Business & Economics

Business & Economics

The Fine Whine of California

Shortly after the national election last year, the UC Davis Graduate School of Management called a press conference at the Sacramento campus to announce their fourth UC Davis Study of California Women Business Leaders. This sounds interesting but there’s less here than meets the eye. As it turns out, UC ...
Business & Economics

Expand Economic Freedom in 2009

The onset of 2009, with a new president taking office, is a good time to reconsider the benefits of economic freedom. Contrary to what partisans of big government claim, the empirical case for economic freedom has grown much stronger in the last 10 years, due to the development of objective ...
Business & Economics

“Do You Austrians Have a Better Idea?”

A lot of people get annoyed with Austrian economists because they tend to be so dogmatic (we prefer the term consistent) and because they cloak their strictly economic claims with self-righteousness (we prefer the term morality). After a good Austrian bashing of the latest call to steal taxpayer money and ...
Business & Economics

Houston’s Wi-Fi, ‘Bubble’ Plan Both Fail

The city of Houston’s plan for municipal wi-fi began with the best of intentions: A grand plan to blanket the city with a wireless “cloud” providing cheap Internet access for the masses. When that project failed in 2007, as it has in many other places, the city turned to a ...
Business & Economics

Google CEO Calls for Government Tech Money

As the U.S. government was scurrying to find ways to bail out some of the nation’s largest companies, Google CEO Eric Schmidt criticized economic freedom and said the rescue plans should be used to support new telecommunications infrastructure and solve longstanding innovation issues. “Let’s not just have bailout programs,” Schmidt ...
Business & Economics

Some Governments Fail to Learn from Muni Wi-fi Failures

Municipal wi-fi programs have failed across the country during the past two years, leaving San Francisco-based Meraki as one of few companies still willing to give it a go. As a result, tech experts are cautioning cities against getting wooed into providing “free” wi-fi again. “Muni wi-fi isn’t working because ...
Commentary

Health-care budget realities

Before President-elect Barack Obama attempts to overhaul America’s health-care system and put us on the road toward “universal” coverage, he should have a chat with his new budget director, Peter Orszag. As former head of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the agency responsible for estimating the cost of federal legislation, ...
Business & Economics

Governor’s Entrepreneurship Conference offers recommendations

To find out which state policies California’s small-business owners would like to change, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently convened a two-day conference in Los Angeles. Greater government dependency and intervention will reduce innovation, economic growth and job creation. Or, as Albert Einstein said, “Bureaucracy is the death of all sound work.” ...
Business & Economics

Don’t let trial lawyers overdose on drug suits

President Barack Obama shattered some old paradigms for how to finance a campaign. But he and his Democratic colleagues stuck to the script when it comes to leaning on trial lawyers for campaign cash. During this last election season, federal Democratic candidates collected more than $136 million from lawyers, the ...
Business & Economics

Some Stimulating Reading

Some Stimulating Reading With the bloated, ramshackle, pork-laden, grotesque corruption of a “stimulus bill” now headed to the U.S. Senate, here’s a handy list of arguments and sources as we debate America’s new lurch towards European-style social democracy: The Pacific Research Institute’s Robert Murphy explains the economic-policy mistake that underlies ...
Business & Economics

The Fine Whine of California

Shortly after the national election last year, the UC Davis Graduate School of Management called a press conference at the Sacramento campus to announce their fourth UC Davis Study of California Women Business Leaders. This sounds interesting but there’s less here than meets the eye. As it turns out, UC ...
Business & Economics

Expand Economic Freedom in 2009

The onset of 2009, with a new president taking office, is a good time to reconsider the benefits of economic freedom. Contrary to what partisans of big government claim, the empirical case for economic freedom has grown much stronger in the last 10 years, due to the development of objective ...
Business & Economics

“Do You Austrians Have a Better Idea?”

A lot of people get annoyed with Austrian economists because they tend to be so dogmatic (we prefer the term consistent) and because they cloak their strictly economic claims with self-righteousness (we prefer the term morality). After a good Austrian bashing of the latest call to steal taxpayer money and ...
Business & Economics

Houston’s Wi-Fi, ‘Bubble’ Plan Both Fail

The city of Houston’s plan for municipal wi-fi began with the best of intentions: A grand plan to blanket the city with a wireless “cloud” providing cheap Internet access for the masses. When that project failed in 2007, as it has in many other places, the city turned to a ...
Business & Economics

Google CEO Calls for Government Tech Money

As the U.S. government was scurrying to find ways to bail out some of the nation’s largest companies, Google CEO Eric Schmidt criticized economic freedom and said the rescue plans should be used to support new telecommunications infrastructure and solve longstanding innovation issues. “Let’s not just have bailout programs,” Schmidt ...
Business & Economics

Some Governments Fail to Learn from Muni Wi-fi Failures

Municipal wi-fi programs have failed across the country during the past two years, leaving San Francisco-based Meraki as one of few companies still willing to give it a go. As a result, tech experts are cautioning cities against getting wooed into providing “free” wi-fi again. “Muni wi-fi isn’t working because ...
Commentary

Health-care budget realities

Before President-elect Barack Obama attempts to overhaul America’s health-care system and put us on the road toward “universal” coverage, he should have a chat with his new budget director, Peter Orszag. As former head of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the agency responsible for estimating the cost of federal legislation, ...
Business & Economics

Governor’s Entrepreneurship Conference offers recommendations

To find out which state policies California’s small-business owners would like to change, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently convened a two-day conference in Los Angeles. Greater government dependency and intervention will reduce innovation, economic growth and job creation. Or, as Albert Einstein said, “Bureaucracy is the death of all sound work.” ...
Business & Economics

Don’t let trial lawyers overdose on drug suits

President Barack Obama shattered some old paradigms for how to finance a campaign. But he and his Democratic colleagues stuck to the script when it comes to leaning on trial lawyers for campaign cash. During this last election season, federal Democratic candidates collected more than $136 million from lawyers, the ...
Business & Economics

Some Stimulating Reading

Some Stimulating Reading With the bloated, ramshackle, pork-laden, grotesque corruption of a “stimulus bill” now headed to the U.S. Senate, here’s a handy list of arguments and sources as we debate America’s new lurch towards European-style social democracy: The Pacific Research Institute’s Robert Murphy explains the economic-policy mistake that underlies ...
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