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Precisely Backwards
Few things are more taxing than our elected officials’ economic illiteracy. How sad that visiting a wonderful country like ours may soon be one of…
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Regulation of the Day 57: Minimum Price Agreements
A new Maryland law makes it illegal for manufacturers to set a minimum retail price for their products in sales contracts. The law is meant…
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Corporate Human Rights?
Over at the Detroit News, Hans Bader and I explain why corporations have human rights despite not being human. The reason why? Transaction costs.
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Regulation of the Day 56: Kahlua in Ohio
Kahlua contains 20% alcohol in 49 states. But in Ohio, it is 21.5%. Weird, huh? Turns out regulations are the reason.
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Net Neutrality and Rent-Seeking
Net neutrality proposals give companies the incentive to seek rents at each other’s expense when they could be benefitting from each other’s innovations instead.
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The Economics of Net Neutrality
Over at the Washington Examiner's Opinion Zone, I apply what I learned back in Economics 101 to the net neutrality debate. It's all about scarcity.
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Funny, That
An article in today's New York Times laments the difficulty of "building momentum for an international climate treaty at a time when global temperatures have…
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Regulation of the Day 55: Home Environmental Inspections
If cap and trade passes, almost all homes for sale would be required to undergo an environmental inspection. The home cannot be sold until it…
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Regulation of the Day 54: Shovelnose Sturgeon
Why does the Fish and Wildlife Service want to list it as a threatened species? Because it looks like the pallid sturgeon, which is currently…
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Regulation of the Day 53: Y2K
In which the case for regulatory sunset provisions is inadvertently made.
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Regulation of the Day 52: Bar Food
In Arlington County, Virginia, there exist twelve restaurants that are required to sell $350 of food per one gallon of liquor purchased from the Virginia…
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Obama Wants to Extend PATRIOT Act
One may be a Republican and the other a Democrat, but make no mistake. Bush and Obama are two peas in a pod.
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Bastiat on the Stimulus Package
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Regulation of the Day 51: Mandatory Hand Sanitizing
In Jersey City, New Jersey, the school district is requiring students to “sanitize their hands when they walk into the class in the morning, before…
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Regulation of the Day 50: Tires from China
The burden is on tariff supporters to explain why they think people who live in one country are more deserving of economic opportunity than people…
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To Heckle the President, or Not?
Politicians make themselves look bad far more effectively than any heckler could. They don’t need the help.
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Do Corporations Have Human Rights?
Intel’s defense in its EU antitrust case has taken the surprising line that the company’s human rights were violated. Over at Real Clear Markets, CEI…
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Regulation of the Day 49: Political Speech
If Congress can’t pass laws abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, maybe they can pass laws abridging the freedom of speech and…
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Regulation of the Day 48: Barbers in Nevada
Want to be a barber in Nevada? You’ll need to get a license first. One of the requirements is a chest X-ray, of all things.
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Regulation of the Day 47: Irish Potatoes
It is bad policy to keep perfectly good food off the market because of its shape, especially during times of recession and high food prices.
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Dog Bites Man
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Regulation of the Day 46: Chemical Weapons
If your company exports chemical weapons, make sure you keep good records. Every year, on company letterhead, you have to list ten things for the…
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Regulation of the Day 45: Wooden Crates
Even the humble wooden crate cannot escape the government’ watchful regulatory eye.
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The Starry-Eyed 37 Percent
Some time ago I said that President Bush's chronically low approval ratings were a good thing. Evidence of widespread skepticism about politicians. Or at least…
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Regulation of the Day 44: Soil Scientists
In Wisconsin, you need a license to work as a soil scientist.
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Economics 101: Where Do Monopolies Come From?
Bryan Caplan says there are only two ways for a monopoly to form: government protection, or being the best.
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Regulation of the Day 43: Telemarketing
It is a federal offense for telemarketers to charge their customers without permission. In English, this is called stealing. Which was already against the law…
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Hoover and the Great Depression
It’s certainly possible to blame Herbert Hoover’s policies for the Great Depression. Just not on the grounds that those policies were free-market.
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Regulation of the Day 42: Hearing Aid Calibration
In Virginia, state law requires hearing aids to be calibrated at least annually. Records must be kept for three years.
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Regulation of the Day 41: The Color of Beer Cans
Having already solved all of the country's economics woes, the FTC now has time to threaten to step in and stop Budweiser from selling cans…