Studies
Commentary
India’s War On Intellectual Property Rights May Bring With It A Body Count
Last month, drug maker Roche withdrew its patents for the breast-cancer drug Herceptin in India and thus gave tacit approval to other companies to make low-cost generic versions of the drug. But the withdrawal of those patents was not completely voluntary. If the Swiss pharmaceutical firm had not relinquished ...
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 proposals 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 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
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 ...
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
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 ...
India’s War On Intellectual Property Rights May Bring With It A Body Count
Last month, drug maker Roche withdrew its patents for the breast-cancer drug Herceptin in India and thus gave tacit approval to other companies to make low-cost generic versions of the drug. But the withdrawal of those patents was not completely voluntary. If the Swiss pharmaceutical firm had not relinquished ...
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 proposals 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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
