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Feeding the Hand that Smites: Union Leaders Protesting Biden’s Cancellation of Keystone XL Pipeline Endorsed Him Despite Campaign Pledge to Kill the Project
One of President Biden’s first official acts on Inauguration Day was to rescind the construction permit for the Keystone XL pipeline (KXL). Although canceling the…
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Be Skeptical of Studies that Say Minimum Wage Hikes Are Painless
Do economists downplay the negative findings in their research on the minimum wage? That’s the implication of a new working paper on the issue for…
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New President, Same Bad Policies
The Trump administration’s trade war gave economics teachers countless real-world examples of bad policy they can use in the classroom. A new open letter…
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President Biden Moves Quickly to Unleash Regulatory Juggernaut
Not being distracted by the usual enjoyable folderol of inaugural parades and balls meant that President Joe Biden had time in his first day in…
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Has the Honeymoon Already Ended Between Biden and Trade Unions over Keystone XL?
It didn’t take long. On his first day in office, President Biden revoked the federal permit granted by Donald Trump for the Keystone XL pipeline,…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
President Biden was inaugurated on Wednesday. With the usual end-of-administration midnight rush now over, things will likely slow down. It takes time for new appointees…
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Gensler Agenda at SEC Bears Close Watching
President Biden has chosen former head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Gary Gensler as his nominee to be chair of the Securities and Exchange…
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D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Vacates Trump EPA’s Replacement for Clean Power Plan
A panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals voted 2-1 on January 19 to vacate the Trump administration’s Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule,…
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In Memoriam: Jerry Ellig
I was shocked and deeply saddened to learn yesterday that my friend and one-time teacher, Jerry Ellig, passed away on Wednesday night, the victim of a…
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Trump EPA’s January Surprise: Timely New Check on Regulatory Excess
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on January 13 published its long-awaited final rule on New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions…
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A Look at “Modernizing Regulatory Review”
The Biden “Modernizing Regulatory Review” plan is about gutting the restraint of the past four years, and if you read statements from the proponents of…
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The Growing Groupthink Problem in Science and Policy
Government Dietary Guidelines issued jointly by the Departments of Agriculture (USDA) and Health and Human Services (HHS) every five years are meant to provide health…
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Trump DOE Finalizes More Flexible Regulation for Residential Furnaces
In one of the Trump Department of Energy’s (DOE) last regulatory actions, the agency on January 15 revised the energy efficiency standards for residential…
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EPA to Increase Transparency in Regulatory Science—for Now
Not many people know that much of the science used to regulate pollutants and radiation is a mess. To help clear this up, on January…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Happy MLK Day, everyone. The Trump administration’s final full week was an eventful one. The president was impeached for a second time. The usual end-of-administration…
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Treasury, FHFA Reverse ‘Net Worth Sweep” at Fannie and Freddie
The headlines yesterday were that the Trump administration had failed to exit Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from the government-owned conservatorship. This is true…
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Economics Can Help Explain Conspiracy Theorists
There is a lot of conspiracy theory garbage floating around. On January 6, it took a violent turn. Five people died in a coup attempt…
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Most Americans Still Buy Large Gasoline-Powered Vehicles, According to Latest EPA Data
There is a deep divide between the vehicles that climate activists and their political allies prefer and those that the public actually wants and buys,…
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Employers Will Pay Workers to Get a Covid-19 Vaccine
The federal government, through Operation Warp speed, helped develop and bring to market vaccines against the new disease COVID-19 in less than a year, an…
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The Danger in Blurring the Private and Public Boundaries with Government Regulation
The recent decisions of many technology companies to remove users and customers from their platforms have deeply divided Americans. Many Americans feel censored and discriminated…
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Will the Next Labor Secretary Support Job-Killing Climate Measures?
President-elect Biden has selected most of his nominees to head the federal departments, and he has made clear to them that addressing climate change should…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
After last week’s insurrection at the Capitol, the outgoing president, several elected officials, and their supporters have some soul-searching to do. Meanwhile, agencies continued to…
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Priorities for Commerce Secretary Nominee Raimondo: Tariffs, TPA, Trade Agreements
President-Elect Biden will nominate Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo to be the next Commerce Secretary. She will soon be in a position to undo much…
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Department of Labor Cautions “Gig Economy” Companies against Limiting Workers’ Freedom
The Department of Labor (DOL) said on Wednesday, January 6, that if someone is currently working for one or more of your business rivals, then…
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Vape Mail Ban Will Hurt Vulnerable Adults and Won’t Prevent Online Sales to Youth
The COVID-19 pandemic has inflicted a brutal toll on businesses. But one industry that is not only surviving but thriving is the cigarette industry.
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EPA Rule Will Strengthen Transparency and Accountability in Agency Science
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this week finalized its science transparency rule. The rule requires the EPA to clearly identify the “pivotal” scientific studies…
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Biden Labor Nominee Marty Walsh Poised to Make Radical Changes
Joe Biden’s decision to nominate Boston Mayor Marty Walsh as Labor Secretary will elevate a person to oversee the nation’s workplace who is not…
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Labor Department Independent Contractor Rule out Today
The Department of Labor (DOL) acted to promote entrepreneurialism and protect freelancers on Wednesday by issuing a new rule under the Fair Labor Standards…
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Toward Simplifying Antitrust Regulation
Antitrust regulation is a complex mess. Multiple agencies have overlapping jurisdiction with no set rules for determining who takes which cases. One of the antitrust…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Happy new year, everyone. We made it. 2020 was rough, but as I argued last week, it was not the worst year ever. 2020…
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Regulation in 2020: Some Quick Numbers
The 251st and final issue of the 2020 Federal Register was released this morning. Here are some of the initial findings: Federal agencies issued 3,353…
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2020 Was Difficult. It Was Not the Worst Year Ever
It’s been a hard year, and I am hardly alone in being glad it’s almost over. But was 2020 the worst year ever? Over…
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Trump’s 2020 Unified Agenda on Regulation: An Update on One-in, Two-out
As just explored at Forbes, the Trump administration in early December released the fall 2020 edition of the twice-yearly …
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Best Books of 2020: Joseph Henrich – The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous
It’s early, but The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous by Joseph Henrich will likely be…
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White House’s 261 Big Rules in the Pipeline Herald More Regulation than Deregulation
No matter the presidential administration, federal agencies issue thousands of rules and regulations every year, compared to a relative handful of laws passed by Congress.
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Last week’s drama over the combined COVID-19 spending bill and omnibus budget bill ran over into Christmas, spoiling a three-day work week in Washington. In…
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Best Books of 2020: Virgil Henry Storr and Ginny Seung Choi – Do Markets Corrupt Our Morals? (Palgrave MacMillan, 2019)
Most people see markets as dens of greed and moral corruption. In their new book, Do Markets Corrupt Our Morals?, Virgil…
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Amazon’s Private Labels Don’t Threaten Competition
A recent Wall Street Journal article raises concerns about Amazon’s generics offerings and the online retailer’s business practices surrounding diaper sales. In evaluating…
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FCC Should Free Spectrum for 5G
5G is the future of mobile broadband. Freeing up spectrum to facilitate the use of the airwaves is more important than ever. To that end,…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
COVID vaccine rollout has started. While immunizing millions of people will take several months, it looks like the worst is almost past. For scientists to…
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Biden Names Climate Alarmists to All Top Environment and Energy Positions
President-elect Joe Biden this week announced his choices for the top environment and energy positions in his administration. All are climate alarmists, which confirms earlier…
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Washington Post Trashes EPA Benefit Cost Analysis Rule
The Washington Post last week published an inaccurate and misleading analysis of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) recently finalized benefit-cost analysis (BCA) rule…
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Investor-State Dispute Settlement Claims Hold Steady During Pandemic: Reform Is Still in Progress and Is Still Desired
Companies take large risks when investing abroad, and countries have an important self-interest in attracting foreign investment. The Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism allows foreign…
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To-Do List for 2021: Just Get Rid of AB5
It isn’t just Washington that gets a fresh start beginning in January. California gets one, too. One of the top items on the Golden State’s…
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The Bipartisan War on Affordable Air Conditioning
Congressional Democrats and Republicans are currently collaborating on a bill that will make air conditioning more expensive. Hooray for bipartisanship! Both the House and Senate…
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Documentary Exposes Global Nicotine Misinformation Campaign
What if, instead of a deadly “addictive” chemical, nicotine was a revolutionary therapy able to treat several debilitating conditions and, potentially, save billions of lives?…
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What to Expect from Biden’s Trade Policy: Fast Track, China, and Labor
Joe Biden supported the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in 2015, and organized labor has not forgotten. But there appears to be growing optimism among…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The big news is that the Food and Drug Administration is poised to follow several other countries’ lead in approving one or more coronavirus vaccines.
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UAW Corruption Case Reveals Lack of Accountability at Union
Today the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a settlement in a long-running corruption probe of the United Auto Workers (UAW) that will put the…
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Democrats Hoping to Unionize Entire Sectors of Economy at Once
Democratic lawmakers will push to have entire sectors of the economy unionized, a practice called “sectoral bargaining,” when Congress reconvenes next year. The idea behind…