Unemployment
Agriculture
If California Wants to Resist, Let’s Start with Trade Policy
Less than 32 percent of California voters who went to the polls on Election Day in 2016 pulled the lever for Donald Trump. These “deplorables” are probably delighted that Hillary Clinton isn’t president and pleased in general with how Trump has governed. Trump’s trade policies, though, should be another matter. ...
Blog
Education and Free Markets: How Education Changes People’s Lives, Through Increased Upward Mobility
If you want to handicap a man for the rest of his life, deny him an education. This is manifestly true in America, as the disadvantages associated with a poor education tend to multiply in a free society and a free economy. It is our dedication to free markets that ...
Commentary
Iowa Is “Done” Waiting for Congress to Fix Obamacare
As goes Iowa, so goes the nation — or at least that’s the conventional wisdom during presidential elections. Let’s hope the same rule applies to healthcare reform. Earlier this month, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a law that takes advantage of a major loophole in Obamacare. The legislation, based on ...
Blog
U.S. Must Lead at Home to Change the Global Economy
For centuries, America has worked because of free enterprise: Millions of individuals communicate their preferences and producers respond with changes in products, services and prices. Free enterprise operates silently, efficiently and effectively to bring us the things we need at prices we can afford. Free enterprise creates great wealth through ...
Blog
Basic Income Comes to Stockton
Just six years after declaring bankruptcy due to a 15-year spending binge, Stockton is now exploring creative new ways of spending again. This time, it’s a one-year experiment to give several dozen Stockton families $500 a month, with no strings attached. The idea of “universal basic income” – providing everyone ...
Business & Economics
2018’s challenge: Too many jobs, not enough workers
By Danielle Paquette Employers nationwide are grappling with a problem that threatens to stall economic growth: vacancies — and lots of them. In Maine, where flurries can fall as late as April, the state transportation department is struggling to find snowplow drivers, thanks to the increasingly tight labor market. Ski resorts in ...
Business & Economics
Foreign Experiments With Trickle-Down Tax Cuts: A Rare Proposition For A Robust Economy
By Jason Margolis “The Word”/Public Radio International In the late 1970s, Ireland’s economy was struggling. So they decided to cut business taxes dramatically while also increasing individual taxes including on the middle class. The idea was that stronger businesses would benefit everyone. It worked. “For the following 25 years, they had really rapid ...
Blog
The Other Pretty Girl
At a PRI conference a few years ago, someone in the audience had a great question for our keynote speaker, a renowned economist: Given California’s bad economic policies, why do people still like the state? With typical flair and charm, not to mention political incorrectness (which is why I am ...
Blog
Legislature Should Remove Barriers to Work for Californians
Late last month, U.S. Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta challenged state legislators to abolish one of the most noxious barriers to work: occupational licensing. If Sacramento lawmakers followed through, hundreds of thousands of Californians would be liberated from a system that bars entry into the workforce and also protects those who’ve ...
Commentary
Republicans Shouldn’t Wince At That CBO Score
Senate Republicans just delayed a vote on their health care bill. The decision came less than a day after the Congressional Budget Office officially “scored” the bill and found that 22 million people would lose coverage if the legislation passes. There are plenty of reasons to object to the Senate ...
If California Wants to Resist, Let’s Start with Trade Policy
Less than 32 percent of California voters who went to the polls on Election Day in 2016 pulled the lever for Donald Trump. These “deplorables” are probably delighted that Hillary Clinton isn’t president and pleased in general with how Trump has governed. Trump’s trade policies, though, should be another matter. ...
Education and Free Markets: How Education Changes People’s Lives, Through Increased Upward Mobility
If you want to handicap a man for the rest of his life, deny him an education. This is manifestly true in America, as the disadvantages associated with a poor education tend to multiply in a free society and a free economy. It is our dedication to free markets that ...
Iowa Is “Done” Waiting for Congress to Fix Obamacare
As goes Iowa, so goes the nation — or at least that’s the conventional wisdom during presidential elections. Let’s hope the same rule applies to healthcare reform. Earlier this month, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a law that takes advantage of a major loophole in Obamacare. The legislation, based on ...
U.S. Must Lead at Home to Change the Global Economy
For centuries, America has worked because of free enterprise: Millions of individuals communicate their preferences and producers respond with changes in products, services and prices. Free enterprise operates silently, efficiently and effectively to bring us the things we need at prices we can afford. Free enterprise creates great wealth through ...
Basic Income Comes to Stockton
Just six years after declaring bankruptcy due to a 15-year spending binge, Stockton is now exploring creative new ways of spending again. This time, it’s a one-year experiment to give several dozen Stockton families $500 a month, with no strings attached. The idea of “universal basic income” – providing everyone ...
2018’s challenge: Too many jobs, not enough workers
By Danielle Paquette Employers nationwide are grappling with a problem that threatens to stall economic growth: vacancies — and lots of them. In Maine, where flurries can fall as late as April, the state transportation department is struggling to find snowplow drivers, thanks to the increasingly tight labor market. Ski resorts in ...
Foreign Experiments With Trickle-Down Tax Cuts: A Rare Proposition For A Robust Economy
By Jason Margolis “The Word”/Public Radio International In the late 1970s, Ireland’s economy was struggling. So they decided to cut business taxes dramatically while also increasing individual taxes including on the middle class. The idea was that stronger businesses would benefit everyone. It worked. “For the following 25 years, they had really rapid ...
The Other Pretty Girl
At a PRI conference a few years ago, someone in the audience had a great question for our keynote speaker, a renowned economist: Given California’s bad economic policies, why do people still like the state? With typical flair and charm, not to mention political incorrectness (which is why I am ...
Legislature Should Remove Barriers to Work for Californians
Late last month, U.S. Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta challenged state legislators to abolish one of the most noxious barriers to work: occupational licensing. If Sacramento lawmakers followed through, hundreds of thousands of Californians would be liberated from a system that bars entry into the workforce and also protects those who’ve ...
Republicans Shouldn’t Wince At That CBO Score
Senate Republicans just delayed a vote on their health care bill. The decision came less than a day after the Congressional Budget Office officially “scored” the bill and found that 22 million people would lose coverage if the legislation passes. There are plenty of reasons to object to the Senate ...
