The Open Market Blog

• By: Fran Smith
• 08/09/2007

Bob Novak’s just-published memoir, The Prince of Darkness, includes a very nice tribute to one of his former political reporters — Tim Carney. Friends…

• By: Fran Smith
• 08/07/2007

In an earlier post, I had written a paean to the typeface Helvetica and commented on how aesthetics and design are at last catching…

• By: Fran Smith
• 08/07/2007

We’re pretty well used to domestic and international news articles and editorials attacking the U.S. — for its foreign bullying and aggression, its over-weaning pride…

• By: Fran Smith
• 07/31/2007

(Maria Callas in I Puritani) Over at CafeHayek, Russell Roberts has a post on how opera companies and audiences are burgeoning in the…

• By: Fran Smith
• 07/31/2007

Two great filmmakers died in succession this week. On Monday, Ingmar Bergman died at the age of 89; yesterday Michelangelo Antonioni at…

• By: Fran Smith
• 07/23/2007

(Warning : not for the squeamish) “Nature is not benign” is a lesson one learns quickly when spending time outdoors, even if engaging in…

• By: Fran Smith
• 06/22/2007

Great farm subsidy database — now updated — maintained by EWG using USDA and other government data. Here’s just one example: a map of…

• By: Fran Smith
• 06/22/2007

Talks broke down among a group of four countries — the U.S., the EU, India, and Brazil — to move forward on the WTO…

• By: Fran Smith
• 06/20/2007

Just came across this article on income inequality by Nobel Prize economist Gary Becker and Kevin Murphy.  It’s relevant to my post earlier…

• By: Fran Smith
• 06/20/2007

A new OECD report that looks at the effects of globalization on employment points out that while technological change is a major driver in…

• By: Fran Smith
• 06/20/2007

A House agriculture subcommittee yesterday recommended extending the 2002 Farm Bill’s commodity programs instead of reforming the massive taxpayer- and consumer-funded…

• By: Fran Smith
• 06/19/2007

Saw that the previously banned alcoholic beverage absinthe is now being sold by a New York liquor store at about $60 a bottle.

• By: Fran Smith
• 06/18/2007

Lots of articles on trade issues today — and most of them are bleak in terms of trade liberalization. Instead, reporters are focusing on the…

• By: Fran Smith
• 06/06/2007

I just learned that the Federal Reserve will hold a public hearing on subprime mortgages so the Fed can assess whether it should revise…

• By: Fran Smith
• 05/21/2007

“Free-traders” Cokie and Steve Roberts have penned another of their syndicated columns promoting the benefits of free trade. Yes, that’s right. Their latest column…

• By: Fran Smith
• 05/17/2007

AEI’s trade expert, Claude Barfield, has written an insightful analysis of the Bipartisan Trade Deal announced last week that incorporates enforceable labor and…

• By: Fran Smith
• 05/14/2007

“A bipartisan trade deal” is touted on the U.S. Trade Representative’s website and is on the front page of the House Ways and Means…

• By: Fran Smith
• 05/11/2007

Yesterday, the Administration and the Democratic leadership made a deal to inject stringent and enforceable labor standards into bilateral agreements with Peru and Panama,…

• By: Fran Smith
• 05/10/2007

Bob Novak’s column in the Washington Times (column not online) and elsewhere today tells of the cold shoulder Colombian President Alvaro Uribe received from…

• By: Fran Smith
• 05/09/2007

The United Nations has just published a report that sets out some of the challenges and implications of the widespread production of biofuels. And…

• By: Fran Smith
• 05/02/2007

The U.S. Trade Representative’s office just posted quotes from major corporations and business groups voicing strong support for the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement. The…

• By: Fran Smith
• 05/02/2007

In a paper circulated on April 30, 2007, the chair of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) agriculture negotiations set out his ideas on how…

• By: Fran Smith
• 05/01/2007

“Stop sugar subsidies” read the editorial in the Los Angeles Times yesterday. Right on. What’s encouraging is that the editorial writer dug a little…

• By: Fran Smith
• 04/27/2007

Yesterday, the Cato Institute hosted a forum on the proposals for a new farm bill detailed in its new monograph, “Freeing the Farm:…

• By: Fran Smith
• 04/18/2007

Last weekend, as the Nor’easter pelted the area, we curled up in front of a fire and watched Blade Runner — Director’s Cut. Hadn’t…

• By: Fran Smith
• 04/17/2007

In a letter released on April 16, 58 U.S. senators warned the Bush Administration not to budge on offers in the World Trade Organization’s…

• By: Fran Smith
• 04/16/2007

Sallie Mae, the student loan marketing giant, will be sold to a group of investors, according to Reuters and other news sources. Currently…

• By: Fran Smith
• 04/16/2007

A Washington Post editorial this morning focused on the “The Duke Debacle” and pointed to the failures of the prosecutors, the Duke faculty and…

• By: Fran Smith
• 04/16/2007

Late yesterday, CEI and eight other nonprofit organizations filed comments with the U.S. Trade Representative on why the least developed countries in the world…

• By: Fran Smith
• 04/12/2007

Our libertarian friends at Reason’s Hit and Run blog have posted a wonderful cartoon celebrating — of all things — capitalism! The…

• By: Fran Smith
• 04/10/2007

With the recent signing of the U.S.- Korea Free Trade Agreement, protectionists in both countries are stepping up opposition.  In Korea there…

• By: Fran Smith
• 04/05/2007

It’s now at the newstand nearest you — the May 2007 “Green Issue” of Vanity Fair — featuring CEI’s own Myron Ebell in an…

• By: Fran Smith
• 04/04/2007

I’ve posted before on interesting snippets of trade data the Progressive Policy Institute publishes. This week’s PPI topic heralds the Opening Day of…

• By: Fran Smith
• 03/21/2007

Iain’s recent post on the Exchequer taking over dormant accounts in the UK deserves a U.S. perspective as well.  Under…

• By: Fran Smith
• 03/07/2007

An article in the Wall Street Journal today (p. B6, subscription required) focuses on the sharp spike in Midwest farmland prices resulting from the ethanol…

• By: Fran Smith
• 03/05/2007

So goes a chart heading in an article on oil production in today’s New York Times. The article points out that new technology, fueled…

• By: Fran Smith
• 03/05/2007

A Sunday New York Times editorial, “The must-do list,” reviews the attacks on civil liberties in U.S. policies since 9/11. Worth a read, especially…

• By: Fran Smith
• 02/27/2007

Well, the food-or-fuel debate has now been recognized by the mainstream media, previously salivating over the wonderful tax benefits and subsidies for corn…

• By: Fran Smith
• 02/27/2007

John Tierney does it again.  In Tierney’s profile today of Stewart Brand — a staunch environmentalist and the man who gave us the…

• By: Fran Smith
• 02/23/2007

In the Wall Street Journal today (subscription required), Dorothy Rabinowitz takes a probing look at a recent “Law and Order” episode that transforms…

• By: Fran Smith
• 02/22/2007

First we had anti-globalization activists calling for “fair trade.” Now it seems not just trade is the problem but capitalism itself. Harold Meyerson in…

• By: Fran Smith
• 02/16/2007

I couldn’t resist this article in the Washington Times today — “Chinese ant scammer gets death.” Seems a Chinese entrepreneur was selling ant kits…

• By: Fran Smith
• 02/15/2007

It’s been called the Brazilian “miracle” — and Brazil’s ethanol program has been touted as a model for the U.S. and other countries to follow.

• By: Fran Smith
• 02/15/2007

Inserting more stringent labor provisions into U.S. free trade agreements was a major focus at a House Ways and Means Committee hearing yesterday. Chairman…

• By: Fran Smith
• 02/14/2007

Each year the U.S. Department of Agriculture releases 10-year commodity projections to provide figures for the budget and to estimate the cost of farm programs.

• By: Fran Smith
• 02/06/2007

  For those who don’t think trade is in trouble and is being used as the big stick to solve all global problems, the World…

• By: Fran Smith
• 02/05/2007

Today’s New York Times has a funny op-ed (both funny ha ha and funny odd for the NYT). It’s a spoof by Rick…

• By: Fran Smith
• 02/01/2007

Last night “Larry King Live” hosted a debate on global warming featuring a large cast of characters that included Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and…

• By: Fran Smith
• 02/01/2007

Nominations closed today for the Nobel Peace Prize, which is supposed to be awarded to a person who “shall have conferred the greatest benefit…