From the Cover
Restoring Representative Government
The Supreme Court must stop Congress from sloughing off its lawmaking responsibilities.
Behind the Issue
Unintended Consequences
The Podcast of Regulation
The standard, classroom story about the history of antitrust starts with crusading progressive activists breaking up the Standard Oil trust in 1911 to save consumers from corporate greed. But a closer look at the case shows something rather different: a story about anti-competitive rent-seeking hidden in the guise of fighting for the little guy. Peter and Paul discuss William Shughart’s Regulation article “Reappreaising Standard Oil” and then apply what they learn to contemporary antitrust cases like Epic Games v Apple.
In conjunction with Regulation Magazine Summer 2025 edition.
Features
Reappraising Standard Oil
Instead of a triumph of antitrust, the case should be a warning to today’s “trust busters.”
The Political Economy of Congestion Pricing
Many traffic-weary New Yorkers support the city’s congestion pricing initiative.
Are Banks Obsolete?
Despite the subsidy of a government safety net, banks are being eclipsed on lending by non-deposit institutions.
Did Climate Change Do That?
Warming is affecting weather, but attributing a particular disaster to climate change is dicey.
Briefly Noted
The Future of Psychedelic Regulation Is Local
States have already demonstrated that they can build alternative frameworks for drug liberalization grounded in harm reduction.
Of Tariffs and Industrial Policy
Tariffs aren’t the only policy tool that Donald Trump wants to use to shape the US economy.
For the Record
Freedom Isn’t the Same as Free Beer
Barnett recognizes that, in the absence of IP, profit is still possible by providing complementary goods and services, but he seems to think these cases are quite exceptional.
Answering Barnett’s Libertarian Critics
Too-weak IP risks undermining innovation and investment and encouraging free riding.
In Review
Book Review: Savings and Trust: The Rise and Betrayal of the Freedman’s Bank
One of the telltale signs of future financial institution failure is a rapid burst of growth over a relatively short period of time.
Book Review: The Certainty Trap: Why We Need to Question Ourselves More— and How We Can Judge Others Less
People are not the only victims of certainty traps; our institutions are as well.
In Review: FDR’s Long New Deal: A Public Choice Perspective
Collectivism, the dream of Marxists and other utopians, had never gained much traction in the United States.
Book Review: Failure by Design: The California Energy Crisis and the Limits of Market Planning
It may have faded from the memory of anyone who is not an energy economist, but a quarter-century ago California was seized by an electricity crisis resulting from state lawmakers’ efforts to restructure its electricity market.
Book Review: On the Edge: The Art of Risking Everything
In describing common economic thinking and response to risk, Silver divides people into two groups: “The River” and “The Village.”
Working Papers
A summary of recent papers that may be of interest to Regulation’s readers.
Final Word
Fighting Reductio Ad Sesame Street
Granted, some Republicans have made more useful critiques, noting for example that the circumstances surrounding the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 are nothing like the circumstances today.
