America Has Plenty of Experience With Government-Run Stores, and It Isn't Pretty
New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani wants to open city-owned grocery stores. The U.S. already has a few, and they're a cautionary tale.
Central planning
Zohran Mamdani's Government-Run Grocery Stores Won't Lower Prices
The democratic socialist's proposed "public option" reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of the market.
Trump's 'Reciprocal' Tariffs Could Be Largest Tax Increase Since World War II
The specifics are still vague, but the White House is reportedly claiming that new tariffs will generate $1 trillion annually.
The European Commission's (Anti)Competitiveness Compass
The European Union doesn’t need a five-year plan—it needs free markets.
Central Planning Won Big on Election Night
The bipartisan embrace of industrial policy represents one of the most dangerous economic illusions of our time.
Kamala Harris' 'Price Gouging' Ban: A New Idea That Has Failed for Thousands of Years
A half-baked idea that is just as dubious as Donald Trump's tariffs.
The Dark Side of Alexander Hamilton
The first treasury secretary's plans would have created cartels that mainly benefited the wealthy at the expense of small competitors.
The Best of Reason: Not Even Artificial Intelligence Can Make Central Planning Work
Revolutionary AI technologies can't solve the "wicked problems" facing policy makers.
No, Politicians Can't 'Fix' Prices—and That's OK
Price controls lead to the misallocation of resources, shortages, diminished product quality, and black markets.
Not Even Artificial Intelligence Can Make Central Planning Work
Revolutionary AI technologies can't solve the "wicked problems" facing policy makers.
How Third-World Countries Build Walkable Cities Without Central Planning
Jakarta, Indonesia, shows why you don't need central planners to get pedestrian-friendly urban design.
Josh Hawley Thinks the White House Can Force an Aluminum Plant To Stay Open
Should there be any limits to a president's power to centrally plan the economy? Apparently not.
Joe Biden's Plan for 31 Subsidized 'Tech Hubs' Is an Old, Tired Idea That's Doomed To Fail
Presidential administrations from both parties keep trying to make "place-based" economic development work.
Africa's Planned Cities Need Unplanning
Nigeria's shantytowns are more functional than its centrally planned gated communities.
Anarchy in Central Park
New York politicians got out of the way for once, and something beautiful happened.
Progressives and Populist Republicans Are Coming for Your Credit Card Rewards
New legislation would intervene in the credit card market to help businesses like Target and Walmart, who don't like the fees they have to pay to accept credit card payments.
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.
Is There a Future for the City of Tomorrow?
The consequences of our obsession with urban dystopias and utopias
Governments Scramble To Manage, Regulate, and Throttle Crypto
Most dangerously of all, they're starting to make their own central bank digital currencies.
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.
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?
Red Markets
Sometimes communist countries had to tolerate a little economic liberty just to survive.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
'One Child Nation' Exposes the Tragic Consequences of Chinese Population Control
Documentary filmmaker Nanfu Wang on the horrors of China’s one-child policy
Central Planning Is Poisonous to Innovation
Old ideas that have never worked are no way to foster economic growth.
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.
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.
Disasters Should Be Dull
But as long as distant authorities are in charge, that's impossible.
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
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.
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.
$15 Minimum Wage Could Kill Up to 5 Million Jobs
Forward comrades to the unemployment lines and soup kitchens!
Socialist Venezuela Facing Food Shortages 'Despite' Central Planning, Food Rights
Self-induced catastrophe
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.
