Publications

Business & Economics

Going Broke One City at a Time: Municipal Bankruptcies in America

Municipalities have rarely defaulted on their debt. As a consequence, municipal debt is regarded as having an extremely low risk for investors. There are disconcerting trends developing that may change this historical view. The combination of the weak U.S. economy, high municipal debt levels, and large under-funded pension liabilities coupled ...
California

California’s Efficient Energy: Doing More Harm than Good?

When it comes to saving the planet, some of the most popular weapons are policies to promote energy efficiency. As Tim Greeff, deputy legislative director of the League of Conservation Voters recently quipped, “Efficiency is always the cheapest, cleanest, safest, quickest way to cut down on both global warming and ...
California

Co-Sponsored Study Says Common Core National Education Standards are Expensive and Undermine State and Local Control

Pacific Research Institute Co-Sponsored Study Says Common Core National Education Standards are Expensive and Undermine State and Local Control San Francisco – A just-published study by the Boston-based Pioneer Institute and co-sponsored by the California-based Pacific Research Institute, the American Principles Project and the Civitas Institute concludes that the Common ...
Business & Economics

New Pacific Research Institute Study Finds that “Plan Bay Area” Will Drive Housing Prices Higher, Intensify Traffic, and Increase Air Pollution

The Pacific Research Institute released a new study on the proposed “Plan Bay Area.” The study describes the proposal’s regulatory overreach and its detrimental consequences for Bay Area residents and the metropolitan economy. In addition, the study shows that improved fuel efficiency by 2035 will more than meet the requirements ...
Health Care

The Cure for Obamacare

The battle to bring about meaningful health care reform in the U.S. is a long-term fight, and Obamacare is not the option. Under President Obama’s health care law, Americans will ultimately face long waiting lists, rationed care, and a lack of access to the latest technology and treatments. The changes ...
Business & Economics

Obama’s Green Team

The four leaders of Barack Obama’s 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

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 reform—the 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 York’s 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 ...
California

2013 Supplement to the 2011 Environmental Almanac

The reduction in air pollution continues to be the most successful domain of pollution reduction since the first Earth Day in 1970. Since the first edition of this Almanac two years ago, reductions in air pollution have been astonishing. The EPA recently updated its inventory of ambient air pollution levels ...
Business & Economics

Going Broke One City at a Time: Municipal Bankruptcies in America

Municipalities have rarely defaulted on their debt. As a consequence, municipal debt is regarded as having an extremely low risk for investors. There are disconcerting trends developing that may change this historical view. The combination of the weak U.S. economy, high municipal debt levels, and large under-funded pension liabilities coupled ...
California

California’s Efficient Energy: Doing More Harm than Good?

When it comes to saving the planet, some of the most popular weapons are policies to promote energy efficiency. As Tim Greeff, deputy legislative director of the League of Conservation Voters recently quipped, “Efficiency is always the cheapest, cleanest, safest, quickest way to cut down on both global warming and ...
California

Co-Sponsored Study Says Common Core National Education Standards are Expensive and Undermine State and Local Control

Pacific Research Institute Co-Sponsored Study Says Common Core National Education Standards are Expensive and Undermine State and Local Control San Francisco – A just-published study by the Boston-based Pioneer Institute and co-sponsored by the California-based Pacific Research Institute, the American Principles Project and the Civitas Institute concludes that the Common ...
Business & Economics

New Pacific Research Institute Study Finds that “Plan Bay Area” Will Drive Housing Prices Higher, Intensify Traffic, and Increase Air Pollution

The Pacific Research Institute released a new study on the proposed “Plan Bay Area.” The study describes the proposal’s regulatory overreach and its detrimental consequences for Bay Area residents and the metropolitan economy. In addition, the study shows that improved fuel efficiency by 2035 will more than meet the requirements ...
Health Care

The Cure for Obamacare

The battle to bring about meaningful health care reform in the U.S. is a long-term fight, and Obamacare is not the option. Under President Obama’s health care law, Americans will ultimately face long waiting lists, rationed care, and a lack of access to the latest technology and treatments. The changes ...
Business & Economics

Obama’s Green Team

The four leaders of Barack Obama’s 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

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 reform—the 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 York’s 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 ...
California

2013 Supplement to the 2011 Environmental Almanac

The reduction in air pollution continues to be the most successful domain of pollution reduction since the first Earth Day in 1970. Since the first edition of this Almanac two years ago, reductions in air pollution have been astonishing. The EPA recently updated its inventory of ambient air pollution levels ...
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