The Open Market Blog

• By: Fran Smith
• 04/21/2008

At a press briefing with South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak at Camp David on April 19, President Bush announced that Korea will reopen its…

• By: Fran Smith
• 04/18/2008

With negotiations stalled on the 2007 Farm Bill, President Bush is expected to sign a one-week extension of the current law so that lawmakers…

• By: Fran Smith
• 04/08/2008

As I noted yesterday, the Bush Administration on April 7 sent to Congress a transmittal letter and implementing legislation for the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion…

• By: Fran Smith
• 04/07/2008

President George Bush today sent a transmittal letter to Congress with the implementing legislation for the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement.  Under trade rules, Congress…

• By: Fran Smith
• 04/01/2008

At a press conference today, House and Senate conferees negotiating the 2007 Farm Bill said that they had decided to scrap the bloated $287…

• By: Fran Smith
• 03/24/2008

Eli— Here’s another theory — fluoridation of water is very widespread in the U.S. but is very limited in England. (About 10 percent of…

• By: Fran Smith
• 03/21/2008

I am disappointed that the X Prize did not note that there may be trade offs involved — that a zillion mph vehicle may well…

• By: Fran Smith
• 03/21/2008

The X Prize Foundation has announced a $10 million automotive prize: The newly renamed Progressive Automotive X PRIZE is an international competition designed…

• By: Fran Smith
• 03/20/2008

Commodity prices plunge is the big news in the markets today. According to Bloomberg today, commodities are– . . . heading for the biggest…

• By: Fran Smith
• 03/20/2008

I was checking around for international census information at the U.S. Census Department site (useful for a lot of issues) and thought some of…

• By: Fran Smith
• 03/19/2008

Again, a really interesting “Trade Fact of the Week” from the Progressive Policy Institute.  With all the negative talk about trade, PPI points out…

• By: Fran Smith
• 03/13/2008

Over the last year, we’ve heard a lot about rising food prices because of the federal government’s mandates and subsidies for corn-based ethanol. Here’s…

• By: Fran Smith
• 03/13/2008

A new five-dollar bill debuts today — and it’s prettier and more secure than the last version, according to the…

• By: Fran Smith
• 03/13/2008

Do cold and snowy winters lead to “snow rage”? So says the police spokesperson in Quebec, where winter has been bad this year, leading…

• By: Fran Smith
• 03/12/2008

In the Wall Street Journal this morning, the inimitable Kimberley A. Strassel points to Governor Eliot Spitzer’s misuse of his power as New York’s…

• By: Fran Smith
• 03/11/2008

Known for his pro-trade stance, Senator John McCain took his views to the campaign trail and blasted his Democratic opponents for their isolationist rhetoric:…

• By: Fran Smith
• 03/11/2008

The New York Times today focuses on economic stimulus in its “Times Topics” section — and CEI’s Wayne Crews’s recent paper was at…

• By: Fran Smith
• 03/07/2008

An excellent commentary on Bloomberg.com today on the wave of protectionism spurred on not just by U.S. presidential candidates but by other rich countries.

• By: Fran Smith
• 03/06/2008

Trade critics, sensing blood from the populist success in the presidential primaries, are moving beyond NAFTA to call for a crackdown on investment provisions in…

• By: Fran Smith
• 03/03/2008

A New York Times editorial today points to the high prices of food — partly spurred by the heavy government involvement in promoting corn…

• By: Fran Smith
• 02/29/2008

Candidates running for POTUS shouldn’t whine about being attacked by their opponents. Things look pretty mild in the good ole USA, especially compared with…

• By: Fran Smith
• 02/29/2008

In the Wall Street Journal today (subscription needed), Kimberley A. Strassel’s column hits the Democrats’ current protectionist stance on trade and points to the party’s…

• By: Fran Smith
• 02/28/2008

Does this make sense? At the same time the House thinks it’s a good idea to provide Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia with duty-free…

• By: Fran Smith
• 02/27/2008

With talk of recession, inflation, and stagnation dominating financial news, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, in his written testimony to the House Financial Services…

• By: Fran Smith
• 02/26/2008

Cato’s Dan Griswold and Juan Carlos Hidalgo had an excellent article yesterday in the Latin Business Chronicle defending the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement.

• By: Fran Smith
• 02/25/2008

In the Washington Times today, Donald Lambro focuses on the recent primary in Wisconsin and questions the attacks on trade by presidential hopefuls Hillary…

• By: Fran Smith
• 02/22/2008

In the Detroit Free Press today, Gary Shapiro, the head of the Consumer Electronics Association, has a really hard-hitting op-ed pointing out how free…

• By: Fran Smith
• 02/22/2008

I was intrigued today when I read the Man Booker Prize announcement of a new award to celebrate 40 years of prizes for the…

• By: Fran Smith
• 02/20/2008

In a speech today in Geneva, the World Trade Organization’s director-general Pascal Lamy noted the significant achievements of WTO members in opening up telecommunications…

• By: Fran Smith
• 02/19/2008

Almost unnoticed in the sweeping energy bill enacted late last year was a provision that restricts federal government agencies from purchasing fuel that has…

• By: Fran Smith
• 02/04/2008

The U.S. will be joining four Asia-Pacific countries to negotiate agreements on investment and financial services, said U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab today. Those…

• 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: Fran Smith
• 01/15/2008

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is great at getting publicity for its animal liberation activities.

• By: Fran Smith
• 01/11/2008

The New York Times yesterday carried an article on the reopening of the Mu$eum of American Finance, the only public museum in…

• By: Fran Smith
• 01/10/2008

Lene— I know a bit about another of the Guardian‘s 50 People Who Could Save the Planet. That’s Tewolde Egziabher, who runs Ethiopia’s environmental…

• By: Fran Smith
• 01/08/2008

A Reuters article today quoted a range of investment officials who expressed concern over the protectionist and pro-tax rhetoric of many of the Presidential…

• By: Fran Smith
• 01/04/2008

In its lead editorial today, “The greening of globalisation,” the Financial Times looks at a potential new wave of trade protectionism that could arise…

• By: Fran Smith
• 01/02/2008

In yesterday’s New York Times, John Tierney in his “Findings” column has another excellent science-related article — this time about the tendency to assess…

• By: Fran Smith
• 12/11/2007

In its lead editorial today, the Wall Street Journal cited Environmental Working Group’s farm subsidy database to show the vast amount of farm subsidies…

• By: Fran Smith
• 12/10/2007

Today, as the Senate is scheduled to continue consideration of a new farm bill, The Washington Post features an editorial criticizing the bill and…

• By: Fran Smith
• 12/07/2007

CEI’s John Berlau in USA Today had the opposing view on the Bush Administration’s plan to bail out some subprime borrowers. John’s article, which…

• By: Fran Smith
• 12/04/2007

The Senate shortly before 3 p.m. today voted 77-18 in favor of the U.S. Peru Free Trade Agreement. Earlier today and yesterday the Senate was…

• By: Fran Smith
• 12/04/2007

The World Trade Organization on November 30 published texts of proposed rules to prohibit some of the worst subsidies on fisheries, which provide incentives…

• By: Fran Smith
• 11/28/2007

The Financial Times today has a very perceptive article, “Too much safety in America’s playrooms,” by Patti Waldmeir. Waldmeir points to the current…

• By: Fran Smith
• 11/27/2007

Writing from Beijing, New York Times columnist David Brooks in his column today notes how American sentiment is increasingly against trade and globalization and…

• By: Fran Smith
• 11/21/2007

For my Thanksgiving treat, here’s my list of five “Turkeys on the Hill” — legislation that is particularly onerous for consumers, taxpayers, and citizens —…

• By: Fran Smith
• 11/21/2007

The Wall Street Journal, in a front-page article today, points to the anti-trade, anti-globalization sentiment in Iowa, even though the state “is a…

• By: Fran Smith
• 11/20/2007

For years the American Council on Science and Health has featured their "Holiday Menu" at Thanksgiving time. Their menu features "natural" foods that contain natural…

• By: Fran Smith
• 11/20/2007

CEI’s Angela Logomasini and Ryan Radia focus on the bottled water issue in California country. Their op-ed in the Modesto Bee yesterday took on…

• By: Fran Smith
• 11/16/2007

This morning, the Senate voted on closing off debate on the 2007 Farm Bill. The cloture vote was 55-42 in favor of the measure;…

• By: Fran Smith
• 11/14/2007

Intriguing book review today in the Wall Street Journal by William Easterly. He discusses William Duggan‘s new book, Strategic Intuition, which…

• By: Fran Smith
• 11/14/2007

Today as the Senate is considering its version of the 2007 Farm Bill, the Wall Street Journal editorialized about proposals for massive subsidy…

• By: Fran Smith
• 11/08/2007

This Bloomberg article notes that banks and other lenders who pushed for reform of the consumer bankruptcy system are now stuck with some unintended…

• By: Fran Smith
• 11/08/2007

Today the House of Representatives voted 285-132 to approve the U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreement. The Senate now has to consider legislation implementing the agreement.

• By: Fran Smith
• 11/08/2007

I’d like to second Hans’s recommendation to read Manhunt — and I feel a more personal connection: The hunt for John Wilkes Booth…

• By: Fran Smith
• 11/07/2007

French President Nicolas Sarkozy addressed a joint session of Congress this morning and devoted most of his remarks to the close…

• By: Fran Smith
• 11/07/2007

“Pass the Peruvian F.T.A,” so reads a New York Times editorial today on the same day the House is scheduled to vote on the…

• By: Fran Smith
• 11/06/2007

In a tele-news conference yesterday on the Senate farm bill, the acting U.S. Department of Agriculture secretary, Chuck Conner, said that he would…

• By: Fran Smith
• 11/05/2007

Terrific front-page article on the influence of the sugar lobby in the Washington Post on Saturday by Dan Morgan recounting how the sugar industry’s…

• By: Fran Smith
• 11/05/2007

Eli’s post about historic preservation and his mention of D.C.’s Meridian Hill Park has a lesson for preservationists who promote government as the savior…

• By: Fran Smith
• 11/01/2007

The House Ways and Means Committee yesterday cleared the way for a full House vote next week on the U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreement, H.R. 3688.

• By: Fran Smith
• 10/30/2007

On the eve of All Hallow’s Eve, the Boston Globe‘s list of the “Top 50 scariest movies of all time” is worth a…

• By: Fran Smith
• 10/30/2007

Eli–Re your post on the Robosaurus, I like these better. The one above weighs about 104,000 lbs. and the one below…

• By: Fran Smith
• 10/26/2007

Okay, here’s a government action I can agree with: Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture Dennis Wolff ordered 16 dairies in Pennsylvania to correct their milk…

• By: Fran Smith
• 10/25/2007

“Time to ditch Kyoto” says a commentary in Nature magazine’s October 25 issue. The article, written by Gwyn Prins and Steve Rayner, points…

• By: Fran Smith
• 10/25/2007

Cato’s Center for Trade Policy Studies has just released a study by Dan Griswold showing that increased trade is not responsible for a lower…

• By: Fran Smith
• 10/24/2007

The Wall Street Journal today carries an opinion piece by Stephen J. Rose (subscription required), a labor economist with the Progressive Policy Institute, titled…

• By: Fran Smith
• 10/23/2007

Don Boudreaux over at CafeHayek is outraged at an off-the-wall, gratuitous attack on Norman Borlaug in Alexander Cockburn’s latest diatribe appearing in the…

• By: Fran Smith
• 10/10/2007

Eli’s post on D.C. taxicab fare proposals comes out strongly for the zone system over metered cabs. As a person who used to take…

• By: Fran Smith
• 10/09/2007

The Progressive Policy Institute recently posted a new paper, “The Truth About Middle Class Jobs” by Stephen J. Rose. Rose, a prominent labor…

• By: Fran Smith
• 10/04/2007

Another blow to proponents of more open trade. The Wall Street Journal reported today that a poll of Republican primary voters showed that almost…

• By: Fran Smith
• 10/03/2007

George Mason economics professor Tyler Cowen has a searing review in the New York Sun today on Naomi Klein’s new screed, The Shock Doctrine.

• By: Fran Smith
• 09/26/2007

A startling Reuters article today was titled “Gorbachev warns Russians against rise of Stalinism.” As reported, the former Soviet president made his…

• By: Fran Smith
• 09/26/2007

A thought-provoking opinion piece in the Financial Times today by Michael Schrage, an MIT researcher –“Science must be more political.” That title is a…

• By: Fran Smith
• 09/25/2007

Check out Bureaucrash’s latest video on drug lag at the FDA — with real people affected by those delays. Just released on Friday,…

• By: Fran Smith
• 09/25/2007

Finally, some Democrats have come out strongly in favor of the pending Latin American trade agreements. Though don’t give them too much credit for…

• By: Fran Smith
• 09/21/2007

You have to see this video to believe it — it’s a YouTube promo for Naomi “No logo” Klein’s new book,…

• By: Fran Smith
• 09/21/2007

Cécile Philippe of L’Institut économique Molinari in Brussels has a new article — “Sommes-nous sur la bonne voie pour répondre aux défis environnementaux?”—or…

• By: Fran Smith
• 09/20/2007

Both Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson cautioned today that steps to raise conforming loan limits for Fannie Mae and Freddie…

• By: Fran Smith
• 09/20/2007

Eli’s post on internet co-ops referring to Wayne’s post about broadband infrastructure got my mind whirring about other examples of cooperatives — housing…

• By: Fran Smith
• 09/19/2007

A New York Times editorial today (free access began today) points out some of the unintended consequences of corn ethanol subsidies and restrictive tariffs…

• By: Fran Smith
• 09/18/2007

Surprise, surprise. Farmers can do better without federal government subsidies, price supports, quota systems, and other Depression-era programs that constrain competition and expansion. Today, the…

• By: Fran Smith
• 09/17/2007

It’s official — buying carbon credits to offset CO2 emissions is like doing penance for sins, according to a high-level Vatican official. An article in…

• By: Fran Smith
• 09/12/2007

Good news from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today. Life expectancy in the U.S. is at an all time high…

• By: Fran Smith
• 09/11/2007

Today John Tierney — while visiting Lower Manhattan — discusses global warming with Bjorn Lomborg in his science column in The New York Times.

• By: Fran Smith
• 09/11/2007

Subsidies for biofuels are leading to food price inflation and will cause environmental damage, so says the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in…

• By: Fran Smith
• 09/06/2007

As an opera lover, I have to take note of the death of Luciano Pavarotti today at the age of 71. One of the leading…

• By: Fran Smith
• 09/05/2007

Yesterday NPR’s All Things Considered took up the 2007 Farm Bill again and focused on the clout that sugar producers enjoy in both the…

• By: Fran Smith
• 09/05/2007

With free trade under attack by just about every POTUS hopeful, it’s encouraging to note that most economists are still stalwart in their defense of…

• By: Fran Smith
• 08/31/2007

This morning both Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and President George W. Bush addressed the subprime lending problems and what the government would and would…

• By: Fran Smith
• 08/30/2007

Russell Roberts at CafeHayek posted excerpts from Freeman Dyson’s article “Heretical thoughts about science and society.” Dyson, professor of physics at Princeton’s Institute…

• By: Fran Smith
• 08/29/2007

As a New Orleans native — born and raised there — I've been reading the coverage of Hurricane Katrina's second anniversary today. Next…

• By: Fran Smith
• 08/29/2007

The Globe and Mail today (Toronto, Canada) looks at the U.S. presidential candidates and their views on trade as they talked about those issues…

• By: Fran Smith
• 08/28/2007

Bob Novak in his column yesterday had an interesting take on the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement and Democratic opposition to this trade pact. Novak…