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Central planning

View from the Calton Hill to the Edinburgh city, Scotland

Central planning

The International Idiocy of the 15-Minute City

Planners and politicians from Saudi Arabia to Scotland want to transform interconnected cities into isolated "urban villages" no one ever needs to leave.

Christian Britschgi | 1.17.2023 4:00 PM

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Policy

Is There a Future for the City of Tomorrow?

The consequences of our obsession with urban dystopias and utopias

M. Nolan Gray | 1.8.2023 6:00 AM

currency

Cryptocurrencies

Governments Scramble To Manage, Regulate, and Throttle Crypto

Most dangerously of all, they're starting to make their own central bank digital currencies.

Brian Doherty | 12.10.2022 6:00 AM

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Brickbats

Brickbat: Down the Toilet

Charles Oliver | 10.25.2022 4:00 AM

Empty store shelves

Food

Freedom Was Giving Us Prosperity and Full Bellies. Political Leaders Squandered What We Had.

Government officials broke the world, and we’re all paying the price.

J.D. Tuccille | 8.26.2022 7:00 AM

Joe Biden Defense Production Act solar panels COVID-19 masks vaccines

Central planning

The Defense Production Act Has Become a License for Central Planning

If home insulation is a "critical technology item essential to the national defense," then what isn't?

Eric Boehm | 6.20.2022 11:15 AM

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Communism

Red Markets

Sometimes communist countries had to tolerate a little economic liberty just to survive.

Jesse Walker | 11.7.2021 6:00 AM

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Video Games

Dorfromantik

An indie video game shows the follies of central planning

Scott Shackford | 6.4.2021 6:00 AM

Henderson

Coronavirus

Economic Lessons From COVID-19

What the pandemic has re-taught us about the perils of planning, the power of incentives, and the complexities of externalities.

David R. Henderson | 5.1.2021 6:00 AM

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Coronavirus

Black Markets in COVID-19 Vaccines Were Inevitable Once Government Got Involved

A politicized vaccine distribution process intended to take price out of the picture has given the edge to the rich, connected, and powerful.

J.D. Tuccille | 1.20.2021 7:30 AM

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Decentralization

To Avoid More Political Violence, Allow Americans To Escape Each Other's Control

Let people join with the like-minded to reject officials and laws that don’t suit them and to construct systems that do.

J.D. Tuccille | 1.19.2021 10:05 AM

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Coronavirus

Cuomo's New York Is Just Throwing Away Vaccines Rather Than Distributing Them Competently

More than 4,100 people died of COVID-19 yesterday across the country, but some New York medical providers are dumping vaccines instead of putting them in people's arms.

Liz Wolfe | 1.8.2021 2:55 PM

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Central planning

In a Complex World, Politicians Have a Simple Demand: More Power

Circumstances change and the world may grow more complicated, but authoritarians never vary from their demand for more power over our lives.

J.D. Tuccille | 12.2.2020 12:45 PM

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Coronavirus

COVID-19 Could Force City Planners To Rethink Their Priorities

The coronavirus shutdown might alter buying patterns, as more people flee tightly packed cities for suburban, exurban, and rural areas.

Steven Greenhut | 4.24.2020 8:30 AM

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Coronavirus

People, Not Politicians, Will Decide When the Coronavirus Shutdown Ends

It's not the politicians who have the power to reopen America, or at least the parts that are now closed. It's individuals, families, businesses, and religious congregations.

Ira Stoll | 4.15.2020 7:00 AM

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren

Coronavirus

Elizabeth Warren and Josh Hawley Will Do Everything Necessary To Combat Coronavirus (Unless It Involves Deregulation)

In two separate op-eds yesterday, the senators pitch central planning as the best response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Christian Britschgi | 4.10.2020 8:30 AM

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Coronavirus

Did the $50 Billion Coronavirus Bailouts Effectively Nationalize America's Commercial Airlines?

The CARES Act gives the federal government the power to take large ownership stakes in the airlines and dictate much of their operations.

Christian Britschgi | 4.8.2020 2:45 PM

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Transportation Policy

Standing-Only Metro Escalators Are Central Planners' Dream, but Riders' Nightmare

The argument for getting rid of walking on metro station escalators demonstrates the flaws of central planning logic.

Christian Britschgi | 12.17.2019 2:15 PM

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San Francisco

San Francisco Falafel Shop Owner Says Neighborhood Has Enough Falafel, Asks City to Block Rival Falafel Shop Next Door

San Francisco gives its Planning Commission nearly unlimited discretion to deny or condition permits, making life hell for business owners.

Christian Britschgi | 10.17.2019 4:20 PM

China

'One Child Nation' Exposes the Tragic Consequences of Chinese Population Control

Documentary filmmaker Nanfu Wang on the horrors of China’s one-child policy

Justin Monticello | 8.16.2019 5:30 PM

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Economics

Central Planning Is Poisonous to Innovation

Old ideas that have never worked are no way to foster economic growth.

Veronique de Rugy | 6.20.2019 12:01 AM

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France

France Election Preview: Terrorism, Socialism, Nationalist Socialism, and the Prospects for Economic Liberalization

Voters go to the polls Sunday, where two candidates will advance to the final round.

Ed Krayewski | 4.21.2017 6:26 PM

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Property Rights

This Indiana Town Wants to Fine a Community Out of Existence on Behalf of Private Developers

Charlestown can't seize the properties, so it's citing them to force them to sell.

Scott Shackford | 2.13.2017 12:45 PM

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Natural Disasters

Disasters Should Be Dull

But as long as distant authorities are in charge, that's impossible.

Stefanie Haeffele-Balch and Daniel Rothschild | 1.28.2017 7:00 AM

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Self-driving vehicles

Driverless Cars and the Revenge of the Moral Equivalent of Hostlers and Horse-Drawn Carriage Makers

A perplexingly stupid op-ed against self-driving cars in The New York Times

Ronald Bailey | 12.19.2016 11:10 AM

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World War 2

Climate War: Bill McKibben's Really Bad Metaphor for Solving Man-Made Global Warming

Centralized top down planning of the climate would work as well as it does for economies.

Ronald Bailey | 8.30.2016 11:11 AM

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History

Friday A/V Club: What We Left at the World's Fair

John Crowley and Jason Robards look back at a festival of social planning.

Jesse Walker | 7.29.2016 3:55 PM

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Minimum Wage

$15 Minimum Wage Could Kill Up to 5 Million Jobs

Forward comrades to the unemployment lines and soup kitchens!

Ronald Bailey | 7.6.2016 1:03 PM

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Venezuela

Socialist Venezuela Facing Food Shortages 'Despite' Central Planning, Food Rights

Self-induced catastrophe

Ed Krayewski | 6.20.2016 7:13 PM

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Marijuana

Illegal Dealers Owe Thanks to Washington State's Marijuana Regulators

The state's doomed scheme for a centrally planned market in pot creates a breeding ground for a completely unplanned and illegal market in the stuff.

J.D. Tuccille | 6.14.2016 12:01 AM

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New York City

Robert Moses Gets the Off-Broadway Rock Musical Treatment

But Jane Jacobs' motivations in opposing the "Power Broker" remain misunderstood.

Anthony Fisher | 4.8.2016 1:04 PM

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Politics

A U.S. Department of the Future Is a Really Bad Idea

Unfortunately, there is no shortage of would-be Secretaries of the Future.

Ronald Bailey | 3.18.2016 1:30 PM

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