Studies
Business & Economics
Will a lawsuit today keep Apple away?
Last week Psystar, an obscure Miami-based company, launched a legal attack on Apple that could cripple one of California’s key high-tech innovators. The case offers lessons for entrepreneurs and gives the courts an opportunity to end a legal scam that hurts consumers. In April, Psystar began selling inexpensive Mac knock-offs ...
Commentary
Court Re-Connects with Reality in Homeschool Reversal
SACRAMENTO – Earlier this year, California’s Second District Court of Appeal shocked parents and lawmakers by effectively banning the homeschooling of children. In my column “Court Out of Touch with Reality in Homeschool Decision ,” I pointed out that the court had ignored a longtime state practice that gave approval ...
Business & Economics
How Water, Oil, and Government Mix in California
On August 6, the California Coastal Commission approved a desalination plant at Carlsbad in San Diego County, a region with severe water needs in normal times and hard hit by the current drought. The $300-million for-profit venture by the Poseidon Resources Corporation aims to produce as much as 50 million ...
Health Care
2008 U.S. Index of Health Ownership
National Think Tank Releases State Rankings on Health Ownership Alabama Comes Out on Top, New York Finishes Last San Francisco-Americans lack the basic freedom to make their own health care decisions according to the second edition of the U.S. Index of Health Ownership, an annual report by the Pacific Research ...
Government Spending
Ranking Health Care in the States: The Most Important Input is the Patient
State-Based Health Reforms Demand State-Based Performance Measurements This month, PRI publishes the second edition of the U.S. Index of Health Ownership (IHOP), the only project that ranks states’ health care according to principles of individual choice. This is very different from other rankings of health care in the states, because ...
Education
Demography Is Not Destiny: Reform Lessons from Florida on Overcoming Achievement Gaps
The Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a free-market think tank based in California, today released a report showing that a disadvantaged socio-economic background does not necessarily consign students to poor academic performance. According to Demography Is Not Destiny: Reform Lessons from Florida on Overcoming Achievement Gaps, low-income students in Florida consistently ...
Health Care
Unbalanced Billing In California Hospitals: Is This A Problem the State Can Solve By Getting Out of the Way?
Imagine if you bought an airline ticket to fly from San Francisco to Chicago and after the flight you received an extra bill from the co-pilot for what he claims is a fair price for his services. He is unsatisfied with the airline’s pay, and would like you and your ...
Education
The High Price of Failure in California: How Inadequate Education Costs Schools, Students, and Society
More than a decade ago, in 1996, the California State University (CSU) trustees adopted a policy to reduce the need for remediation to no more than 10 percent of incoming freshmen by 2007. In 1998, the state outlawed K12 social promotion, requiring schools to retain any student performing below grade-level ...
Health Care
State Health Benefit Mandates Increase the Number of Uninsured
San Francisco, July 1, 2008 – The Pacific Research Institute today released the findings of a new report reviewing the impact of state benefit mandates on the uninsured. According to From Heart Transplants to Hairpieces: The Questionable Benefits of State Benefit Mandates for Health Insurance, benefit mandates increase health insurance ...
Health Care
From Heart Transplants to Hairpieces: The Questionable Benefits of State Benefit Mandates for Health Insurance
A benefit mandate is simply a state law that requires a health plan to pay for (or at least offer) a specified treatment, but there is nothing simple about quantifying the costs of such mandates. This paper reviews 28 original actuarial and econometric articles that attempt to estimate the cost ...
Will a lawsuit today keep Apple away?
Last week Psystar, an obscure Miami-based company, launched a legal attack on Apple that could cripple one of California’s key high-tech innovators. The case offers lessons for entrepreneurs and gives the courts an opportunity to end a legal scam that hurts consumers. In April, Psystar began selling inexpensive Mac knock-offs ...
Court Re-Connects with Reality in Homeschool Reversal
SACRAMENTO – Earlier this year, California’s Second District Court of Appeal shocked parents and lawmakers by effectively banning the homeschooling of children. In my column “Court Out of Touch with Reality in Homeschool Decision ,” I pointed out that the court had ignored a longtime state practice that gave approval ...
How Water, Oil, and Government Mix in California
On August 6, the California Coastal Commission approved a desalination plant at Carlsbad in San Diego County, a region with severe water needs in normal times and hard hit by the current drought. The $300-million for-profit venture by the Poseidon Resources Corporation aims to produce as much as 50 million ...
2008 U.S. Index of Health Ownership
National Think Tank Releases State Rankings on Health Ownership Alabama Comes Out on Top, New York Finishes Last San Francisco-Americans lack the basic freedom to make their own health care decisions according to the second edition of the U.S. Index of Health Ownership, an annual report by the Pacific Research ...
Ranking Health Care in the States: The Most Important Input is the Patient
State-Based Health Reforms Demand State-Based Performance Measurements This month, PRI publishes the second edition of the U.S. Index of Health Ownership (IHOP), the only project that ranks states’ health care according to principles of individual choice. This is very different from other rankings of health care in the states, because ...
Demography Is Not Destiny: Reform Lessons from Florida on Overcoming Achievement Gaps
The Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a free-market think tank based in California, today released a report showing that a disadvantaged socio-economic background does not necessarily consign students to poor academic performance. According to Demography Is Not Destiny: Reform Lessons from Florida on Overcoming Achievement Gaps, low-income students in Florida consistently ...
Unbalanced Billing In California Hospitals: Is This A Problem the State Can Solve By Getting Out of the Way?
Imagine if you bought an airline ticket to fly from San Francisco to Chicago and after the flight you received an extra bill from the co-pilot for what he claims is a fair price for his services. He is unsatisfied with the airline’s pay, and would like you and your ...
The High Price of Failure in California: How Inadequate Education Costs Schools, Students, and Society
More than a decade ago, in 1996, the California State University (CSU) trustees adopted a policy to reduce the need for remediation to no more than 10 percent of incoming freshmen by 2007. In 1998, the state outlawed K12 social promotion, requiring schools to retain any student performing below grade-level ...
State Health Benefit Mandates Increase the Number of Uninsured
San Francisco, July 1, 2008 – The Pacific Research Institute today released the findings of a new report reviewing the impact of state benefit mandates on the uninsured. According to From Heart Transplants to Hairpieces: The Questionable Benefits of State Benefit Mandates for Health Insurance, benefit mandates increase health insurance ...
From Heart Transplants to Hairpieces: The Questionable Benefits of State Benefit Mandates for Health Insurance
A benefit mandate is simply a state law that requires a health plan to pay for (or at least offer) a specified treatment, but there is nothing simple about quantifying the costs of such mandates. This paper reviews 28 original actuarial and econometric articles that attempt to estimate the cost ...
