Polymarket Returns to U.S. Users After a Nearly 3-Year Hiatus
The online betting company allows you to stake money on future events.
Economics
Why America's Inequality Story Doesn't Add Up
Taxes, benefits, and household data make America look more unequal than it is.
Do we have an income inequality problem?
A lot of people are worried about income inequality. Are they wrong?
Rand Paul's Annual Festivus Report Highlights $1.6 Trillion in Wasteful Spending
These wasteful boondoggles add up. So do the programs that many Americans insist are important but refuse to reform.
3 Areas Where the Courts Pushed Back Against Trump's Attempts To Avoid Judicial Review in 2025
The president asserted broad powers to deport people, impose tariffs, and deploy the National Guard based on his own unilateral determinations.
Why Mitt Romney's Call To Tax the Rich Falls Apart
Yes, the status quo is unsustainable. But Romney's proposed solution risks making those problems harder to fix while foreclosing opportunities for the next generation.
Zohran Mamdani Can't Ruin New York City
Mayors come and go, but New York City remains fundamentally itself.
'Affordability' Politics Is a Major Opening for the Free Market Message in the New Year
The socialists of both parties want things to cost less. Only free markets can make that so.
The Big Lesson of the 2020s? Don't Ignore the Economists.
From COVID-19 lockdowns to Biden's inflation and Trump's tariffs, bad things have happened when economics are sidelined in policymaking.
How Politicians and Cops Tried To Dodge Responsibility in 2025
Presidents, legislators, and police officers were desperate to blame anyone but themselves.
Unlearning History
Three decades after Massachusetts ended its disastrous experiment with rent control, voters are considering giving the policy another shot.
6 Ways Sports and Politics Will Collide in 2026
From college sports to league expansion, politicians are going to have plenty of sway over sports next year.
Zohran Mamdani Didn't Run on 'Affordability.' He Ran Against Prices.
Price controls don't solve economic problems; they disguise them. Prices are messages, and Mamdani wants to shoot the messenger.
What the Media Didn't Tell You in 2025
The Reason editors examine the most underreported stories of 2025 across politics, economics, global affairs, and culture.
This 1,300-Page Anticapitalist History Gets a Few Things Wrong
Sven Beckert's Capitalism: A Global History is...not a reliable history.
Research Suggests People Who Work From Home Are Having More Babies
"Flexibility at work has the power to drive fertility decisions," according to researchers running a survey in the U.S. and 38 other countries.
The Most Overlooked Holiday Miracle: Abundance
History shows clearly that the societies most capable of generosity and liberalism are not those trapped in poverty but those that have escaped it.
How Tariffs and Inflation Are Hitting Holiday Sweets
The Trump administration’s trade war has made home-baked and store-bought treats more expensive.
Why College Students Prefer Socialism—and Why They're Wrong
When the media say the middle class is in decline, they're technically right—because people are getting richer.
Why the Economic Impact of Immigration Restrictions is Similar to that of Racial Discrimination and Apartheid
Economist Tarnell Brown explains.
The Data Center Price Myth
Rising electricity prices are being pinned on data centers, but demand isn’t what makes power expensive.
Trump's Economic Adviser Says Tariff Refunds Would Be 'Very Complicated' and Unlikely
Oh, so now the Trump administration is worried about the complexity of its tariff polices?
Tariffs Are Leaving Fewer Footballs, Golf Clubs, and Toys Under the Christmas Tree
Plus: College Football Playoff complaints and an awful NFL officiating blunder.
The Haters Are Wrong. Netflix's Glut of Christmas Movies Is Good, Actually.
The existence of options you don't personally enjoy is not a cultural failure; it's a luxury.
He Started a Business Legally. Now Trump's Mass Deportations Threaten Him and Other Immigrant Entrepreneurs.
Immigrants start businesses at a higher rate than native-born Americans, benefitting not only themselves but also their American workers and customers.
Seattle's Delivery Minimum Wage Failed Drivers and Raised Costs
Increased hourly rates corresponded with lower tips and fewer orders to share between drivers, leaving gig workers no better off than they were before the law passed.
Trump's Designation of Fentanyl As a 'Weapon of Mass Destruction' Is a Drug-Fueled Delusion
The executive order does not accomplish much in practical terms, but it jibes with the president's conflation of drug trafficking with violent aggression.
More Republican Socialism
The Trump administration has not made a convincing case for why it is buying stakes in these companies—and why these companies in particular, rather than others.
Can't Afford To Visit New York City for Christmas? Blame the City Government.
The city has removed tens of thousands of rooms from the stock of short-term housing available to tourists while making it significantly harder to build and expand hotels.
NYC's Airbnb Crackdown Is a Disaster
Kennedy hits the streets of New York City to ask tourists a simple question: why is visiting NYC at Christmas so outrageously expensive?
Is It Time To Break Up Big Tech?
Matt Stoller and Geoffrey A. Manne debate antitrust law and Big Tech.
Trump Claims He's Turning America Around. He's Really Doubling Down on Executive Overreach.
From immigration crackdowns to trade policy, the Trump administration is increasingly centralizing power in Washington, D.C.
Trump Blames Illegal Immigrants for High Housing Prices. Blame Zoning Instead.
Low-skilled immigrants would expand the supply of housing more than they increase demand, if local governments would just allow new construction.
The Teamsters Want To Keep Transportation Costs Higher
The union isn't pro-growth or pro-consumer. It's a lobby for workers.
Hottest Country
Plus: Karoline Leavitt's injection sites, Dan Bongino leaves FBI, Tesla trapped, and more...
'Now We're the Hottest Country Anywhere in the World': Trump's Blessedly Pointless National Address
Trump announced neither stimulus checks nor war in Venezuela.
Bernie Sanders Wants To Pause New Data Centers To Stop the Economy From Growing Too Much
The socialist senator wants a moratorium on new data centers to slow the AI and robotics industries down.
Trump Said His Tariffs Would Reduce the Trade Deficit and Bring Back Manufacturing. Here's What the Data Show.
These metrics are bad proxies for prosperity, but they reveal just how flawed the president's arguments have been.
Governments Are Pushing Digital IDs. Are You Ready To Be Tracked?
Proponents say such IDs will make life easier and protect kids from dangerous content. But opponents worry they will make you much easier to target.
Thanks to Antitrust Officials, iRobot Will Be Acquired by a Chinese Robotics Firm Instead of Amazon
The only thing the Federal Trade Commission and European Commission succeeded in doing was transferring ownership of iRobot from an American company to a Chinese one.
Can't Buy Our Love
Plus: Child care affordability, Venezuela blockade, Israel's plans, and more...
The Federal Government Has Shed 271,000 Jobs This Year. That's Great.
It's also not the whole story. Federal spending isn't falling and the private sector job market is stagnant.
17 Ways Politicians Can Make Things Cheaper, Starting With Food, Health Care, and Appliances
A real affordability agenda would unleash free markets, not constrain them.
Funding College Sports With Private Equity Is Way Better Than Hitting Students With Higher Fees
Plus: Fix the NBA Cup by blowing it up, World Cup ticket prices or lotteries, and more.
When Originalism Undermines Trump
From birthright citizenship to tariffs, many of the president’s key policies run counter to the Constitution’s original meaning.
Poland's Beer and Food Tell the Story of the Country's Extraordinary Rise From Communism
Not even 35 years after escaping Soviet-style central planning, Poland has become a capitalist success story.
Trump Says Tariffs Have Brought in $18 Trillion. That's Impossible.
The tariffs have generated less than $300 billion in new tax revenue, and other claimed investments don't come close to the president's tally.
Photo: A Furloughed Federal Worker Opens a Hot Dog Cart
The stand has been so successful that IRS lawyer Isaac Stein intends to continue his hot dog hustle on weekends.
