Businesses with 50 or more employees are subject to the
#ACA
's employer mandate. Nationwide, between 28,000 and 50,000 small businesses appear to have reduced their number of full-time employees to fewer than 50 because of the mandate.
We’re excited to announce Jeremy Horpedahl has joined Mercatus as a Visiting Scholar with our Fiscal Studies Program.
@jmhorp
’s research will focus on public finance, with an emphasis on tax policy.
With populism on the rise, capitalism under attack, and socialism back in vogue, the work of Austrian economist Friedrich Hayek is more relevant than ever.
@PeterBoettke
discusses his recent book on Hayek with
@nickgillespie
on the
@reason
podcast:
In 1974, Milton Friedman said, "You must separate out being 'pro-free enterprise' from being 'pro-business.'"
A new Mercatus survey shows this distinction is just as important today as it was back then:
#CultureofFavoritism
Arizona has started accepting occupational licenses from other states, meaning that any licensed worker can now move to Arizona and begin work immediately. This is a win for consumers as it increases competition within specialty industries.
Even as the left flirts with socialism and the right dallies with state-directed industrial policy, the empirical case for free and open markets has never been stronger.
What if you could purchase an empty seat on a private flight that was going where you needed to go anyway for a majorly discounted price? How the FAA killed Uber for airplanes:
“Genuine free-market capitalism requires a free, and level, economic playing field. No special privileges for politically connected or politically correct firms.” -
@MattMitchell80
Today the Mercatus Center at George Mason University announces a series of prizes through its Emergent Ventures program for innovators working to combat COVID-19. These prizes are an effort to stimulate innovation in the face of a pandemic. Learn more:
Mercatus is announcing a call for papers! We're now accepting short (1,000–2,500 word) policy briefs on the response to and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The author(s) of each published brief will receive a $1,000 honorarium.
"Almost 80% of those utilizing the electric vehicle tax credit have incomes over $100,000, making it not just a corporate handout but also a transfer from all workers to wealthier Americans."
Today, we launched the John Stuart Mill Fellowship, a one-year program that allows entrepreneurs to study the philosophical underpinnings of major ideas related to markets, politics, and society.
In 2018 alone, the
@cowenconvos
podcast was downloaded millions of times and featured 27 of the best-known thinkers and doers in the world, including 3 Nobel Prize winners.
Here are 8 of our favorite conversations of 2018:
Subsidies typically don't sway corporate location decisions or lead to economic growth. So why do states and municipalities keep offering them to lure big businesses?
#AmazonHQ2
Steve Horwitz, a
@GeorgeMasonU
Ph D alum, was an extraordinary teacher and friend to so many. Last year, he sat down with
@PeterBoettke
and discussed his intellectual journey with passion, humor and humility. He will be deeply missed.
The Mercatus Center at GMU is pleased to announce the creation of the George Gibbs Chair in Political Economy, in memory of George Williams Gibbs, III. Senior Research Fellow Veronique de Rugy will be the inaugural chair holder, effective immediately.
In 1776, Adam Smith observed that nothing 'can be more absurd than this whole doctrine of the balance of trade.' Sadly, almost 250 years later, this economic fallacy has been elevated into a pretext for protectionism.
Join
@srajagopalan
and
@amitvarma
as they dissect the complex issue of Delimitation in India in an episode of The Seen and the Unseen. Gain a comprehensive understanding of the challenges and explore innovative solutions for equal representation.
It’s time to rethink the minimum lot sizes in America. Why? New research shows that allowing property owners to subdivide their land is critical to increasing the housing supply and promoting homeownership.
Aspiring hair braiders in New Jersey must complete 1,200 hours of approved instruction. Not one of those 1,200 hours includes training in hair braiding.
“Genuine free-market capitalism requires a free, and level, economic playing field. No special privileges for politically connected or politically correct firms.” -
@MattMitchell80
When F. A. Hayek moved to Britain in the early 1930s, he was struck by the extreme skepticism toward the market economy and the optimism towards planning and socialism. Advance the calendar almost a century, and we're still hearing the same reprise.
Mercatus is pleased to announce a new initiative, the Program on Pluralism and Civil Exchange, focused on building pathways toward a free and peaceful society.
@BenKlutsey
will lead the new initiative.
"Her arrival at the SEC is genuinely exciting." SEC Commissioner and former Mercatus scholar
@HesterPeirce
is bringing a fresh perspective to the Securities and Exchange Commission:
@TheEconomist
Studies show that countries with greater levels of economic freedom enjoy better outcomes—especially for the poor. So why the continued skepticism about free markets?
We’re incredibly excited to announce
@nabeelqu
has joined Mercatus as a Visiting Fellow with our Program on Artificial Intelligence & Progress. Nabeel is an invaluable voice and thinker as it relates to AI. Read his piece on Moral AI here
Nurse practitioners are highly trained and capable of delivering competent
#healthcare
services. Empowering them can help bring down healthcare prices:
We are proud to announce that the Senate confirmed Mercatus Vice President for Policy Research William Beach to serve as Commissioner of
@BLS_gov
. Congratulations Bill!
"It's a provocative, powerful argument for an America in which government does less, individuals do more, and the future becomes the object of our dreams rather than a repository of our fears." —
@nickgillespie
on
@tylercowen
's new book:
"For too long, regulations have escaped scrutiny because researchers and policymakers didn’t have good ways to measure them. Finally, that’s all beginning to change."
Studies show that countries with greater levels of economic freedom enjoy better outcomes—especially for the poor. So why the continued skepticism about free markets?
"I think that Hayek's 'Road to Serfdom' is a brilliant book that has been misunderstood because it became a coffee table book and then it became a caricature for other people." —
@PeterBoettke
talks all things Hayek on The Remnant with
@JonahNRO
:
Between 28,000 and 50,000 businesses appear to have reduced their number of full-time employees from 2014 to 2016 because of the employer-sponsored health insurance mandate in the ACA:
The opportunity cost of our
#econoween
contest is low & the benefits are high! Share a photo of your
#econ
-themed pumpkin with the hashtag
#econoween
for a chance to win $100 in books from Amazon: 🎃 👻
Rising home prices in cities with growing populations are not a law of nature. Until the 1970s, regions generally accommodated new residents by allowing new housing construction.
"If we take seriously Hayek’s cautions regarding the fatal conceit of the social engineer, it forces us to adopt a posture of deep epistemic humility — deep humility about the limitations of our own knowledge."
Economist Richard Wagner wrote an intellectual biography of James M. Buchanan that is about Buchanan's ideas first and his work and person second. Watch
@jmelemke
's interview with Richard Wagner:
Virginia's democratic governor, Ralph Northam, is reducing the state's regulatory burden by scrapping hundreds of laws. The laws being cleaned out disproportionately burden the poor and racial minorities.
How much land does one home reasonably require?
@OldUrbanist
argues minimum lot sizes are virtually ubiquitous in the US, and allowing property owners to subdivide their land is critical to increasing the housing supply and promoting homeownership.
In 1974, Milton Friedman said, "You must separate out being 'pro-free enterprise' from being 'pro-business.'
A new Mercatus survey shows this distinction is just as important today as it was back then:
#CultureofFavoritism