Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Phil Gramm and Mike Solon explain the economic consequences of a “clean” debt-ceiling increase without new spending cuts or reforms. Gramm and Solon contend that “the real debate requires looking at the private spending the Fed will have to crowd out with higher rates if federal spending isn’t constrained.”

Also in the Wall Street Journal this week, Kevin Corinth challenges a recent recommendation to redefine poverty in America using the Census Bureau’s Supplemental Poverty Measure, which he says could expand the welfare state. “This measure relies on an extremely complex formula, but the end result is clear: The new poverty line would be significantly higher,” writes Corinth.

New Securities and Exchange Commission rules are changing the nature of shareholder resolutions and diverting managers’ attention from business performance, warns Benjamin Zycher. He identifies recent rule changes and their role in prioritizing social and environmental objectives over shareholders’ fiduciary interests.

According to R. Richard Geddes and Jeff Weiss, “decades-old environmental and permitting rules needlessly add years and billions of dollars to the cost of” infrastructural upgrades needed for faster growth. Geddes and Weiss outline the central federal policy forming a roadblock to implementing innovation and expanding American infrastructure—and how it might soon be reformed.

Policymakers championing work requirements for food stamps and Medicaid should also consider applying them to federal public housing programs, proposes Howard Husock. Federal housing benefits have no work requirements, but Husock highlights policy experiments showing such requirements’ positive effects, including upward mobility, for public housing beneficiaries.