Business & Economics
Blog
The ESG Threat to California’s Pensions
California’s public pensions are in trouble. While the Pew Charitable Trusts reports that California’s current unfunded liabilities are nearly $170 billion, as I recently reported in my chartbook on California’s pension crisis, the crisis is much worse. Valuing the liabilities using a more realistic market rate, the total pension debt ...
Blog
Taking a Long-Term View to Evaluate Trade, Market Policy
As I write this article in late November of 2018, the stock market has fallen significantly from its recent highs. These losses, which have erased nearly all the gains made thus far in 2018 push us toward official correction territory for both the DOW and NASDAQ for the year. These ...
Business & Economics
Redefining Presidential Failure As Success
While success still has many fathers, failure is no longer an orphan. President Obama’s recent speeches and rallies demonstrate that, now, failure is simply redefined as success. The costs from this revisionism is high. Creating false narratives encourage policies that will harm economic prosperity and impose large economic hardships on ...
Business & Economics
Latest report cites need for reform of job-killing occupational licensing regulations
By Bethany Blankley The latest report calling for occupational licensing reforms joins others in saying that strict licensing requirements cost millions of jobs, billions of dollars in economic costs, and reduced overall GDP . . . “All too often, the licensing requirements are an obstacle for qualified professionals to compete ...
Blog
Meat the Next Sin Tax
If your holiday meals include filet mignon, rack of lamb, roast pork, or even charcuterie, you might want to reach for a second helping while you can still afford it. That’s because Oxford University researchers are proposing a tax on meat. Their goal is to “save you” from cancer, heart ...
Business & Economics
The Bizarre World of Drug Pricing
There is no shortage of bad ideas when it comes to the pharmaceutical market. One such proposal would allow drugs to be imported directly from other countries, such as Canada. Then there is the Trump Administration’s proposal that would effectively adopt foreign price controls on Medicare Part B drugs by ...
Blog
Tax Reform Making a Difference in Increasing Opportunity for All Americans
In the early 21st century, American fiscal policy must balance and prioritize two fundamental goals. First, we need to create the best possible environment for investment and innovation, setting the stage for another century of unparalleled prosperity. Second, we need to ensure that the largest possible number of Americans, from ...
Business & Economics
New Medicare Price Controls Don’t Put America First
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar just released a sweeping proposal that would drastically change how Medicare pays for advanced cancer therapies and other potent medicines. The plan relies on foreign price controls to reduce drug spending by $17 billion over five years. Although drug spending may decline, as ...
Business & Economics
The Law of Unintended Consequences: The Case of Proxy Advisory Firms
The SEC requires all institutional investors to vote on all matters put forth in proxy statements, or the measures voted on during shareholder meetings. For most institutional investors, keeping up with all of these issues is not feasible, so they turn to proxy advisory firms. Proxy advisory firms help institutional ...
Blog
PRI Calls for Reform to Disclose Proxy Advisory Firm Biases in Activist Investment Push
Argues That SEC Should Ensure Shareholder Interests Are Top Priority in Investment Decisions SAN FRANCISCO – Policy reforms should be enacted to ensure that proxy advisory firms promote fund managers’ fiduciary responsibilities to shareholders and increase transparency over the firms’ biases and conflicts of interest, the Pacific Research Institute argued ...
The ESG Threat to California’s Pensions
California’s public pensions are in trouble. While the Pew Charitable Trusts reports that California’s current unfunded liabilities are nearly $170 billion, as I recently reported in my chartbook on California’s pension crisis, the crisis is much worse. Valuing the liabilities using a more realistic market rate, the total pension debt ...
Taking a Long-Term View to Evaluate Trade, Market Policy
As I write this article in late November of 2018, the stock market has fallen significantly from its recent highs. These losses, which have erased nearly all the gains made thus far in 2018 push us toward official correction territory for both the DOW and NASDAQ for the year. These ...
Redefining Presidential Failure As Success
While success still has many fathers, failure is no longer an orphan. President Obama’s recent speeches and rallies demonstrate that, now, failure is simply redefined as success. The costs from this revisionism is high. Creating false narratives encourage policies that will harm economic prosperity and impose large economic hardships on ...
Latest report cites need for reform of job-killing occupational licensing regulations
By Bethany Blankley The latest report calling for occupational licensing reforms joins others in saying that strict licensing requirements cost millions of jobs, billions of dollars in economic costs, and reduced overall GDP . . . “All too often, the licensing requirements are an obstacle for qualified professionals to compete ...
Meat the Next Sin Tax
If your holiday meals include filet mignon, rack of lamb, roast pork, or even charcuterie, you might want to reach for a second helping while you can still afford it. That’s because Oxford University researchers are proposing a tax on meat. Their goal is to “save you” from cancer, heart ...
The Bizarre World of Drug Pricing
There is no shortage of bad ideas when it comes to the pharmaceutical market. One such proposal would allow drugs to be imported directly from other countries, such as Canada. Then there is the Trump Administration’s proposal that would effectively adopt foreign price controls on Medicare Part B drugs by ...
Tax Reform Making a Difference in Increasing Opportunity for All Americans
In the early 21st century, American fiscal policy must balance and prioritize two fundamental goals. First, we need to create the best possible environment for investment and innovation, setting the stage for another century of unparalleled prosperity. Second, we need to ensure that the largest possible number of Americans, from ...
New Medicare Price Controls Don’t Put America First
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar just released a sweeping proposal that would drastically change how Medicare pays for advanced cancer therapies and other potent medicines. The plan relies on foreign price controls to reduce drug spending by $17 billion over five years. Although drug spending may decline, as ...
The Law of Unintended Consequences: The Case of Proxy Advisory Firms
The SEC requires all institutional investors to vote on all matters put forth in proxy statements, or the measures voted on during shareholder meetings. For most institutional investors, keeping up with all of these issues is not feasible, so they turn to proxy advisory firms. Proxy advisory firms help institutional ...
PRI Calls for Reform to Disclose Proxy Advisory Firm Biases in Activist Investment Push
Argues That SEC Should Ensure Shareholder Interests Are Top Priority in Investment Decisions SAN FRANCISCO – Policy reforms should be enacted to ensure that proxy advisory firms promote fund managers’ fiduciary responsibilities to shareholders and increase transparency over the firms’ biases and conflicts of interest, the Pacific Research Institute argued ...
