Unintended Consequences

Rent Control: Mayor Mamdani Backs an Old, Bad Idea

Rent control is a tempting solution to a very real problem, the lack of quality, affordable housing in tightly regulated municipalities. But controlling prices leads to s

Delaware vs Elon Musk, a Corporate Law Showdown

There are structures and institutions that shape our lives in significant ways and yet are almost entirely hidden from our attention. Delaware’s overwhelming dominance in

Carbon Tax vs. Green Subsidies

There’s an ongoing debate among economists about the most effective policy for incentivizing a reduction in carbon emissions. It’s essentially Team Carbon Tax vs Team Gre

Just Follow the Science?

During the covid pandemic, it became popular for folks to say “just follow the science” when it came to making decisions about medical treatment and public health. But in

The FCC Chairman Should Not Be a Minister of Truth

The Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission threatened to not renew licenses for broadcasters that were too negative in their coverage of the US-Iran War. But t

Swiss Cheese Contracts Are Melting Down

Handling corporate debt has long been a standardized process, but something strange has been happening with contract law in recent years. These loan agreements are like t

The Perplexing Puzzle of the Social Cost of Carbon

Economists use something called the “social cost of carbon” to estimate the future physical and economic damages caused by climate change. Yet the final dollar cost assig

Was Milton Friedman Wrong about the Minimum Wage?

As Milton Friedman thought that the weight of careful research about the negative effects of the minimum wage would lead to an overwhelming consensus among economists and

“Make New York Like Houston?”: Housing and Induced Demand

You might’ve heard that building more roads to reduce traffic doesn’t really work because of induced demand, the way in which building new infrastructure simultaneously c

A Nuclear Renaissance?

Four decades ago, America stopped building new nuclear power plants. Some economists have even linked that decision to the era of lost economic growth known as the “Great

A Food Fight at the Bureau of Labor Statistics

President Trump recently fired the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), claiming that the downward revision of employment numbers was evidence of some ki

There’s Nothing Standard about Standard Oil: Lessons for Modern Antitrusters

The standard, classroom story about the history of antitrust starts with crusading progressive activists breaking up the Standard Oil trust in 1911 to save consumers from

Inequality: American Buy, Borrow, and Die vs. Scandinavian Wage Compression

Wealthy Americans are able to avoid taxes through an accounting strategy known as “buy, borrow, and die.” It’s why Donald Trump is able to pay as little as $0 in federal

Is Public Funding Actually Bad for Public Media?

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which subsidizes National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service, received half a billion dollars from the federal gove

Is YouTube Good or Bad? The Perils and Promise of ‘Free’ Information

Every minute, over 500 hours of content are uploaded to YouTube. Some of those videos likely infringe on existing intellectual property rights. In his Regulation cover ar

PM2.5 and Decentralizing Pollution Standards

One of the hottest debated topics in environmental pollution policy is PM2.5, particulate matter that is so small it can bypass your respiratory system’s filters and ente

Trade Policy as an Act of Self-Immolation

On April 2, 2025, President Trump announced the largest tariffs in more than a century, sparking a stockmarket crash and heightening fears of a potential recession. It sh

Congestion Pricing and VMT Taxes

New York City’s congestion pricing policy is meant to reduce traffic in Manhattan and to raise money for public transit. But it’s attracted the ire of many, including Pre

Who Builds the Building Code?

Should your home have a sprinkler system installed? Well, the organization likely responsible for your local building code thinks so. But mandating sprinklers in every si

Jimmy Carter, the Great Deregulator

Obituaries for the late President Jimmy Carter have been filled with profuse praise for his post-presidential philanthropic work. But Carter wasn't just good once he left