The latest Mercatus research, media, commentary, and events delivered week by week.
Economics
Demystifying the Debt Limit
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September 20, 2021
It’s that time (again) in Washington. For what seems like the umpteenth time, the U.S. government stands on the edge of a fiscal cliff. Meanwhile, political brinksmanship threatens to push us over the edge. Sound familiar? If some agreement isn’t reached, and soon, we’ll witness the first sovereign debt default in U.S. history. And it wouldn’t be pretty. Like Wile E. Coyote, imagine the world economy going SPLAT.
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Safeguarding the Federal Reserve's Independence
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September 23, 2021
Research
Utopian Dreams and Subsidy Schemes
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September 20, 2021
Research
Section 301 Tariff Exclusions and Extensions
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September 22, 2021
Research
How to Think Like an Economist
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September 21, 2021
Editorial
Regulation
Rehabilitating the Opportunity Cost of Capital in Cost–Benefit Analysis
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September 21, 2021
For more than 40 years, the federal government has conducted cost–benefit analysis on the effects of regulations in an effort to ensure that they do more good than harm. However, consistent underestimation of the opportunity cost of capital (how invested resources would appreciate in value over time) has made it too easy for regulations to pass a cost–benefit test. In “Rehabilitating the Opportunity Cost of Capital in Cost–Benefit Analysis,” James Broughel examines the limitations of the two main approaches to calculating this opportunity cost and outlines an alternative way forward.
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Should Paid Leave Programs be Public or Private?
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September 23, 2021
Editorial
Two Ways New Hampshire Can Have Very, Very Good State Regulations
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September 19, 2021
Editorial
Healthcare
Nursing the Opioid Crisis
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September 22, 2021
The vast increase in demand for healthcare services in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic was, and continues to be, a problem for a growing number of Americans. Access to care is a serious policy challenge. One solution to this challenge is relaxing state scope-of-practice laws for nurse practitioners. Many states prevent nurse practitioners from caring for patients without supervision by a physician, citing concern for patient safety. In “Nursing the Opioid Crisis,” Benjamin J. McMichael refutes that claim.
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West Virginia’s Certificate-of-Need Program: Lessons from Research
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September 22, 2021
Research
Congress Ponders a Massive, Partisan, Redundant Healthcare Bill
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September 21, 2021
Editorial
Social Issues
To Conquer Our Biases and Improve Our Knowledge, We Need Epistemic Liberalism
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September 23, 2021
Human biases are widespread and usually troublesome. Confirmation bias, for example, leads us to seek evidence and ideas that confirm our pre-existing views. We choose to interpret information to align with our strongly held opinions or beliefs. We are also strongly inclined toward conformity bias: Due to our innate desire to belong, we’re motivated to emulate or mimic behaviors that enable us to feel we’re part of a group. The combination of these two biases generates another phenomenon, epistemic tribalism, which is currently plaguing our liberal democracy.
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Domestic Violent Extremism Is a Classic “Wicked Problem”
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September 22, 2021
Editorial
Three Forces That Threaten Liberalism and How To Counter Them
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September 21, 2021
Editorial
Hate Morning Meetings? Move to Ireland
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September 23, 2021
Editorial
An Illiberal America Would be a Disaster for the World
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September 21, 2021
Editorial
Why Wokeism Will Rule the World
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September 19, 2021
Editorial
Podcasts
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Megan Greene on the Future of CBDC and How Central Banks Should Respond to Climate Change
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September 20, 2021
Megan Greene is a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and was formerly the global chief economist at Manulife John Hancock Asset Management. Megan is also a returning guest to the podcast and rejoins David to talk about the prospects of central bank digital currency as well as how to conduct climate change policy from a central banking angle.
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Amia Srinivasan on Utopian Feminisml
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September 22, 2021
Amia joined Tyler to discuss the importance of context in her vision of feminism, what social conservatives are right about, why she’s skeptical about extrapolating from the experience of women in Nordic countries, the feminist critique of the role of consent in sex, whether disabled individuals should be given sex vouchers, how to address falling fertility rates, and more.
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The China Challenge: The Present and Future of U.S.-China Relations
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September 24, 2021
Discourse editor-in-chief David Masci talks with Weifeng Zhong and Walter Lohman about the current situation in China, including its aging population, its level of economic growth, its geopolitical strategy vis-à-vis the U.S. and much more.
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