By Alicia García-Herrero and Elina Ribakova, courtesy of the Bruegel Institute COVID-19 is by far the biggest challenge policymakers in emerging economies have had to deal with in recent history. Beyond the potentially large negative impact on these countries’ fiscal accounts, and the related solvency issues, worsening conditions for these countries’ external funding are […]
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Washington Beyond the Headlines: Admin Has Chopped 570 Regulations
By Andy Blom, TES Washington Editor America is opening up! Kind of. Different states, curiously reflecting their red/blue political leadership, are opening at different paces. Except, of course, for the House of Representatives which apparently feels that the best way to represent the American people is to not go to work. Oh well, that’s […]
China is wrecking Hong Kong, but tariffs won’t help
By Daniel Griswold, courtesy of the Mercatus Center One of humankind’s most dazzling and successful experiments in political economy is coming to an end. For the second half of the 20th century, Hong Kong prospered as an enclave of economic and civil freedom under the benign administration of the United Kingdom, but that freedom may […]
H-1B Workers are Needed to Temporarily Fill the Domestic STEM Shortfall
By Krisztina Pusok, American Consumer Institute With the economy still reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic, there are growing calls to ease competition in the labor market by restricting immigration. But these policies overlook the fact that highly educated foreign graduates from U.S. universities act as a stopgap for a shortage of American STEM graduates. Before taking […]
Red Tape Helps China, Hurts Critical U.S. Super-Conductor Chip Manufacturing
By Daniel McGroarty, TES GeoPolicy Editor Let the Great Re-Shoring begin: One of the many ways the COVID pandemic will change the behavior of nations is coming into view, with profound implications for the globalization of trade, and where we make what we buy. With China controlling the chokepoint on medical devices from […]
California’s anti-freelance law violates free speech
By Trevor Burrus, courtesy of the Cato Institute On January 1, 2020, California Assembly Bill 5 (AB 5) went into effect, drastically curtailing Californians’ freedom to work on their own terms as freelancers. The law, which was written by the AFL-CIO, presents many freelancers in the state with only two options: find a permanent employer willing to […]
Emergency COVID-19 Stimulus Programs Are a Short-Term Solution
By Thomas Hoenig, courtesy of the Mercatus Center The federal government and the Federal Reserve have implemented unprecedented spending and monetary policies to combat the economic crisis resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. These policies, while necessary in the short term, place an ever larger mortgage against the nation’s future income; and extending them […]
TV White Space Technology Could Help Close the Digital Divide, and Not Just Hypothetically
Krisztina Puzok, American Consumer Institute The use of TV white spaces (TVWS) — the unused spectrum in between TV channels — has brought telehealth services to residents in Logan, OH, broadband access to a remotely located elementary school in Claudeville, VA, and a smart grid to Plumas County, CA. Meanwhile more than 25 percent of […]
Coronavirus Has More Americans Rethinking Plastic
This article was originally published in Issues & Insights. By Bill Collier and Jon Decker One overlooked policy response to the coronavirus has been a changing of attitudes toward plastic. While plastic has drawn the ire of environmentalists in recent years due to concerns regarding pollution, some businesses are now being forced to […]
Free Private Cities: The Future of Governance
By Titus Gebel, Free Private Cities One thing that COVID-19 will probably change, even after the virus is no longer an immediate threat, is the number of home workers. This number is supposed to remain higher than it was before. Under duress, companies found out that many jobs can indeed be done remotely, saving […]