As public debt problems deepen at all levels of American government, private groups like the Appalachian Mountain Club will become increasingly important in addressing supposed market failures. The AMC is a private organization that raises funds to protect wilderness areas and develops them for...

This paper explores the consequences of the oft ignored fact that public health insurance must actually be supplied by the state. Depending how the state is modeled, different health insurance outcomes are expected. The benevolent model of the state does not account for many actual features of...

The Trump administration has begun employing tariffs to protect American corporations from foreign competition. The administration believes protectionism will make America great again, but a look at the numbers and history reveal the tax will place a considerable burden on American households in...

Economists have argued for two decades that smokers do not transfer costs to non-smokers as smokers, besides paying heavy tobacco taxes, typically die at an earlier age than non-smokers who ring up important old-age care costs. But the more important question is whether there are net social...

Public Choice analysis begins with a simple question: How are collective decisions made? The answer, of course, is that the decisions are made by policymakers - politicians and bureaucrats - and by voters. The starting idea of public choice theory is disarmingly simple: Individuals, when acting...