Business & Economics
Business & Economics
Government ‘too big to fail’ and too big to succeed
These days, one is hard-pressed to read a newspaper or watch the news without encountering the phrase “too big to fail.” The debate over TBTF, as it also is known, completely ignores the one institution that deserves attention when assessing the real risks of TBTF: government. To get a sense ...
Jason Clemens
June 25, 2010
Business & Economics
Oil Producers’ Liability Should Not Be Unlimited
Everyone loves a villain. And with the Deepwater Horizon disaster at the two-month mark, the love knows no bounds, uniting much of the political-media complex in a sticky goo of opportunism, finger-pointing and phony demands for apologies. That BP–having schmoozed the environmental left for years while compiling a dreadful safety ...
Benjamin Zycher
June 25, 2010
Business & Economics
What an economist learned in Haiti
I recently spent a week in Haiti helping with reconstruction efforts. I volunteered only as someone with two hands and a lot of Gatorade, but my professional background as an economist allowed me to diagnose some of Haiti’s problems. These go much deeper than the earthquake. I registered with the ...
Robert P. Murphy
June 24, 2010
Business & Economics
‘Government involvement’ never leads to lowered prices
After almost a month of repairs, the K.R. Harrington Water Treatment Plant is back in operation. Nashville residents can bathe and wash dishes normally. Now that the crisis has passed, it is useful to reflect on the economic lessons of government pricing and rationing. Let’s start with the basic facts. ...
Robert P. Murphy
June 24, 2010
Business & Economics
How lawsuit reform could jump-start Illinois’ economy
The Illinois economy continues to struggle, with an unemployment rate of 11.5 percent, near the highest in the nation. If lawmakers want to put people back to work, without costing taxpayers another penny for “stimulus,” they can enact desperately needed lawsuit reforms. In the newly released U.S. Tort Liability Index: ...
Lawrence J. McQuillan
June 23, 2010
Business & Economics
Appeals bond cap on the table in New Jersey
A2473 would limit the amount of appeal bond in civil actions to the total value of the monetary judgment or $50 million, whichever is less. Mr. O’Brien wrote, “New Jersey’s reputation recently took a hit when a Pacific Research Institute study ranked the state’s as the most worrisome tort system. ...
Pacific Research Institute
June 22, 2010
Business & Economics
Without legal reform, economic growth evades Nevada
State’s poor civil-justice tort climate drives away businesses and entrepreneurs Nevada’s economy continues to struggle. Its unemployment rate is 14 percent, the highest in the nation. If lawmakers want to put people back to work — without costing taxpayers another penny for “stimulus” — they can enact desperately needed lawsuit ...
Lawrence J. McQuillan
June 20, 2010
Business & Economics
It’s not easy being nonunion green
SACRAMENTO – The state’s Democratic legislators have an inordinate hostility to the free marketplace, as evidenced by their endless push for new business regulations and for higher taxes for corporations and wealthy Californians. Yet there is one form of business development that the California Left has embraced with particular gusto ...
Steven Greenhut
June 19, 2010
Business & Economics
Public Employee Unions: On the Defensive?
Public Employee Unions: On the Defensive? Four big California public employee unions — including firefighters and highway patrol officers — would roll back their pensions under a deal struck this week with the governor. The compromise comes at a time when public sector unions are increasingly under pressure to make ...
Steven Greenhut
June 18, 2010
Business & Economics
At the crossroads of Silicon Valley, Sacramento
California is pursuing an IT Strategic Plan, the official state blueprint for improving citizen and internal services through technology investments. Though launched with good intentions, the plan could benefit from some revision and more input from Silicon Valley. Historically, government officials have struggled to effectively manage the state’s massive, decentralized ...
Vince Vasquez
June 18, 2010
Government ‘too big to fail’ and too big to succeed
These days, one is hard-pressed to read a newspaper or watch the news without encountering the phrase “too big to fail.” The debate over TBTF, as it also is known, completely ignores the one institution that deserves attention when assessing the real risks of TBTF: government. To get a sense ...
Oil Producers’ Liability Should Not Be Unlimited
Everyone loves a villain. And with the Deepwater Horizon disaster at the two-month mark, the love knows no bounds, uniting much of the political-media complex in a sticky goo of opportunism, finger-pointing and phony demands for apologies. That BP–having schmoozed the environmental left for years while compiling a dreadful safety ...
What an economist learned in Haiti
I recently spent a week in Haiti helping with reconstruction efforts. I volunteered only as someone with two hands and a lot of Gatorade, but my professional background as an economist allowed me to diagnose some of Haiti’s problems. These go much deeper than the earthquake. I registered with the ...
‘Government involvement’ never leads to lowered prices
After almost a month of repairs, the K.R. Harrington Water Treatment Plant is back in operation. Nashville residents can bathe and wash dishes normally. Now that the crisis has passed, it is useful to reflect on the economic lessons of government pricing and rationing. Let’s start with the basic facts. ...
How lawsuit reform could jump-start Illinois’ economy
The Illinois economy continues to struggle, with an unemployment rate of 11.5 percent, near the highest in the nation. If lawmakers want to put people back to work, without costing taxpayers another penny for “stimulus,” they can enact desperately needed lawsuit reforms. In the newly released U.S. Tort Liability Index: ...
Appeals bond cap on the table in New Jersey
A2473 would limit the amount of appeal bond in civil actions to the total value of the monetary judgment or $50 million, whichever is less. Mr. O’Brien wrote, “New Jersey’s reputation recently took a hit when a Pacific Research Institute study ranked the state’s as the most worrisome tort system. ...
Without legal reform, economic growth evades Nevada
State’s poor civil-justice tort climate drives away businesses and entrepreneurs Nevada’s economy continues to struggle. Its unemployment rate is 14 percent, the highest in the nation. If lawmakers want to put people back to work — without costing taxpayers another penny for “stimulus” — they can enact desperately needed lawsuit ...
It’s not easy being nonunion green
SACRAMENTO – The state’s Democratic legislators have an inordinate hostility to the free marketplace, as evidenced by their endless push for new business regulations and for higher taxes for corporations and wealthy Californians. Yet there is one form of business development that the California Left has embraced with particular gusto ...
Public Employee Unions: On the Defensive?
Public Employee Unions: On the Defensive? Four big California public employee unions — including firefighters and highway patrol officers — would roll back their pensions under a deal struck this week with the governor. The compromise comes at a time when public sector unions are increasingly under pressure to make ...
At the crossroads of Silicon Valley, Sacramento
California is pursuing an IT Strategic Plan, the official state blueprint for improving citizen and internal services through technology investments. Though launched with good intentions, the plan could benefit from some revision and more input from Silicon Valley. Historically, government officials have struggled to effectively manage the state’s massive, decentralized ...