Business & Economics
Business & Economics
Obama’s Green Team
The four leaders of Barack Obamas second-term Green Team are nearly all in place: John Kerry has been confirmed as Secretary of State, Sally Jewell has been confirmed as Secretary of the Interior, Ernest Moniz has been confirmed as Secretary of Energy, and only the confirmation of Gina McCarthy remains ...
Business & Economics
Outside Opinion: ‘Swipe fees’ aren’t so bad
Most Americans swipe their credit cards in the checkout line without thinking twice. But our ability to do so is under attack. Seven years ago, a group of stores launched a lawsuit alleging that credit card issuers unfairly dictate the so-called swipe fees. Although the parties agreed to a settlement ...
Business & Economics
Startup Business Are America’s Best Job Creators
‘Small business” is the recipient of much official love (as well as heavy regulatory intrusion), but it receives its loudest applause as the supposed source of most employment growth. Alas, that conventional wisdom is incorrect: The modern scholarly literature finds that it is new (not small) businesses startups ...
Business & Economics
New Study Finds Startup Business Increases Growth of Real SGP
A new study examining the effect of net employment creation by startup businesses on state gross product was released today. Startup Businesses and the Growth of Real State Gross Product is authored by PRI senior fellow Benjamin Zycher, Ph.D. Dr. Zycher uses a sample of 49 states for the period ...
Business & Economics
The U.S. Corporate Tax Code: Ripe for Bipartisan Reform
The U.S. corporate tax code is ripe for bipartisan reformthe U.S. has the highest corporate tax rate of any OECD country but collects some of the lowest federal corporate tax revenues as a share of GDP. A low-rate flat tax on the broad base of business value added, with minimal ...
Business & Economics
An Economic Assessment of New York’s Smoking Policies
By some measures, New Yorks decline in smoking incidence, particularly youth smoking incidence, was even less flattering. The percentage of 9th through 12th graders in the U.S. who smoked more than 10 cigarettes per day fell from 13.8 percent in 1997 to 7.8 percent in 2011, it rose in New ...
Business & Economics
Consumers paying at retailer’s expense
Most Americans swipe credit cards without thinking twice. But our ability to do so is under attack. Seven years ago, a group of retailers launched a lawsuit alleging that card issuers unfairly dictate merchant credit card fees. Although the parties agreed to a legal settlement, some retailers are threatening to ...
Business & Economics
California drives away businesses, tax receipts
Flaresun Fire Group is an innovative start-up that makes equipment designed to help first responders rescue people trapped underground or down steep embankments. Flaresun is also notable because its one of the latest companies to flee California thanks to the Golden States punitive corporate tax rates. Between 1992 and 2008, ...
Business & Economics
New Analysis of Orange County Toll Roads
New Analysis of Orange County Toll Roads Reveals Unsustainable Debt Levels, Cost Overruns, Financial Mismanagement, and an est. $1.7 Billion in Taxpayer Subsidies Proposed refinancing plans will add hundreds of millions in debt without addressing fundamental issues, former California Finance Director Donna Arduin finds The Pacific Research Institute released a ...
Business & Economics
Municipal Bankruptcy: An Overview for Local Officials
Cities and other municipalities falling on hard financial times is nothing new, but it is rare that any such entity files for bankruptcy as a way of addressing its massive debts. Out of nearly 89,500 municipalities in the country, there were just 239 municipal bankruptcy filings between 1980 and 2010.1 ...
Obama’s Green Team
The four leaders of Barack Obamas second-term Green Team are nearly all in place: John Kerry has been confirmed as Secretary of State, Sally Jewell has been confirmed as Secretary of the Interior, Ernest Moniz has been confirmed as Secretary of Energy, and only the confirmation of Gina McCarthy remains ...
Outside Opinion: ‘Swipe fees’ aren’t so bad
Most Americans swipe their credit cards in the checkout line without thinking twice. But our ability to do so is under attack. Seven years ago, a group of stores launched a lawsuit alleging that credit card issuers unfairly dictate the so-called swipe fees. Although the parties agreed to a settlement ...
Startup Business Are America’s Best Job Creators
‘Small business” is the recipient of much official love (as well as heavy regulatory intrusion), but it receives its loudest applause as the supposed source of most employment growth. Alas, that conventional wisdom is incorrect: The modern scholarly literature finds that it is new (not small) businesses startups ...
New Study Finds Startup Business Increases Growth of Real SGP
A new study examining the effect of net employment creation by startup businesses on state gross product was released today. Startup Businesses and the Growth of Real State Gross Product is authored by PRI senior fellow Benjamin Zycher, Ph.D. Dr. Zycher uses a sample of 49 states for the period ...
The U.S. Corporate Tax Code: Ripe for Bipartisan Reform
The U.S. corporate tax code is ripe for bipartisan reformthe U.S. has the highest corporate tax rate of any OECD country but collects some of the lowest federal corporate tax revenues as a share of GDP. A low-rate flat tax on the broad base of business value added, with minimal ...
An Economic Assessment of New York’s Smoking Policies
By some measures, New Yorks decline in smoking incidence, particularly youth smoking incidence, was even less flattering. The percentage of 9th through 12th graders in the U.S. who smoked more than 10 cigarettes per day fell from 13.8 percent in 1997 to 7.8 percent in 2011, it rose in New ...
Consumers paying at retailer’s expense
Most Americans swipe credit cards without thinking twice. But our ability to do so is under attack. Seven years ago, a group of retailers launched a lawsuit alleging that card issuers unfairly dictate merchant credit card fees. Although the parties agreed to a legal settlement, some retailers are threatening to ...
California drives away businesses, tax receipts
Flaresun Fire Group is an innovative start-up that makes equipment designed to help first responders rescue people trapped underground or down steep embankments. Flaresun is also notable because its one of the latest companies to flee California thanks to the Golden States punitive corporate tax rates. Between 1992 and 2008, ...
New Analysis of Orange County Toll Roads
New Analysis of Orange County Toll Roads Reveals Unsustainable Debt Levels, Cost Overruns, Financial Mismanagement, and an est. $1.7 Billion in Taxpayer Subsidies Proposed refinancing plans will add hundreds of millions in debt without addressing fundamental issues, former California Finance Director Donna Arduin finds The Pacific Research Institute released a ...
Municipal Bankruptcy: An Overview for Local Officials
Cities and other municipalities falling on hard financial times is nothing new, but it is rare that any such entity files for bankruptcy as a way of addressing its massive debts. Out of nearly 89,500 municipalities in the country, there were just 239 municipal bankruptcy filings between 1980 and 2010.1 ...
