Tag: special interest
It’s never worth playing the Olympic game
March 22, 2017 | Post
Budapest has done the sensible thing and withdrawn from the competition to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. Finally a refutation of the standard point about economists – that the more united their view on a subject the less attention anyone else pays to them. For the truth about the Olympics is that they are a […]
The battle to make America wet again
March 8, 2017 | Post
The forgotten story of how American women turned the tide against Prohibition and reclaimed the moral high ground from the dry movement.
How a telephone company used the government to monopolize an industry for decades
March 3, 2017 | Post
“Oh for the days of Ma Bell!” is not a lament we’re likely to hear. And for good reason. Before the breakup of AT&T, America’s telephone system was a government-sanctioned monopoly characterized by stagnant service offerings, high costs, and a glacial pace of consumer-facing innovation. So it was distressing when a federal appeals court engaged […]
4 New Year's resolutions for the Trump administration
January 3, 2017 | Post
Trump doesn’t seem like the type for self-improvement, but here are four unsolicited recommendations anyway.
The myth of draining the swamp
December 13, 2016 | Post
Draining the swamp may be a popular political slogan, but unless the swamp is restructured and significantly reduced, even the best of us on our worst days will use political office to enhance our power at the expense of others.
New anti-Airbnb law protects hotels from competition (and violates private property and freedom of exchange)
November 15, 2016 | Post
Airbnb is now facing greater opposition in New York thanks to a recent bill signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo which bans advertising of short-term rentals.
The best films to teach your friends about economics and government
November 10, 2016 | Post
Here are three movies that can help to demonstrate the concept of public choice theory in action.
Debate: Is democracy overrated? Yes.
November 7, 2016 | Post
The following is the first installment in a five-part debate between Georgetown Professor Jason Brennan and Princeton Professor Philip Pettit on the merits of democracy as a system of social order.
Government puts tobacco interests above a billion lives
October 28, 2016 | Post
Despite its health benefits, vaping faces strong opposition from the government and a variety of special interests.
Yes, there's an Envelope Lobby, and they're more powerful than you might think
October 18, 2016 | Post
It’s a useful illustration of the logic of political action when the state is in a position to dispense favors, whether those favors be subsidies or mandates or barriers to entry that protect special interests’ profits.
Why Chairs Are Cheap and EpiPens Are Expensive
September 2, 2016 | Post
Imagine that the government creates the Furniture and Desk Association, an agency which declares that only IKEA is allowed to sell chairs.
The Case for Eliminating the Olympic Games
August 18, 2016 | Post
The Olympic Games are an inefficient boondoggle for host countries. There are alternatives that would reduce the costs AND corruption.