimmy Carter regulated the temperature of public buildings. The state of California is preparing to regulate the temperature of private homes. Really. Explains columnist…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 01/23/2008

Most people understand the role of incentives. Pay me to stop working and I will happily quit my job and take the check. Penalize me…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 01/23/2008

Our good friend Jim Blasingame of the Small Business Advocate radio show recently had our very own Myron Ebell on to talk about global…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/23/2008

The Congress and the president are planning to give rebates to taxpayers in an effort to pump up consumer spending and avert a recession.

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/22/2008

Nervous about the possibility of a recession, the Federal Reserve has just cut short-term interest rates (the federal funds rate). But how much good,…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/22/2008

The Supreme Court recently ruled that while those who engage in securities fraud can be sued, third parties who allegedly aided and abetted them…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/22/2008

The Vice Chairman of the Prince William County Human Rights Commission, Carlos Labiosa, is investigating the local school board's decision to drop affirmative-action hiring…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/22/2008

For mysterious reasons, municipal governments that have never defaulted on anything (and can, unfortunately, tax the living daylights out of their citizens to pay for…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/22/2008

Some legislators, including Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D-MD) are now hollowing out an age old principle of FDA marketing regulations by promoting mandatory labeling…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/22/2008

Percy Schmeiser, the Canadian farmer who was convicted of contract breach in the Canadian Supreme Court because he was brown bagging Monsanto seed against the…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/22/2008

The US is gearing up for another showdown with the EU over protectionist trade barriers based on environmental concerns. French president Sarkozy suggested a…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/21/2008

Earlier, I wrote about how diversity training backfires: It harms employers and employees alike, triggers lawsuits by both white and minority employees, causes racial…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/21/2008

Federal financial aid and subsidies to colleges and universities are fueling soaring college costs, and making universities more expensive, more bureaucratic, and more politicized. That’s…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/21/2008

Congress and the President are working on a multi-billion-dollar ($140 billion plus) “stimulus package” in an effort to ward off a recession. One proposal that…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/21/2008

Pennsylvania is backing down from its labeling ban after pressure from consumer groups. Diaries can now label products as being produced without artificial growth…

• By: John Berlau
• 01/18/2008

After Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke basically said yesterday that making the Bush tax cuts permanent should be off the table for now, in…

• By: Fran Smith
• 01/18/2008

The Financial Times today carries an article about how soaring soyabean (soybean to us) prices are causing large-scale protests in Indonesia…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 01/18/2008

I’m dreaming of a white…climate change protest. As you might have seen on the Drudge Report, a demonstration in support of cap-and-trade legislation in…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/18/2008

Tim Carney continues the fight against cartelization through regulation, in his weekly Examiner column, this time in the political marketplace. When McCain-Feingold passed in…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/18/2008

Exploiting criminals’ stupidity. MIAMI (AP) — A reputed gang member showed off his guns and taunted police on an Internet video to come and…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/18/2008

Kim McCoy, the executive director of Paul Watson’s Sea Shepherd Ship-Sinking Club, mentioned in the post below, is a piece of work herself. She…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/18/2008

Paul Watson and his high-seas vandal Sea Shepherd Society outfit — on which Lene and I commented prior — are at it again. …

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/18/2008

In Virginia’s Arlington Sun-Gazette, reader Linda Jones complains about the fact that only a few public school teachers in Arlington County receive more than $100,000…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/18/2008

Legal aid groups funded by taxpayers through the federal Legal Services Corporation (LSC) wasted money on forbidden things like liquor and subsidized "loans" to…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/18/2008

I wrote about the French January 9 moratorium on plants created with molecular plant breeding techniques previously. I thought the reports that stated there…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/18/2008

On the tack board over my desk is a cardboard box from a Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia bar. I love Ben & Jerry’s, but…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/18/2008

Richard Morrison could yesterday report that FDA had approved meat from cloned animals for human consumption. USDA is evidently not in agreement,…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 01/17/2008

New estimates are out on the impact of increasing Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations, as the recent energy bill did. It’s not pretty.

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 01/17/2008

In two articles out today, I tackle the ever-expanding array of environmental and labor provisions attached to trade agreements between the U.S. and other countries…