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The self-defeating trade policy affecting memory chips
Affordability is a major concern for many Americans. Whether you’re checking out at the grocery store, filling up at the gas station, or paying…
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The AI Jobs apocalypse gets postponed, as CEI predicted
The prophesies of doom that artificial intelligence would destroy jobs have been put on hold recently. Businesses, including the ones that use AI technology,…
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Forecasts, not puppet strings: The myth that prediction markets rig reality (Part I)
Prediction markets have become an increasingly prominent tool for forecasting elections, economic indicators, geopolitical events, and other uncertain outcomes. As their popularity has grown,…
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TSA Gold+ is worth its weight as a major step toward airport security privatization
For more than two decades, debate over airport security has largely centered on whether the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) should continue conducting passenger screening…
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The forced labor fig leaf
The cardinal rule of President Trump’s trade policy is that he just likes tariffs. Any intellectual justification is just rationalizing his gut feelings.
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The week in regulations: Carbon nanotubes and colored sausage casings
President Trump enacted new tariffs against more than 60 countries. Some of the Canada tariffs invoke a never-used statute from the 1930 Smoot-Hawley Tariff…
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One lesson socialists forgot: Price controls never work
Socialists in both parties may feel they are offering fresh solutions to today’s problems, whether it is government-run grocery stores from Democrats or…
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Demystifying the DCC: Where circuit courts draw the line on energy protectionism
The Dormant Commerce Clause (DCC) is a headache for students and professionals alike. The doctrine’s applicability is notoriously nuanced. In recent decades, however, its…
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State Directed Payments redistribute money across states and supercharged growth
Differences in states’ use of SDPs cause an interstate redistribution of taxes as well. Because states are setting different levels of SDPs, spending varies…
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How State Directed Payments turned Medicaid into an interstate transfer scheme
Medicaid’s financing rules have long allowed states to expand spending while shifting much of the cost to federal taxpayers. One of the most important…
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Medicaid financing gimmickry – before and after the One Big Beautiful Bill
Medicaid was created in 1965 as a joint federal-state health insurance program for low-income individuals which targeted families with dependent children, the elderly, and…
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Free the Economy podcast: Questioning the AI jobs doomsday with Sean Higgins
In this week’s episode we cover making home appliances great again, fighting price controls on health care, research on AI-fueled…
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Wisconsin threatens to strip the vote from prediction market participants
Many actions today are termed “threats to democracy,” and this is often an exaggeration. But the term fits to a tee the Wisconsin Elections…
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Section 338: Trump’s latest tariff tool could send trade policy uncertainty soaring
Just when businesses thought they had enough tariff uncertainty to manage, another chapter emerges. By turning a nearly century-old provision of trade law into…
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The exemptions in Trump’s latest Brazil tariffs reveal contradictions at the heart of pro-tariff trade policy
Last week, the Trump administration imposed a new 25 percent Section 301 tariff on many imports from Brazil. The administration argued that the…
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Getting in the way: The demise of early termination at the antitrust agencies
Earlier this month, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Antitrust Division released their Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Annual Report for…
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Evaluating DOGE nearly halfway through Trump’s second term
One week after his victory in the 2024 presidential election, Donald Trump announced that he would create the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)…
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Don’t expect the administrative state to disarm itself
Last week, I read two articles in the summer 2026 edition of the Cato Institute’s Regulation magazine: “Defanging the FCC” by Paul Matzko…
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The week in regulations: Razorback suckers and conflict of interest requirements
Congress is considering honoring the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) by passing a counterproductive Russia sanctions and tariffs bill. Inflation numbers for June…
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The economic case for third-party litigation financing
The US is often described as overly litigious, and it’s true that there need to be better methods to disincentivize frivolous lawsuits.
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RCP8.5: Dead and buried
On April 29, American Enterprise Institute scholar and Substack author Roger Pielke, Jr. announced that RCP8.5, the high-end emission scenario that dominated…
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Sanctioning Russia Act: Tariffs won’t change Putin’s mind
When Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) passed away last week, he left behind a bill called the Sanctioning Russia Act of 2026. Congress is…
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Moment of truth: Reassessing Obamacare enrollment predictions
In 2025, several organizations predicted Obamacare enrollment in a world without the ACA’s expanded subsidies. That world became reality this year. Some groups’ predictions…
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Free the Economy podcast: Ethical consumers and sustainable capitalism with Kimberlee Josephson
In this week’s episode we cover the latest inflations numbers, reforming $1 trillion worth of federal grantmaking, and a new…
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A new Endangered Species Act final rule removes improper interpretation of “harm”
On July 14, the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) published an important final rule in the…
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The Regulatory Costberg is melting — or is it? An update on Trump’s “one-in, ten-out” initiative
In the first Trump administration, the longstanding Regulatory Plan and Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions (the Agenda) was instrumental in assessing…
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The ROAD to Housing Act’s Moving to Work expansion still misses the bigger housing issue
The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is Congress’s most sweeping housing legislation in years. As I previously covered, the legislation deserves…
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Can Trump proposed rule pull the plug on bad appliance regulations?
Many Americans dislike federal home appliance regulations, perhaps nobody more so than the current White House occupant, who routinely rails against them at his…
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Hopping the fence: The failures of social media bans
There is growing global momentum toward mandatory age verification and stricter internet safety regulations. A recent Pew Research Center survey found that 56…
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Six takeaways from the recent Obamacare announcements
Every year, health insurers participating in the Exchanges (Obamacare) must announce their planned premium increases for the following year well in advance, so federal…