Activists Launch Fresh Effort To Get Rent Control on California’s State Ballot
Fresh from their 2018 defeat, California's rent control advocates are back with another statewide ballot initiative.
Economics
Is Marginally Loosening California’s Zoning Restrictions Racist?
A new mailer from the AIDS Healthcare Foundation argues that allowing the construction of apartment buildings near transit stops is tantamount to "negro removal."
What Brothels Can Teach All of Us About Risk
Allison Schrager's An Economist Walks Into a Brothel demystifies sex work, big-wave surfing, horse-breeding, and other high-risk professions.
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An Economist Walks Into a Brothel: What Prostitutes and Big-Wave Surfers Can Teach Us About Risk
Allison Schrager wants to change the way you take chances.
RIP Economist Alan Krueger, Whose Work Spurred Calls for Occupational Licensing Reform
Krueger's work included highlighting the breadth of licensing in American labor markers, and the economic costs of mandatory government permission slips.
Remy: Affluenflammation (Red Hot Chili Peppers Parody)
When quality of life improved, doctors discovered a new affliction.
Rent Control Cannot Escape the Law of Supply and Demand
Oregon's new rent control law won't deliver on its promises.
Trump’s Tariffs Cost the U.S. Economy $1.4 Billion Every Month
New study shows U.S. consumers pay every dollar of the tariffs, which have also damaged supply chains and the availability of goods.
Can a Self-Described ‘Capitalist’ Win the 2020 Democratic Primary?
Beto O'Rourke-who won't call himself a "progressive," let alone a "democratic socialist"-is expected to jump into the presidential race.
Minimum Wage Boosts Are Great—For Robots
Making low-skill workers more expensive means getting them replaced by automation.
Bernie Already Won. So Why Run Again?
The Vermont independent has yanked Democrats so far to the left that his competitors are becoming mini-mes.
Report from ‘Alienated America’: Podcast
For his new book, Timothy Carney toured parts of the country that are working and parts that are not. What he found is deeply disturbing.
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‘Price Gouging’ Is Supply and Demand at Work, Even in a Polar Vortex
Price signals ultimately mean more supplies for disaster-struck areas.
Be Careful What You Wish for on the Minimum Wage
The laws of economics can't be repealed.
Trump Paving the Road to Overtime Pay With Good Intentions
Raising the cost of employing workers is never a recipe for increasing employment.
House Committee Cancels Testimony of Gay Economist Who Once Joked About Taxing Gay Sex
His 16-year-old blog posts are completely irrelevant to his testimony on the minimum wage.
Libertarian History/Philosophy
John Stossel’s Holiday Gift Guide
Struggling to find gifts to get for loved ones? How about a book?
Are You Ready for the ‘Inevitable’ Clampdown on Tech and the Media?
When Apple's CEO Tim Cook says "the free market is not working," bad things are coming.
America’s Economic Health Has Improved
The U.S. rose four places in the International Tax Competitiveness Index, and this just the latest bit of good news.
Thomas Sowell Returns
One of America's top social scientists on what has changed since he sat down with Reason 38 years ago.
Libertarian Filmmaker, Podcaster Kmele Foster Wants To Change the World: Podcast
So far, the world is kind of listening. Q&A with the co-host of The Fifth Column and co-founder of Freethink Media.
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The National Debt Is Coming Due, Just Like We Told You
By 2020, interest on the debt will cost more than Medicaid. By 2025, it will cost more than defense spending. And that's just the start.
Divided Government Means More Fiscal Discipline
In the next two years, Congress will probably do next to nothing. That's a good thing.
‘Do the Rich Capture All the Gains from Economic Growth?’ No, He Explains Convincingly.
Economist Russ Roberts provides a strong argument that individual economic mobility is the rule and not the exception.
When the Bubble Bursts, We’re So Screwed
All we have to show for 9 years of economic expansion is record amounts of debt, and all long-term fiscal problems ignored.
Most Libertarians Don’t Understand Friedrich Hayek, Says Peter Boettke: Podcast
In a bold new book about Hayek, the George Mason economist says "too much time and effort has been put into repackaging and marketing a fixed doctrine of eternal truths."
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State AGs in Michael’s Path Agree to Stop the Flow of Needed Goods
Price gouging is not the evil many officials make it out to be.
The $15 Minimum Wage Is Turning Hard Workers Into Black Market Lawbreakers
An in-depth look at New York's car wash industry, and the real world consequences of politicians interfering with a complex industry they don't understand.
Think Your State Is Fiscally Sound? Think Again
It's time to find out how deep in the red our country is.
Unlimited Growth and Climate Change Economists Win Nobel Prize
Paul Romer overturns limits-to-growth nonsense, and William Nordhaus projects climate change damages.
Median Household Income Is at an All-Time High. Are You Happy Yet?: Podcast
Economist Mark J. Perry talks about rising incomes, flattening inequality, low unemployment, and why none of it seems to make us feel better.
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Why Do We Want To Be Poorer and Less Equal Than We Are?
New Census data showing record levels of income and no increase in inequality should be cause for celebration.
‘We Are Always on the Verge of Chaos:’ The PJ O’Rourke Interview
The libertarian humorist talks about his new book, how to drink in war zones, and why the Chinese are more American than most U.S. citizens.
Nobel Prize Winner Joseph Stiglitz, Hugo Chavez, and the Return of Socialism: Podcast
Journalist and Soho Forum co-founder Gene Epstein on economists' romance with strongmen and his upcoming debate with Jacobin's Bhaskar Sunkara.
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Walmart Shoppers Could Be Next Victims of Trump’s Trade War
Walmart warns the Trump administration it may be forced to raise prices in response to tariffs.
Trump’s Tariffs Will Cost More Than Obamacare’s Taxes
If Trump presses ahead with plans to tax all Chinese imports, the added costs would cancel out the economic benefits of last year's corporate tax cut.
Fix Social Security Before It Goes Broke
Eventually the government will run out of other people's money.
The Economic Ignorance of Bernie Sanders
Sanders' ideas would be just a joke if millions weren't paying attention.
‘If We Didn’t Trade,’ Trump Argues, ‘We’d Save a Hell of a Lot of Money’
The president's longstanding obsession with trade deficits reveals mercantilist instincts he cannot escape, no matter how much he talks about zero tariffs.
Trump Claims That Trade War Only Risks ‘The Bank’s Money’
He's so, so wrong about that. But at least he's admitting a trade war won't be good or easy to win.
Will the Future Have No Work or Just Less Work?: Podcast
Economist Michael C. Munger argues the sharing economy is the next great economic revolution-and it's already underway.
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Before Drug Prohibition, There Was the War on Calico
In 18th century France, wearing the wrong fabric could get you in big trouble.
Trump’s Totally Free Trade Idea Is Really Smart
It's a damned shame that he doesn't seem to really believe in it.
Why Young Americans Are Drawn to Socialism
They may take for granted the bounty capitalism has bestowed.