The Open Market Blog

• By: Trey Kovacs
• 10/02/2013

Just three years ago, New York City Mayor Bloomberg and the United Federation of Teachers publicly heralded a deal to end "rubber rooms," the reassignment…

Labor and Employment

• By: Ryan Young
• 10/02/2013

The Office of Management and Budget reviewed a grand total of 47 regulations last year, or a little more than 1 percent of the total.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/30/2013

Due to Obamacare, North Carolina "will see individual-market" health insurance rates "triple for women, and quadruple for men." In Tennessee, Obamacare will…

Consumer Well-Being

• By: Angela Logomasini
• 09/30/2013

Thanks to misguided bureaucracy and fear mongering from environmental activists, myriad valuable products are disappearing from the marketplace. Walmart, Proctor & Gamble, and…

Consumer Freedom

• By: Ryan Young
• 09/30/2013

80 new regulations, from bird hunting to fluted kidneyshells.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Trey Kovacs
• 09/27/2013

On September 25, the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board denied a petition submitted by Gerawan Farming workers to decertify the United Farm Workers union.

Labor and Employment

• By: Trey Kovacs
• 09/25/2013

Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the National Labor Relations Board show that less than 10 percent of employees actually voted for their…

Labor and Employment

• By: Mary Peterson
• 09/24/2013

In a recent New York Times column, David Brooks describes American culture as “mentally lazy.” Overcoming that, he argues, requires a dose of what he calls…

Consumer Freedom

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/23/2013

The Obama Labor Department has just finalized rules that will effectively require businesses that get federal contracts to adopt a 7 percent hiring quota for the…

Labor and Employment

• By: Ryan Young
• 09/23/2013

Senators Angus King (I-Me.) and Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) are introducing a bill that would create just such a commission. Over at The American Spectator, Wayne…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 09/23/2013

76 new regulations, from pet stores to food containers.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Trey Kovacs
• 09/20/2013

Government officials mismanaging public funds is nothing new. But giving public pensions to private lobbyists is a new low. A recent Associated Press report uncovered…

Labor and Employment

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/20/2013

At Modesto Junior College, a student was prevented from handing out copies of the Constitution on Constitution day.  He was also "told he needed to fill…

Consumer Freedom

• By: Trey Kovacs
• 09/20/2013

State and local pension funds face unfunded liabilities ranging from $3 trillion to $5 trillion, according to various reports. This is well-known problem and many…

Labor and Employment

• By: Fran Smith
• 09/19/2013

H.R. 3102, the “Nutrition Reform and Work Opportunity Act of 2013’’ will be considered on the House floor later today. The 109-page bill, which…

Consumer Freedom

• By: Trey Kovacs
• 09/19/2013

This summer, worker centers gained public notoriety with staged strikes at fast-food restaurants and Wal-Mart. Their effectiveness in gaining media attention has not been lost…

Labor and Employment

• By: Clyde Wayne Crews
• 09/19/2013

In the 2014 fiscal budget proposal, the White House praised regulation of auto safety, energy efficiency and credit cards, and claimed, "…

Consumer Freedom

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/19/2013

When it comes to reporting on the 2008 financial crisis, many journalists are experts at ignoring the elephant in the room: the government's role in…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Trey Kovacs
• 09/18/2013

With little notice, on September 17, Labor Secretary Thomas Perez finalized a rule to extend the Fair Labor Standards Act--minimum wage and overtime protections--to nearly…

Labor and Employment

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/18/2013

Earlier, we wrote about the Obama administration’s attempt to inject a race-conscious “disparate impact” provision into colorblind anti-discrimination laws like the Fair Housing Act,…

Labor and Employment

• By: Mary Peterson
• 09/17/2013

Success can pertain to personal satisfaction, an intangible, or outside validation (whether via spoken word, wealth, or popularity). Personal satisfaction may spring from accomplishing a…

Consumer Freedom

• By: John Berlau
• 09/17/2013

The federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is coming to Mississippi Wednesday and Thursday with a public forum on "access to information." A vital question for Mississippians to…

Consumer Freedom

• By: Clyde Wayne Crews
• 09/17/2013

The Regulatory Flexibility Act directs federal agencies to assess the effects of their rules on small businesses. How’s that going? A new book…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 09/16/2013

61 new regulations, from banned avocados to sweet corn insurance.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Fran Smith
• 09/13/2013

Bloomberg on September 9 published an in-depth article on the high costs of federal crop insurance – likely to be increased even more if…

Consumer Freedom

• By: Trey Kovacs
• 09/13/2013

This week Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's government-sector collective bargaining reform was upheld in Federal District Court.

Labor and Employment

• By: Angela Logomasini
• 09/12/2013

When environmentalists don’t have the political power to regulate away consumer choice, they sometimes can get industry to do the job for them. Most recently,…

Consumer Freedom

• By: Marc Scribner
• 09/12/2013

Today, Judge Sean Lane of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York approved American Airlines’s reorganization plan to exit bankruptcy protection,…

Labor and Employment

• By: John Berlau
• 09/10/2013

Today, the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) is launching its "Don't Tax Tuesday" in which credit unions and their supporters tweet members of Congress…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Trey Kovacs
• 09/10/2013

It is well-documented that Project Labor Agreements drive up costs, by some estimates up to 12 to 18 percent. This is because PLA's subvert competitive…

Labor and Employment

• By: Ryan Young
• 09/09/2013

58 new regulations, from foreign tax credits to growing dates in Riverside County, California.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Trey Kovacs
• 09/06/2013

A SEIU Healthcare Illinois-Indiana press release announced an event to celebrate the 30th anniversary of its first organizing win over home care providers. According to…

Labor and Employment

• By: Clyde Wayne Crews
• 09/06/2013

(Note: On September 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon’s challenge of…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 09/05/2013

The largest longshoremen’s union in the West Coast has decided to leave the AFL-CIO. While this may be an internecine organized labor fight, it…

Labor and Employment

• By: Ryan Young
• 09/05/2013

Fellow in Consumer Policy Studies Michelle Minton puts a scary new study about energy drinks and children into its proper, non-scary context.

Consumer Freedom

• By: Trey Kovacs
• 09/05/2013

A plague on taxpayer funds known as union release time infects nearly every state and municipal government coffers. This inappropriate government expenditure/practice excuses public employees…

Labor and Employment

• By: Clyde Wayne Crews
• 09/05/2013

(Note: On September 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon’s challenge of…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 09/04/2013

One of the challenges in addressing the underfunding of public pensions is determining how big the funding gaps are. Estimates vary because of disagreement over…

Labor and Employment

• By: Hans Bader
• 09/03/2013

We earlier discussed (and agreed with) President Obama’s suggestion that law schools cut their length of study to two years from the current three…

Labor and Employment

• By: Clyde Wayne Crews
• 09/03/2013

(Note: On September 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon’s challenge of…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Nicole Ciandella
• 09/03/2013

Ronald Coase, the University of Chicago economist who won the 1991 Nobel “for his discovery and clarification of the significance of transaction costs and…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 09/03/2013

81 new regulations, from “shared responsibility payments” to Segelflugzeugbau sailplanes.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Trey Kovacs
• 08/30/2013

In what should not be much of a surprise, the Obama administration is looking to quell labor leaders complaints over Obamacare by offering them taxpayer…

Labor and Employment

• By: Clyde Wayne Crews
• 08/30/2013

(Note: On September 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon’s challenge of…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ryan Young
• 08/29/2013

Have a listen here. In 2010, the FCC issued regulations to implement net neutrality. The resulting legal challenge is about to hit the D.C.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Marc Scribner
• 08/29/2013

When the Department of Justice unexpectedly filed suit to block the merger between US Airways and American Airlines, I noted that unions representing various workers…

Labor and Employment

• By: Clyde Wayne Crews
• 08/29/2013

(Note: On September 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon’s challenge of…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Trey Kovacs
• 08/29/2013

Today, as has been publicized for weeks now, fast-food workers across the country are expected to walk off the their jobs. The union organized movement…

Labor and Employment

• By: Clyde Wayne Crews
• 08/28/2013

(Note: On September 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon’s challenge of…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 08/27/2013

Many public pension plans around the nation are severely underfunded. The 2008 financial crisis, which wiped out many pension investments, has focused the public’s and…

Labor and Employment

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 08/27/2013

Who is a public employee? The answer to that should be simple: Someone who works directly for a government entity. But in 20 states, the…

Labor and Employment

• By: Iain Murray
• 08/27/2013

Simon Schama is one of the world’s great historians. Indeed, I am currently having my children watch his magisterial “History of Britain,” and they are…

Consumer Freedom

• By: Clyde Wayne Crews
• 08/27/2013

(Note: On September 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon’s challenge of…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Trey Kovacs
• 08/27/2013

In response to a Miami Herald report, a Miami-Dade County Commissioner is sponsoring legislation to eliminate or reduce the practice of allowing government employees…

Labor and Employment

• By: Clyde Wayne Crews
• 08/26/2013

(Note: On September 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon’s challenge of…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Hans Bader
• 08/26/2013

President Obama, a lawyer who once was a lecturer at the University of Chicago, recently urged law schools to reduce the length of study from three years…

Labor and Employment

• By: Ryan Young
• 08/26/2013

80 new regulations, from hunting migratory birds to grading avocados.

Regulatory Reform

• By: Hans Bader
• 08/23/2013

In Elane Photography v. Willock, the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled yesterday that a wedding photographer violated the New Mexico Human Rights Act by…

Consumer Freedom

• By: Trey Kovacs
• 08/23/2013

In the 2012 federal election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, 91 percent of labor unions campaign funds went to Democrats. One would…

Labor and Employment

• By: Clyde Wayne Crews
• 08/23/2013

(Note: On September 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon’s challenge of…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 08/22/2013

If you cant' get legislation through Congress, then make policy through regulation. Until the courts get in the way. The former has been the Obama administration's…

Labor and Employment

• By: Clyde Wayne Crews
• 08/22/2013

(Note: On Septe. 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon’s challenge of the…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Trey Kovacs
• 08/22/2013

A Big Labor backed coalition is calling for a nationwide strike among fast-food workers on August 29. The walkout is part of a larger campaign,…

Labor and Employment

• By: Trey Kovacs
• 08/22/2013

In response to Rep. John Kline and Phil Roe’s letter to the Department of Labor asking for a determination whether or not “worker centers” should…

Labor and Employment

• By: Iain Murray
• 08/21/2013

While Thailand may have banned Bitcoin, the electronic currency — although some are not so sure — the economic powerhouse of Germany has…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 08/21/2013

The bankruptcy of Detroit is an unusual event, but its uniqueness lies mainly in its severity. Municipal governments across the nation are struggling to bring…

Labor and Employment

• By: Clyde Wayne Crews
• 08/21/2013

(Note: On September 9, 2013, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon’s…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Marc Scribner
• 08/20/2013

Last Tuesday, the Department of Justice and six state attorneys general filed suit to block the planned merger of American Airlines and US Airways. I…

Labor and Employment

• By: John Berlau
• 08/19/2013

Since Judge Richard Leon issued his shocking decision on July 31 that called for even more draconian price controls under Dodd-Frank's Durbin Amendment, some legal commentators…

Regulatory Reform

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 08/19/2013

California public transit unions seem to have found a new, powerful bargaining tactic: If you don’t get your way in the legislature, threaten your state’s…

Labor and Employment

• By: Alex McHugh
• 08/19/2013

In the final entry to my series, the question I want to address is more difficult to answer: Why haven’t more countries woken up to…

Trade and International

• By: Ryan Young
• 08/19/2013

71 new regulations, from D-Day reenactments to bio-fuel usage.

Regulatory Reform