Executive Summary Occupational licensing, or licensure, is a form of government regulation that mandates a license to pursue a particular career for compensation, aiming to protect consumers from unsafe and low-quality services. There is a growing movement to reform licensure at both state and federal levels over concerns of a constrained labor supply, which reduces … Continue reading
Executive Summary Electricity is a necessary commodity for nearly every person in the United States, and while the delivery process has not changed, deregulation has altered who supplies it. Historically, electrical markets were vertically integrated and regarded as a natural monopoly, but recent market-oriented reforms have aimed to deregulate and introduce competition to lower both … Continue reading
Executive Summary The second Trump Administration has used more executive power than most previous administrations when creating trade law. President Biden also used historically strong executive authority when making trade law, including his Section 232 tariffs, emergency export restrictions, and CFIUS capital outflow clamps. The resulting new bipartisan consensus on using executive authority to make … Continue reading
Executive Summary The relationship between fiscal deficits and trade balance in the United States is complex, and the twin deficit hypothesis (TDH) and Ricardian equivalence hypothesis (REH) suggests two differing opinions on the relationship. The TDH postulates a positive connection between fiscal deficits and trade balance (net exports) while the REH argues there is no … Continue reading
Executive Summary Insurance of last resort is a program meant to cover individuals living in high-risk areas prone to natural disasters. These programs are meant to supplement the private market, but overregulation of the private insurance market has prompted them to grow at an unsustainable rate. Many insurers of last resort are bleeding money at … Continue reading
Executive Summary Tomorrow, the United States will impose blanket 25% tariffs on Mexico, which has promised retaliation. Mexico has much stronger incentives to follow through with retaliation than they did during their first trade dispute with President Trump in 2018. They also have a large arsenal of economic tools at their disposal to put pressure … Continue reading
Executive Summary Recent CPI-U and CPI-E (age 62+) data suggests the elderly have experienced higher CPI growth over the same period, and the heightened rate is likely from a greater weight in the shelter component of CPI which accounts for the housing costs of those who both own and rent their properties. Homebuying trends have … Continue reading
Executive Summary The U.S. dollar’s position as the preeminent global reserve currency for international trade and transactions is under threat from countries across the world – particularly Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) – that seek greater economic autonomy. BRICS nations plan to become less reliant on the U.S. dollar by circumventing it … Continue reading
The nation undoubtedly faces an affordable housing problem, one that can be understood through the economic lens of housing supply-and-demand. Since the Great Recession, mortgage rates have remained low but at the expense of overall housing costs, with prices of the average American home soaring to $316,000 in June of 2019. A study by Freddie Mac attributes the rise … Continue reading
Since assuming office, President Trump has shaken the foundation of global trade with his use of tariffs. Tariffs, in simple terms, are taxes levied on imported goods. Trump’s intentions, in line with his America First campaign promise, are to boost the domestic manufacturing industry, reduce the U.S. trade deficit, and to leverage foreign countries into … Continue reading
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