Studies
Health Care
San Francisco’s Employer Health Tax: Change We Can Do Without
Mayor Gavin Newsom’s Healthy San Francisco plan, which he claims is a model for President Obama’s “public option,” recently picked up some scholarly support. Business owners and low-income workers are not likely to find it encouraging. Effective since January 2008, San Francisco’s Health Care Security Ordinance comprises a head tax ...
Health Care
Meet the New Boss, Same As the Old Boss: President Obama’s Best Health “Insurance” Reforms Were Passed In 1997
The president’s goal of exerting control over Americans’ access to health care has been fighting serious headwinds. While insisting that the government would never get between “you and your doctor,” he also pointed out that the government would only pay for the “blue pill” if it had the same effect ...
Business & Economics
Is San Francisco’s “Open Season” on Data a Model for State Government?
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom last month launched DataSF.org, a new web site designed to improve transparency by disclosing information about city government. Giving residents unfettered access to data such as crime statistics, restaurant inspection records, and public works projects demonstrates a strong commitment to open government, but will it ...
Business & Economics
Tort Tally 2009
The Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a free-market think tank based in California, today released Tort Law Tally, a new report identifying which state tort reforms reduce tort losses and tort insurance premiums the most. The analysis identifies 18 reforms to state civil-justice systems that significantly reduce tort losses and/or tort ...
Business & Economics
Why the Silver State Mines the Golden State for Business
Nevada is running a rather edgy advertising campaign to lure businesses from the Golden State to the Silver State. This could serve as a wakeup call for California, but the response so far is not encouraging. The $1 million campaign from the Nevada Development Authority puts a porcine spin on ...
Education
Will “Race to the Top” Money Talk Loud Enough to Drown Out Union Complaints?
On July 24, President Obama laid out a plan for incentive-based education reform in a speech at the United States Department of Education. The incentives come in the form of $4 billion in federal “Race to the Top” money up for grabs by schools as part of his Economic Recovery ...
Climate Change
Climate Modeling is Far From a Precise Science
A recent study of paleoclimate, the results of which appear in the August issue of Nature Geoscience, finds that today’s climate models do not accurately predict the most similar previous episode of climate warming in the geologic record. California Republic, August 21, 2009 A recent study of paleoclimate, the results ...
Business & Economics
Assessing the State of the Golden State
The Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a free-market think tank based in California, found that California’s labor performance over the last five years is among the worst performing in the nation, ranking 48th and besting only Michigan and Mississippi. The ranking was published in the new study “Assessing the State of ...
Education
Down but Not Out in D.C.: Bi-Partisan, Bi-Cameral Efforts to Continue the Opportunity Scholarship Program
This Policy Brief was co-authored by Evelyn B. Stacey, Education Studies Policy Fellow at the Pacific Research Institute in Sacramento, California. Executive Summary This June, dozens of students who had used D.C. Opportunity Scholarships graduated from their chosen private high schools. “We stand as examples of just how successful this ...
California
Governor Schwarzenegger Misunderstands California’s Lessons for Federal Health Reform
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger recently wrote a letter to congressional leaders expressing concern about three elements of the looming federal health care take-over: increasing Medicaid costs; wellness, prevention, and quality; and coverage for all. The July 31 letter shows that the governor has failed to learn the lessons of his ...
San Francisco’s Employer Health Tax: Change We Can Do Without
Mayor Gavin Newsom’s Healthy San Francisco plan, which he claims is a model for President Obama’s “public option,” recently picked up some scholarly support. Business owners and low-income workers are not likely to find it encouraging. Effective since January 2008, San Francisco’s Health Care Security Ordinance comprises a head tax ...
Meet the New Boss, Same As the Old Boss: President Obama’s Best Health “Insurance” Reforms Were Passed In 1997
The president’s goal of exerting control over Americans’ access to health care has been fighting serious headwinds. While insisting that the government would never get between “you and your doctor,” he also pointed out that the government would only pay for the “blue pill” if it had the same effect ...
Is San Francisco’s “Open Season” on Data a Model for State Government?
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom last month launched DataSF.org, a new web site designed to improve transparency by disclosing information about city government. Giving residents unfettered access to data such as crime statistics, restaurant inspection records, and public works projects demonstrates a strong commitment to open government, but will it ...
Tort Tally 2009
The Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a free-market think tank based in California, today released Tort Law Tally, a new report identifying which state tort reforms reduce tort losses and tort insurance premiums the most. The analysis identifies 18 reforms to state civil-justice systems that significantly reduce tort losses and/or tort ...
Why the Silver State Mines the Golden State for Business
Nevada is running a rather edgy advertising campaign to lure businesses from the Golden State to the Silver State. This could serve as a wakeup call for California, but the response so far is not encouraging. The $1 million campaign from the Nevada Development Authority puts a porcine spin on ...
Will “Race to the Top” Money Talk Loud Enough to Drown Out Union Complaints?
On July 24, President Obama laid out a plan for incentive-based education reform in a speech at the United States Department of Education. The incentives come in the form of $4 billion in federal “Race to the Top” money up for grabs by schools as part of his Economic Recovery ...
Climate Modeling is Far From a Precise Science
A recent study of paleoclimate, the results of which appear in the August issue of Nature Geoscience, finds that today’s climate models do not accurately predict the most similar previous episode of climate warming in the geologic record. California Republic, August 21, 2009 A recent study of paleoclimate, the results ...
Assessing the State of the Golden State
The Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a free-market think tank based in California, found that California’s labor performance over the last five years is among the worst performing in the nation, ranking 48th and besting only Michigan and Mississippi. The ranking was published in the new study “Assessing the State of ...
Down but Not Out in D.C.: Bi-Partisan, Bi-Cameral Efforts to Continue the Opportunity Scholarship Program
This Policy Brief was co-authored by Evelyn B. Stacey, Education Studies Policy Fellow at the Pacific Research Institute in Sacramento, California. Executive Summary This June, dozens of students who had used D.C. Opportunity Scholarships graduated from their chosen private high schools. “We stand as examples of just how successful this ...
Governor Schwarzenegger Misunderstands California’s Lessons for Federal Health Reform
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger recently wrote a letter to congressional leaders expressing concern about three elements of the looming federal health care take-over: increasing Medicaid costs; wellness, prevention, and quality; and coverage for all. The July 31 letter shows that the governor has failed to learn the lessons of his ...
