Executive Summary “Dark shipping” practices weaken the effectiveness of economic sanctions and create significant environmental, humanitarian, and geopolitical risks. The “shadow fleet” transported approximately 3.7 billion barrels of oil in 2025, representing nearly 7 percent of global crude oil flows. These vessels allow sanctioned countries to circumvent sanctions, preserve billions of dollars in export revenue, … Continue reading
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The ACA Premium Tax Credit Expiration: A Return to Baseline Policy
Executive Summary: Declining in the Affordable Care Act Marketplace cannot be reduced to a single cause – it reflects a convergence of designed legislative sunsets, a crackdown on improper enrollment, and a fiscal choice to limit spending. The expiration of the enhanced premium tax credits reverts the Affordable Care Act subsidy to its initial statutory … Continue reading
UNCLOS and Arctic Seabed Competition: Does U.S. Non-Ratification Strengthen or Weaken Its Position Relative to Russia?
Executive Summary: U.S. non-ratification of UNCLOS preserves regulatory autonomy by avoiding key obligations under Article 82 and the International Seabed Authority (ISA), including revenue-sharing requirements for extended continental shelf exploitation and deep-seabed mining. However, non-ratification prevents the United States from submitting Arctic continental shelf claims to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf … Continue reading
The Medicaid Work Requirement Debate Isn’t Just About Work
Executive Summary The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) has introduced work requirements for Medicaid expansion enrollees, expected to reduce federal spending while decreasing enrollment. Evidence from prior implementation of work requirements in Arkansas found no clear increase in employment, though they were short lived and administratively flawed. The empirical evidence for work requirements reflects … Continue reading
Why Are Most Nicotine Pouches on Sale Illegal?
Executive Summary The Food and Drug Administration has authorized 26 nicotine pouch products. Hundreds more sell without clearance, so the legal market is a small fraction of the shelf. For most of those unauthorized products, illegal means the FDA never finished reviewing them. It does not mean the agency examined them and judged them dangerous. A dangerous product … Continue reading
Why Young Americans Must Turn from Government Intervention and Reform Entitlements
Executive Summary The national debt is fundamentally a generational issue; running large budget deficits to finance tax cuts or spending increases today places an undue burden on younger and future generations. By borrowing more today, policymakers are effectively promising higher taxes and lower spending on future taxpayers and government beneficiaries; at the very least, younger and future … Continue reading
Price Controls and Critical Minerals: Understanding the U.S.’s Rare Earth Economic Policies
Executive Summary: In response to the Chinese government’s threated export controls on rare earth minerals, the Trump administration has signed frameworks for cooperation on rare earth mining and processing with several countries. Almost all of these frameworks specifically mention price floors and other pricing controls as a potential policy tool. Though China is certainly engaging … Continue reading
We Know Little About Post-2012 Oil Shocks
Note this post was written on June 17, 2025 and does not reflect subsequent events. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The pre-2012 consensus that increases in oil prices had a large negative effect on US output is no longer reliable. New evidence suggests oil price moves up to $115 per barrel will have an insignificant effect on total … Continue reading
Firing The Government: Inside the Largest Federal Workforce Reduction in U.S. History
Executive Summary In November 2024, the federal government employed over three million people, accounting for about 1.87 percent of the civilian workforce. Since the new administration took office in January, over 30,000 federal workers have been notified of termination, indicating that nearly one percent of the federal workforce has been cut. The proposed initiative to … Continue reading
Rethinking Occupational Licensing: Breaking Barriers
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
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