Studies
Health Care
Escaping From Unhealthy Health Care Dependency: Lessons from Down Under
Many politicos advocate more government as the “solution” du jour for American health care – as if we don’t have enough already. But government interference could come at the expense of new medical technology and competitive ventures that promise to improve quality, reduce costs, and increase choices for individuals. Americans ...
Business & Economics
PRI Introduces a 3% Flat Income Tax Rate Plan for Californians
PRI Introduces a 3% Flat Income Tax Rate Plan for Californians SACRAMENTO, MAY 6, 2008 – The Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a free-market think tank based in California, today released the results of a study to determine a revenue-neutral flat income tax rate for California. The report found that a ...
California
California Can Learn Health Care Lessons From Down Under
Health care reform is still on the table in California, which should consider carefully the achievements and failings of foreign systems. Canada is the usual candidate but Australia’s health care strategies deserve a closer look. The negative effects of Australia’s government-run health system are predictable and apparent: limited distribution of ...
Publications
President’s Message – Spring 2008
Life in America After the Election SAN FRANCISCO – On Wednesday, November 12, the Pacific Research Institute welcomes columnist George F. Will as keynote speaker for PRI’s annual gala dinner at the Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco. The event comes barely eight days after the November 4 presidential election. George F. ...
California
National Report Card Confirms That Most California Kids Still Can’t Write
SACRAMENTO – Recent results from a national student writing test confirm the lament that writing is becoming a lost art, especially in California. Contrary to the sound bites of educators, the inability to write coherent sentences is not just a problem of kids who are learning English. The National Assessment ...
Climate Change
Index of Leading Environmental Indicators: 2008 Report
As this report and others like it have explored for more than a decade, environmental improvement in the United States has been substantial and dramatic, almost across the board. The chief drivers of this improvement are economic growth, constantly increasing resource efficiency, technological innovation in pollution control, and the deepening ...
Business & Economics
California Lawmaker Says Speech Should be Free on the Internet … After Taxes?
Next week California lawmakers meet to consider a new $500-million tax on Internet commerce. Some have dubbed this the “iTax” because of its application to Apple’s iTunes digital music store, but Assemblyman Charles Calderon (D-Whittier) is targeting more than just songs. In reality, AB 1956 is a “free speech tax” ...
Health Care
Why Consumer-Driven Health Care is Crashing on the Shoals of Medicare
Last month’s Medicare Trustees’ report confirms that Medicare is going bankrupt faster than Social Security, even though they serve the same population. Social Security subsidizes demand by seniors for all goods and services, whereas Medicare subsidizes the supply of health goods and services to seniors at fixed prices, which creates ...
Business & Economics
Male-Female Facts and Fallacies
“History shows that the career paths of women over the course of the twentieth century bore little resemblance to a scenario in which variations in employer discrimination explain variations in women’s career progress.” The author of that statement, Thomas Sowell, Hoover Institution scholar, believes that there is indeed discrimination against ...
Commentary
More Scrutiny for CIRM and Big-Government Health Care
State Senator Sheila Kuehl, California’s leading partisan of government monopoly health care, has assumed the role of consumer watchdog. Her new measure, SB 1565, “Stem Cell Research – Public Accountability and Access,” targets problems with the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). Some may wonder if the senator should be ...
Escaping From Unhealthy Health Care Dependency: Lessons from Down Under
Many politicos advocate more government as the “solution” du jour for American health care – as if we don’t have enough already. But government interference could come at the expense of new medical technology and competitive ventures that promise to improve quality, reduce costs, and increase choices for individuals. Americans ...
PRI Introduces a 3% Flat Income Tax Rate Plan for Californians
PRI Introduces a 3% Flat Income Tax Rate Plan for Californians SACRAMENTO, MAY 6, 2008 – The Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a free-market think tank based in California, today released the results of a study to determine a revenue-neutral flat income tax rate for California. The report found that a ...
California Can Learn Health Care Lessons From Down Under
Health care reform is still on the table in California, which should consider carefully the achievements and failings of foreign systems. Canada is the usual candidate but Australia’s health care strategies deserve a closer look. The negative effects of Australia’s government-run health system are predictable and apparent: limited distribution of ...
President’s Message – Spring 2008
Life in America After the Election SAN FRANCISCO – On Wednesday, November 12, the Pacific Research Institute welcomes columnist George F. Will as keynote speaker for PRI’s annual gala dinner at the Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco. The event comes barely eight days after the November 4 presidential election. George F. ...
National Report Card Confirms That Most California Kids Still Can’t Write
SACRAMENTO – Recent results from a national student writing test confirm the lament that writing is becoming a lost art, especially in California. Contrary to the sound bites of educators, the inability to write coherent sentences is not just a problem of kids who are learning English. The National Assessment ...
Index of Leading Environmental Indicators: 2008 Report
As this report and others like it have explored for more than a decade, environmental improvement in the United States has been substantial and dramatic, almost across the board. The chief drivers of this improvement are economic growth, constantly increasing resource efficiency, technological innovation in pollution control, and the deepening ...
California Lawmaker Says Speech Should be Free on the Internet … After Taxes?
Next week California lawmakers meet to consider a new $500-million tax on Internet commerce. Some have dubbed this the “iTax” because of its application to Apple’s iTunes digital music store, but Assemblyman Charles Calderon (D-Whittier) is targeting more than just songs. In reality, AB 1956 is a “free speech tax” ...
Why Consumer-Driven Health Care is Crashing on the Shoals of Medicare
Last month’s Medicare Trustees’ report confirms that Medicare is going bankrupt faster than Social Security, even though they serve the same population. Social Security subsidizes demand by seniors for all goods and services, whereas Medicare subsidizes the supply of health goods and services to seniors at fixed prices, which creates ...
Male-Female Facts and Fallacies
“History shows that the career paths of women over the course of the twentieth century bore little resemblance to a scenario in which variations in employer discrimination explain variations in women’s career progress.” The author of that statement, Thomas Sowell, Hoover Institution scholar, believes that there is indeed discrimination against ...
More Scrutiny for CIRM and Big-Government Health Care
State Senator Sheila Kuehl, California’s leading partisan of government monopoly health care, has assumed the role of consumer watchdog. Her new measure, SB 1565, “Stem Cell Research – Public Accountability and Access,” targets problems with the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). Some may wonder if the senator should be ...
