Electronic cigarettes pose a competitive threat to the makers of cigarettes and other tobacco products, as well as to nicotine replacement therapies such as nicotine gum and patches. A common response to such a threat is support for government regulation to suppress competition. Predictably,...

Policy changes that encourage non-fossil fuel energy means increased reliance on batteries and other technologies that must develop rapidly. This article focuses on batteries, noting that key inputs come from corrupt countries, so little of the benefits of exports flow to citizens, and many key...

To use or conserve environmental and natural resources effectively is complex. Many economists believe that institutional solutions built around markets and property rights can help improve results. This approach addresses what Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto termed the “missing lessons of...

In The Nature of the Firm, Ronald Coase explains how firms represent a suspension of the market mechanism. The allocation of activities depends on the relative costs of organizing activities within the firm versus direct reliance on the market. Despite Coase’s insight, economists often treat...

The Varsity Blues investigation uncovered a seamy side of university admissions. Multiple wealthy parents were indicted for securing their children’s admission to selective institutions through bribery. Despite the publicity the indictments and guilty pleas received, and the public...

Recent developments in environmental law have heightened the importance of the concept of "existence value" -- the value that individuals gain simply from the knowledge that certain environmental resources exist. These values are non-use values, hence they are said to be in the nature of a...

This chapter from the book Silent Spring at 50 analyzes the 1950s struggle over US food policy between USDA and FDA and how that struggle set the stage for the impact of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. Using a public choice/interest group analysis, the chapter examines how the two agencies...

Ce texte explique qu'il n'y a pas de solutions miracles pour gérer les enjeux sociopolitiques entourant les grands projets d'infrastructure publique. Dans le passé, l'État faisait ses choix de façon hiérarchique. Avec la multiplication des détenteurs d'enjeux, les gouvernements ne peuvent...

Au Québec, plusieurs grandes infrastructures publiques sont dans un état de désuétude avancée et doivent être remplacées ou mises à jour, et ce, dans un contexte de rareté des fonds publics. Parmi celles qui ont fait l'objet de décisions récemment ou devront le faire à court terme,...