Grocery Store Owners Say That Pandemic Hazard Pay Laws Are Putting Them Out of Business
City-level requirements that grocery stores pay wage premiums during the pandemic could prompt layoffs, price hikes.
Economics
Beware the COVID-19 Debt Hangover
Biden's proposed stimulus spending might give a modest boost, but in the long run it'll slow the economy.
Joaquin Castro Accidentally Makes the Case for 'Price Gouging'
Texas officials' rush to enforce price gouging laws during that state's winter storms will only make residents worse off.
Everybody's Wrong About the Facebook/Murdoch Standoff in Australia
This tech/media fight down under is not about democracy or monopolies. It’s about ad revenue.
Biden's Manufacturing Plan Is $700 Billion Worth of Protectionism
Never let a good manufactured crisis go to waste
The Trade War Drove American Automaking Jobs to China as Tariffs Stalled U.S. Exports
Further evidence that tariffs simply don't make sense as trade policy. President Joe Biden should take note.
Romney and Cotton Want to Punish Businesses With Minimum Wage Hike and More Immigration Paperwork
Leading Republicans continue to find dubious areas of agreement with Democrats.
State, Local Governments Are Posting Surprisingly Sunny Revenue Projections. Democrats Want To Give Them $350 Billion Anyway.
Most states managed to avoid much-predicted fiscal crises during the pandemic. Congress wants to shower them with more federal aid anyway.
Biden Administration Suspends Rule Protecting Businesses From Banking Discrimination
Experts disagree on whether the move is a win for free association.
The Trouble With Mitt Romney's Family Security Act
The plan would redistribute wealth, create distortions, and grow government.
CBO Says Raising Minimum Wage to $15 an Hour Would Kill Jobs, Because Obviously It Would
A higher federal minimum would reduce employment and increase the deficit, according to a new nonpartisan government analysis.
Great Moments in Unintended Consequences (Vol. 2)
Good intentions, bad results.
Why WallStreetBets and Bitcoiners Got So Excited About GameStop
Some of them like the stock, but all of them think our financial system is broken.
Instead of Lifting Trump's Tariffs, Biden Is Imposing More of Them
Reimplementing 10 percent tariffs on aluminum imported from the United Arab Emirates for vacuous national security reasons only entrenches executive authority over trade.
Biden Signals Retreat From Nonsensical Minimum Wage Hike in COVID-19 Relief Bill
"I don't think it is going to survive," Biden said on Sunday, though he promised to push for a higher minimum wage as a stand-alone bill in the future.
Walter Williams, RIP
The free market economist and iconoclast died in December at the age of 84.
The Food Industry Is Pressuring Biden To Dump Trump's Awful Tariffs
Biden should repeal Trump's food taxes immediately.
Bitcoin Is Protecting Human Rights Around the World
"It's an escape hatch from tyranny," writes the Human Rights Foundation's Alex Gladstein. "It's nothing less than freedom money."
Mandated Pandemic Hazard Pay for Grocery Store Workers Prompts Store Closures, Lawsuits
California grocers have filed three lawsuits against local laws requiring "hero pay" during the pandemic.
Joe Biden Wants His Stimulus To Help 'People Who are Hurting,' Like Families Making $120,000 a Year
Biden's recovery plan is a poorly targeted effort that would make the economy worse off in the long run.
How Biden Is Repeating Trump's Mistakes
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Grant McCracken: The New Honor Code vs. Radical Wokeism
The anthropologist and brand consultant explains why we need fewer blanket accusations of racism and more mutual respect and compassion.
My New USA Today op ed on Biden's Impressively Far-Reaching Pro-Immigration Agenda
It goes far beyond merely reversing awful Trump policies, but does still have some drawbacks.
Ramming a $15 Minimum Wage Bill Through the Senate Using Reconciliation Would Be a Norm-Busting Mistake
The reconciliation process exists for a reason. Discarding it for political expediency should be viewed with skepticism.
Political Problems Are Policy Problems
The market's failure to produce an ideal outcome cannot alone justify activist policy, because governments can also fail to produce the ideal.
A Higher Minimum Wage Lowers Opportunities for America's Poorest Workers
Minimum wage jobs aren't supposed to be career choices, but stepping stones on the way to other things. Everyone has to start out somewhere.
Elizabeth Warren and the SEC Should Let the GameStop Lulz Go On
The last thing this game-inspired, meme-powered finance fight needs is federal meddling.
The Economist Who Says Schools Are Safer Than You Think
When the feds failed to track COVID-19, Emily Oster stepped in.
Biden Administration Affirms Support for Protectionist Jones Act, Throwing Hawaiians, Puerto Ricans to the Sharks
Pandering to maritime unions means higher costs and harsher lives for coastal minority populations.
Congressional Democrats Push $15 Minimum Wage on Struggling Businesses
American companies would need relief from Democrats’ COVID relief efforts.
Should the U.S. Government Adopt an Industrial Policy? A Soho Forum Debate
American Compass Executive Director Oren Cass vs. the Cato Institute's Scott Lincicome on whether the U.S. should increase its intervention in the manufacturing industry.
Should the Federal Government Assume a Larger Role in Managing the Economy? A Soho Forum Debate
American Compass Executive Director Oren Cass vs. the Cato Institute's Scott Lincicome on whether the U.S. should increase its intervention in the manufacturing industry.
Instacart Fires 10 Workers Who Voted To Unionize and Around 1,990 Others
Plus: How the U.S. covered up the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington school district is suing to force its teachers back to the classroom, and more...
It's Not Just Trump. California Labor Unions Are Trying To Reverse the Outcome of an Election Too.
California Democrats and their labor union allies are embracing anti-democratic principles to thwart the will of the people.
Biden Set To Entrench Trumpist Protectionism With 'Buy American' Order
Biden is seeking unity, but bipartisan agreement on bad policy is nothing to cheer for.
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.
Trump Promised a 'Good and Easy To Win' Trade War, Then Lost It
Five reasons why Trump's trade war didn't go the way he thought it would.
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.
RIP William R. Allen (1924-2021)
Bill Allen was my multiple-times UCLA econ professor, author of The Midnight Economist and co-author of Alchian & Allen's University Economics.
Big Government Is a Bipartisan Problem
Neither major party is a friend to limited government.
Embattled Administration Pushes Midnight Controls on Financial Tech
Bureaucracy keeps on regulating through the chaos
California Voters Liberate Ride-Share Drivers From A.B. 5
The lawmakers who passed A.B. 5 ignored the many benefits of contractor status.
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.
Professor Elinor 'Lin' Ostrom
Ostrom was best known for her studies of how local groups manage natural resources.
