From the Cover
The Perils of ‘Free’ Information
Contrary to some activists’ and academics’ claims, weak IP rights can suppress innovation and competition.
Behind the Issue
Unintended Consequences
The Podcast of Regulation
Every minute, over 500 hours of content are uploaded to YouTube. Some of those videos likely infringe on existing intellectual property rights. In his Regulation cover article, law professor Jonathan Barnett argues that protections for intellectual property, including on platforms like YouTube, have become too weakened. That has resulted in a massive redistribution of wealth from IP holders to online platforms and users. Yet by lowering the functional costs of sharing ideas and data, the internet has generated an explosion in creativity, which is ostensibly the purpose of granting IP rights in the first place. Join Peter and Paul as they discuss whether there’s an optimal degree of strictness for intellectual property rights.
In conjunction with Regulation Magazine Spring 2025 edition.
Features
The Fate of ‘Never Needed’ Regulations
What happened to regulations that were suspended during the Covid-19 emergency?
Restraining ‘Theft by the State’
In its 2023 decision on home equity theft, the Supreme Court showed property rights aren’t only for the rich.
How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love Index Funds
Can passive investing be both meddlesome and neglectful?
Should PM2.5 Regulation Be Decentralized?
Particulate controls yield large benefits in some places and bizarre policies in others.
All the Presidents’ Regulations
John Graham’s new book is a good starting place to understand recent federal regulatory policy and what may lie ahead.
Briefly Noted
The Climate Policy Warning in Democrats’ Defeat
At every turn in the debate, climate activists have been silent on the costs of their preferred policies or attested that those costs would be trivial.
TikTok, Public Choice, and the Theater of the Absurd
Public choice theory assumes that state agents act in their own interests, just like they do when they participate in ordinary (non-political) markets.
In Review
Final Word
Restrained by the Invisible Hand
The futility of protectionism is well-documented, and tariffs need no further debunking.
