Quick Takes: Why Rent Control Backfires
Three professors on what the research says about capping rents
Essays
Why States Nationalize
Economists have many answers, but the truth may be larger than they know.
The National Security Externality Can’t Justify Recent Tariffs
National security may justify some kinds of tariffs—in theory. In practice, it’s another story.
First, Do Less Harm.
A policy strategy for complicated times
Is It Really Socialism?
Don’t fight over mere words. Understand what’s behind them.
Who Owns That Bat?
When conservation goes beyond carbon, local knowledge is the key.
Liberalism in the Age of Weaponized Interdependence
Liberalism must abandon the assumption that, in international trade, cooperation is the mature stage, and conflict the primitive one.
Public Choice: Politics without Romance
We choose in groups because we value being united. Public choice economics seeks to make sense of what happens next.
The Power of Public Unions
Not all labor unions are alike. Public sector unions face different incentives, and they often bargain away better governance.
The Power of Wealth
In every political system, wealthy and powerful people will try to write the rules to favor themselves. Liberal democracies should use a range of policy tools to resist elite capture.
Yours, Mine, or Ours? Liberals Need a Theory of the State
When are state-based solutions the best we can do? It’s tempting to reach hasty conclusions, but technological change means the truth may be a moving target.
Seeing with Two I’s: States, Markets, and Some Advice for Us Liberals
Markets may fail; governments may help, or not. Two unlikely thinkers help explain the limits of what we can know.
The Enemy Is Power, Wherever You Find It
Concentrations of power are a danger, and a liberal society must reckon with them wherever they occur.