All of the participants in Cato’s December 6, 2018 conference titled “The Jones Act: Charting a New Course after a Century of Failure” were asked to write a short essay on any aspect of the Jones Act that he or she finds interesting, important, or compelling to understanding the impact of the Jones Act on the United States.

The scope of the essays range from 30,000-foot perspectives to detailed treatments of specific issues. They encompass a range of subjects, including: the founding myth of the Jones Act; the challenges and opportunities for a welfare analysis of the Jones Act; how the Jones Act impacts energy consumers, and also leads to increased land-based traffic congestion; and finally, pathways for Jones Act reform.

These essays will be accessible from this page beginning on the date of their online publication. I hope you will peruse and closely read these essays, which represent a broad range of expertise on various aspects of the Jones Act. Your feedback is welcome and encouraged.

Keliʻi Akina
President & CEO, Grassroot Institute of Hawaii

"Updating the Jones Act for the 21st Century: Why We Should Stop Calling for “Repeal” of This Time-worn Law"

James W. Coleman
Professor, Dedman School of Law, Southern Methodist University

"Reforming the Jones Act for American Energy Consumer"

Steve Ellis
Vice President, Taxpayers for Common Sense

Thomas Grennes
Professor of Economics Emeritus, North Carolina State University

“By Land or by Sea: Does the Jones Act Cause Land-Based Transport Congestion?”

Daniel Griswold
Senior Research Fellow & Co-Director of Trade and Immigration, Mercatus Center

"Why the Jones Act’s U.S. Citizenship Quota Should Be Repealed"

Howard Gutman
Former U.S. Ambassador to Belgium and Managing Director, the Gutman Group

Michael Hansen
President, Hawaii Shippers Council

Ted Loch-Temzelides
Professor of Economics, Rice University

“Needed: A Cost-Benefit Analysis of the Jones Act”

Nick Loris
Herbert and Joyce Morgan Fellow in Energy and Environmental Policy, Center for Free Markets and Regulatory Reform, Heritage Foundation

“Time To Mobilize the Dispersed Costs of the Jones Act”

Robert Quartel
CEO & Chairman, NTELX

Manuel Reyes
Executive Vice-President/CEO, Puerto Rico Food Marketing, Industry and Distribution Chamber (MIDA)

“A Shift Toward Murkiness: How Conflicting Transportation Policies Have Forced Unsupervised Oligopolies on Jones Act Trades in the Past 23 Years”

Bryan Riley
Director, Free Trade Initiative, National Taxpayers Union

“What the Trump Administration Can Learn from the Jones Act”