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Silhouette of a stamp on a dark red circle background Regulatory Studies

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New Regulation Suggests Lessons for COVID-19 Response, Examines Trump’s Regulatory Legacy

Stock photo of wildfire.

The United States in 2020 has been scarred by an extreme wildfire season and a viral pandemic. Fires have ravaged the Southwest, the Rockies, the Pacific Northwest, and California since April. Meantime, COVID-19 has been spreading across the country since March, infecting millions and killing hundreds of thousands of Americans, along with many others around the world. In the new issue of Regulation, Dean Lueck and Jonathan Yoder discuss what can we learn about virus management from wildfire management history. Also in this issue, Sam Batkins and Ike Brannon argue that, despite the headlines, the Trump administration will likely have little lasting effect on federal regulation.

Fall Regulation Looks at Paperwork, Public–Private Partnerships, and Financial Reporting

Illustration of two hands being tied by red tape

Unnecessary red tape erodes faith in government and democratic processes. The problems caused by duplicative, excessive, and poorly understood information collection requirements hurt constituencies that support both major parties. In the fall issue of Regulation, Stuart Shapiro discussed revising and improving the Paperwork Reduction Act. Also in this issue, Eduardo Engel, Ronald Fischer, and Alexander Galetovic evaluate thirty years of public–private partnerships, and Ike Brannon and Robert Jennings consider how investors and corporations could benefit from less frequent financial reporting.

  • Fall 2020 issue of Regulation

Transit: The Urban Parasite

Empty rail tracks

The costs of supporting the nation’s urban transit industry are rising, yet ridership is declining. In all but a handful of urban areas, transit uses more energy and emits more greenhouse gases per passenger mile than the average automobile. Transit no longer serves large numbers of low‐​income people, as most of them have purchased auto­mobiles. Transit systems with declining ridership do little or nothing to relieve urban congestion; nearly empty buses often increase congestion. For all these reasons, says Cato scholar Randal O’Toole, it is time to end subsidies to transit and consider privatizing it instead.

Experts

Media Name: firey.jpg
Thomas A. Firey
Media Name: wolson.jpg
Walter Olson
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Randal O'Toole
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Alan Reynolds
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Julian Sanchez
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Peter Van Doren

Subtopics

  • Antitrust
  • Environmental Regulation
  • FDA and Drug Regulation
  • Financial Regulation
  • International Regulation
  • Internet Governance and Regulation
  • Labor Law and Regulation
  • Privatization
  • Science and Public Policy
  • State and Local Regulations
  • Telecom Regulation
  • The Nanny State
  • Urban Growth and Transportation

Featured

Blog

Happy 20th Anniversary, Wikipedia!

By Ryan Bourne.

Today marks the 20th anniversary of Wikipedia’s website going live. The online, collaboratively sourced encyclopedia is one of the internet’s biggest success stories, but one that, on the face of it, conventional economic analysis would suggest was the least plausible.

Commentary

Donald Trump and the Limits of Free Speech

By Johan Norberg. The Spectator.

The right to free speech is a negative right. It guarantees you the right to be left alone, to speak your mind. But it does not give others an obligation to lend you their printing press.

Commentary

A Reality Check on Walmart, Amazon, and E‐​Commerce

By Scott Lincicome. The Dispatch.

Now seems as good a time as any to dig into the reality—good and bad—of Walmart, big box retail and e‐​commerce in the United States.

Blog

Take Price Controls Off the Menu

By Jeffrey Miron and Erin Partin.

Introducing price controls will disincentivize delivery services from partnering with low‐​volume or remote restaurants, from increasing contractor pay, or from improving service.

Legal Briefs

Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid

By Ilya Shapiro, Trevor Burrus, and Sam Spiegelman.
Blog

Market Allocation Would Treat COVID-19 Vaccines Like the Valuable Resource They Are

By Michael F. Cannon.

Government rationing is slowing the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines by diminishing the incentives for speed and security on the part of manufacturers and retailers. In some, cases it is costing lives by allowing vaccines to spoil.

Subtopics

  • Antitrust
  • Environmental Regulation
  • FDA and Drug Regulation
  • Financial Regulation
  • International Regulation
  • Internet Governance and Regulation
  • Labor Law and Regulation
  • Privatization
  • Science and Public Policy
  • State and Local Regulations
  • Telecom Regulation
  • The Nanny State
  • Urban Growth and Transportation

Multimedia

Todd Zywicki discusses the role of the Consumer Financial Services on the Credit Eco to Go podcast

Featuring Todd Zywicki. January 14, 2021.

Michael F. Cannon discusses concierge medicine on The Bob Harden Show

Featuring Michael F. Cannon. January 14, 2021.

Jeffrey A. Singer discusses the vaccine rollout in Florida on COX Media Group

Featuring Jeffrey A. Singer. January 11, 2021.

Jeffrey A. Singer discusses president‐​elect Biden’s vaccine rollout plan on Sinclair Broadcasting Group’s The National Desk

Featuring Jeffrey A. Singer. January 11, 2021.
More Multimedia

Events

Live Online Policy Forum

Defending Our Right to Test: How the FDA Restricts Direct‐​to‐​Consumer At‐​Home Testing

January 28, 2021 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM EST
Live Online

Featuring Nita A. Farahany, JD, PhD (@NitaFarahany), Robinson O. Everett Professor of Law, Professor of Philosophy, Duke Law School; Jessica Flanigan, PhD (@missjessica), Associate Professor of Leadership Studies and Philosophy, Politics, Economics, and Law, Richard L. Morrill Chair in Ethics and Democratic Values, University of Richmond; moderated by Jeffrey A. Singer, MD (@dr4liberty), Senior Fellow, Cato Institute.

Live Online Conference

38th Annual Monetary Conference — Digital Currency: Risk or Promise?

November 19, 2020 10:00 AM to 4:45 PM EST
Live Online

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically increased the demand for cash and placed a spotlight on the promise of digital currency. But risks remain. Cato’s 38th Annual Monetary Conference will bring together leading experts to examine the risks and promise of central bank vs. private (centralized and decentralized) digital currencies.

Live Online Policy Forum

Race and Medical Licensing Laws

November 10, 2020 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM EST
Live Online

Featuring Harriet A. Washington (@haw95), Writing Fellow in Bioethics, Harvard Medical School; instructor in Bioethics, Columbia University; Marshala R. Lee (@DrLeeMD), Harrington Trust Physician Scholar; Member, National Medical Association Council on Clinical Practice; Jeffrey A. Miron (@jeffreyamiron), Director of Economic Studies, Cato Institute; Director of Graduate and Undergraduate Economic Education, Harvard University; moderated by Jeffrey A. Singer (@dr4liberty), Senior Fellow, Cato Institute.

Live Online Policy Forum

Focus on Fiscal Leadership: Release of the 2020 Fiscal Report Card on America’s Governors

October 5, 2020 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM EDT
Live Online

With New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu (@GovChrisSununu); featuring Chris Edwards (@CatoEdwards), Director of Tax Policy Studies, Cato Institute; and Peter Goettler, President and CEO, Cato Institute.

More Events

Cato Studies

Research Brief 242 - Cover

Transportation Infrastructure in the United States

Gilles Duranton, Geetika Nagpal, and Matthew Turner.
December 2, 2020
pa904-cover.jpg

Space Force: Ahead of Its Time, or Dreadfully Premature?

Robert Farley.
December 1, 2020
Research Brief 239 - Cover

Occupational Licensing and Labor Market Fluidity

Morris M. Kleiner and Ming Xu.
November 4, 2020
rb237-cover.jpg

Do Generous Parental Leave Policies Help Top Female Earners?

Gozde Corekcioglu, Marco Francesconi, and Astrid Kunze.
October 21, 2020
More Cato Studies

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