Did Anti-Price Gouging Laws Lead to More COVID-19 Deaths?
A new paper finds that the shortages produced by emergency price controls led to more social interactions as people searched for scarce goods. Additional COVID-19 deaths weren't far behind.
Economics
The 'COVID Relief Bill' Is Mostly an Expensive Bundle of Politically Motivated Giveaways
The Senate is preparing to pass a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill that has very little to do with the pandemic, and we all know it. Congress should admit as much.
Joe Biden, Senate Dems Want To Reduce the Number of Six-Figure Households Getting $1,400 'Relief' Checks. Progressives Are Furious.
Moderates and progressives are sparring over how much government assistance should go to upper-middle class families.
These Doctors Exemplify the Virtues of Free Market Medicine
"Direct primary care is about as close to a free market in health care as you've ever seen in our country," says Dr. Lee Gross.
Thomas Sowell's Maverick Insights on Race, Economics, and Society
The peerless 90-year-old scholar is the subject of a new documentary and biography.
Democrats Can't Use Reconciliation To Pass a $15 Minimum Wage. Here's What They Might Do Next.
But the real reason why Democrats should abandon the effort to hike the federal minimum wage has nothing to do with arcane Senate rules or the filibuster.
Biden's Pick To Run Trade Policy, Katherine Tai, Promises More Efficient Protectionism
Trump's trade policies caused "a lot of disruption and consternation," Tai said at one point during Thursday's hearing. "I want to accomplish similar goals in a more effective process."
What Should Have Happened at the GameStop Hearing
Can’t work Zoom, will fix financial markets.
The Minimum Wage Is Terrible for America's Most Vulnerable Workers
Like so many well-intentioned policies, it hurts the people it's supposed to help.
Jason Riley: Thomas Sowell's Unique Insights on Race, Economics, and Politics
A new documentary and forthcoming biography pay tribute to the economist's intellectual fearlessness and commitment to empirical research.
Conservationists Pushed Ban on Non-Fatal Rhino Horn Harvesting. Poaching Skyrocketed.
Environmental activists should use the market to their advantage.
Democrats' COVID-19 Aid Package Would Quietly Eliminate the Tipped Minimum Wage as Restaurants Struggle To Stay Alive
Do small businesses need another punch in the gut?
Progressives Say Good Riddance to Businesses Who Can't Afford a $15 Minimum Wage
Fewer low wage businesses also means fewer job opportunities for low wage workers.
There Has Been a Mind-Boggling Amount of Unemployment Fraud Since the CARES Act Passed
Enhanced unemployment benefits may have helped many Americans weather the pandemic, but they've also attracted the interest of some modern-day Willie Suttons.
American Distillers Face a Double-Shot of Tariffs in June. Will Biden Save Them?
Biden's new trade representative should outline a plan to remove the economically nonsensical and politically pointless tariffs on European steel and aluminum in order to deescalate this costly conflict.
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.
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.
