Policy
The Coronavirus Testing Debacle Stems From Decades of Bad FDA Policy
The agency's emphasis on caution over speed led to needless suffering and loss of life long before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pregnant Moms Scared of COVID-19 in Hospitals Need More Home Birth Options
It's time to free midwives from excessive regulation and make room for more home births.
New York Legislators Introduce Bill To Cancel Rent for 90 Days for Workers Affected By Coronavirus Closures
Sen. Mike Gianaris (D–Queens) argues eviction moratoriums don't go far enough to protect renters who've been put out of a job because of the virus.
Should the Government Break Up Companies Like Amazon and Facebook? A Soho Forum Debate
Law professors Tim Wu and Richard Epstein went head to head at a live event.
Should the Government Break Up Big Tech? A Soho Forum Debate
Tim Wu vs. Richard Epstein on whether antitrust laws should be applied to firms like Amazon and Facebook.
Federal 'Fair Housing' Policy Set for a Major Overhaul
The new rule would ask localities receiving federal funding to report on their housing market outcomes and propose concrete steps for improving affordability.
Politicians Declare Eviction Moratoriums To Combat Coronavirus. Will They Give Up That Power After the Virus Fades?
Emergency measures can easily become routine policy.
Minnesota Is Latest State to Consider Ban on Single-Family Zoning
State legislators want to allow duplexes statewide and eliminate local governments' ability to impose aesthetic design requirements.
California Wants To Carve Out Religious Exemptions to Its Insane Housing Laws
State lawmakers want to override local zoning codes to let churches and other nonprofits build affordable housing on their own land.
Just How Good Is Trump's Economy, Anyway?
While the 2017 tax cuts didn't deliver the results promised by Trump and his magical-thinking supporters, the administration has delivered some economic expansion, some job creation, and some investment growth.
San Francisco Has Added a Lot of Jobs but Not Enough Housing. City Voters Approved a Ballot Initiative That Cuts Back on the Jobs.
The city's voters, politicians, and activists should stop trying to dictate how exactly their city will change over the years. They’re not very good at it.
A Mississippi Woman Gave Diet Advice Without a License. The State Threatened To Throw Her in Jail.
Mississippi has a reputation for being one of the most obese states in the nation, as well as having one of America's highest incarceration rates. Neither will be improved by treating unlicensed dieticians like serious criminals.
California's Government Has Turned Homelessness Into Big Business
The new money will be consumed in a bureaucratic hiring frenzy, used to pay state-level salaries and pensions, and build a bigger "homeless industrial complex."
Oregon Tried To Silence This Engineer's Red Light Camera Research. Now Experts Say He Was Right All Along.
Mats Järlström's research never would have seen the light of day if the Oregon Board of Examiners for Engineering and Land Surveying had its way.
Bernie Sanders Signal-Boosts Boston Activists Fighting 10,000 New Homes That Would Replace a Dilapidated Horse Racing Track
Local activists have argued that the housing officials in charge of reviewing the Suffolk Downs mega-development has violated residents' civil rights by not translating enough planning documents into Spanish, Arabic
Density or Sprawl? How To Solve the Urban Housing Crisis
Land use regulation is making cities unaffordable. In an unfettered market, how would Americans choose to live?
California's Fees on New Development Are 3 Times the National Average. New State Legislation Would Cap Them.
California lawmakers have introduced legislation to cap impact fees, change the way they are assessed, and give developers more tools to claw back unjustified charges.
Judge Rules Businesswoman Must Remove Dresses From Her Home
Fairfax County, Virginia, allows home businesses but prohibits them from keeping inventory on site.
Yes, the Constitution Means Your Political Opponents Get Due Process Too
Americans are so locked into their political sides that many of them seem willing to cast aside some of the nation's long-established constitutional protections.
California Bill Would Require Occupational Licenses for Porn Actors, Strippers, Cam Girls
Adult performers are outraged at the proposed licensing requirements, and have vowed to fight the bill.
Judge Rules Developers Must Remove Up to 20 Existing Floors From Manhattan Condo Tower
Two non-profit groups argued that developers had been improperly awarded a building permit for a 112-unit condo building on Manhattan's Upper West Side.
Virginia Is About To Require a Government License for 'Art Therapy,' Because Glue and Scissors Are 'Potentially' Dangerous
The real motive for laws like this has nothing to do with scissors and glue. It's all about protectionism.
Seattle City Council's Lone Socialist Is Reintroducing Her Amazon Tax
A previous version of the tax was repealed a month after it was passed in 2018.
NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio Wants to Use Commercial Rent Control to Save Small Businesses
City reports and industry find taxes, regulation, and permitting delays are often a bigger drag on small businesses than rising rents.
A Proposal for a New Federal Clerkship Hiring Plan (When The Current One Collapses)
It's time to stop trying to cartelize the market for law clerks
SimCity Created a Generation of Urban Planners
Three decades later, is it time for the city simulation game to get political?
San Francisco Bureaucrats Can Shoot Down Almost Any Housing Project They Want. This Ballot Initiative Would Change That.
Mayor London Breed's Affordable Homes Now initiative would streamline the approval of code-compliant housing projects as long as developers include additional affordable units.
New York Regulators Issue Surprise Ban on Charging Renters Broker Fees
Brokers and building owners are vowing to fight a regulation they say will be catastrophic for their industry.
Undercover Cops Hired 118 Handymen, Then Arrested Them All for Not Having Licenses
Undercover sheriff's deputies posing as homeowners hired handymen to paint, install recessed lighting, or do other tasks that require licenses. Then they arrested them.
L.A. Politicians Want To Seize Private Apartment Building to Prevent Rent Increases
Gil Cedillo, city councilmember, has introduced a motion asking the city to study its options for seizing the 124-unit Hillside Villa.
Bernie-Backed Ballot Initiative Would Expand California's Brand New Rent Controls
The new initiative from the AIDS Healthcare Foundation would allow local governments to go beyond the state's existing caps on rent increases.
For the Third Year in a Row, California Legislators Have Killed a Promising Housing Reform Bill
SB 50 would have legalized mid-rise apartments near transit stops and employment centers. State lawmakers felt it went too far and/or not far enough.
New York's Progressive Rent Regulations Having the Exact Same Negative Consequence That Skeptics Predicted
New York told landlords they couldn't pass along renovation costs, so landlords stopped doing renovations
Trump Administration Repeals Federal Protections on Puddles, Dry Stream Beds, Some Ditches
Hysterical reactions greet the White House's modest changes to federal clean water rules.
Is Houston's Affordability Just a Myth?
A new article argues unconvincingly that the sprawling Texas metro is less affordable than ultra-expensive New York City after accounting for higher transportation costs and lower incomes.
'Jane Jacobs Goals Through Robert Moses Tactics'
Community planners don't have all the answers.
The Trump Administration Wants To Speed Up the Delivery of Infrastructure Projects
New proposed regulations from the White House's Council on Environmental Quality would limit how long federal environmental reviews could last.
Oakland Uses SWAT Force With Tanks and an Armored Vehicle To Evict Squatting Activists
A group of homeless mothers moved into an Oakland, California, home they didn't own.
Occupational Licensing Hurts the Little Guy
People who want to work should be allowed to work.
Arizona Governor Wants To Put the Public in Charge of Licensing Boards
Right now, most licensing boards require that the majority of members be from the same licensed profession. It's not difficult to see how that leads to anti-competitive rules.
