A Beacon for US Trade Policy | Daniel J. Ikenson | Cato Institute: Commentary

A Beacon for US Trade Policy | Daniel J. Ikenson | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Using domestic reform as a bargaining chip in [trade] negotiations is akin to an athlete refusing to get fit for an event unless and until other competitors also agree to get fit."

"The concept of indivisibility reinforces the fact that domestic economic reform — rather than market liberalisation abroad — is the most effective trade policy. If governments wish their countries' industries to be internationally competitive, the focus should be on reducing home-grown frictions, removing superfluous domestic regulations and encouraging more competition at home, before looking to clear bottlenecks abroad."

"the primary focus of the Obama administration's National Export Initiative has been the reduction of foreign barriers to trade — the premise being that the most significant obstacles to US export success are foreign-made. But that's wrong. US exporters, like Australian exporters, are not born as exporters. They are first manufacturers, service providers, employers, importers, taxpayers and emitters of carbon, compelled in those capacities to comply with a growing web of mandates, regulations and restrictions that are often redundant or at cross purposes, impeding competitiveness at home and abroad. That is where the reform focus should be."

"a World Trade Organisation dispute settlement panel sided with the US government in its challenge of restraints imposed by the Chinese government on China's exports of nine crucial raw materials. US Trade Representative Ron Kirk was right to characterise the export restraints as harmful to downstream US industries that rely on those industrial inputs to compete effectively. But he failed to mention that the US government itself imposes import restrictions under the anti-dumping law on some of those raw materials, devastating firms in the same industries."

Jettison Those Musty Jobless Benefit and Union Rules | Chris Edwards | Cato Institute: Commentary

Jettison Those Musty Jobless Benefit and Union Rules | Chris Edwards | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Harvard University's Robert Barro estimated last year that recent expansions in [unemployment insurance] benefits pushed up the U.S. employment rate by about 2.7 percentage points."

"In 2002, the nation of Chile created personal UI savings accounts funded by payroll contributions. When workers lose their jobs, they draw on their UI accounts, giving them a strong incentive to find a job quickly and not deplete their funds. A detailed study of the Chilean system found that, indeed, workers using the new accounts had shorter spells of unemployment. A side benefit of Chile's system is that when workers retire, they have an additional pot of savings to enjoy."

"Collective bargaining is out of step with today's individualistic culture. The system is inconsistent with the right to freedom of association, and it effectively silences workers who disagree with union heads. Collective bargaining also creates rigid work structures in companies, which is damaging to firms competing in the dynamic global economy."

How Sweden Profits from For-Profit Schools | Andrew J. Coulson | Cato Institute: Commentary

How Sweden Profits from For-Profit Schools | Andrew J. Coulson | Cato Institute: Commentary: "The best teachers attract tens of thousands of students as news of their effectiveness spreads, sometimes becoming national celebrities. One such celebrity teacher is Woo Hyeong-cheol whose math classes attracted 50,000 on-line students last year, earning him $4 million — more than most of the nation's top professional athletes."

"So investors have a powerful incentive to pick only the best for-profit schools, and the for-profit schools have a powerful incentive to grow. My research on California's charter school networks suggests that philanthropists, who expect no financial return on their investment, are less careful in their choices.

To date, the profit motive has proven to be the only reliable way of ensuring that top schools and teachers routinely reach mass audiences, crowding out inferior services. Nations that exclude the profit motive from education have reduced the best schools to floating candles: beautifully illuminating their immediate vicinities, but doomed never to ignite a wider blaze."

Harris Interactive: Harris Polls > President Obama Would Lose if Mitt Romney or Rudy Giuliani Was the Nominee

Harris Interactive: Harris Polls > President Obama Would Lose if Mitt Romney or Rudy Giuliani Was the Nominee: "it seems there are three possible candidates who could give President Obama a difficult time. President Obama would lose his re-election if Rudy Giuliani (53% to 47%) or Mitt Romney (51% to 49%) was the Republican nominee. Each candidate would receive 50% of the vote if the President was running against Ron Paul. Right now, President Obama would win re-election against the 10 other candidates presented."

Two Trillion Isn't Enough | Tad DeHaven | Cato Institute: Commentary

Two Trillion Isn't Enough | Tad DeHaven | Cato Institute: Commentary: "On one side we have a president whose surrogates warn of economic Armageddon if the debt ceiling isn't raised, despite the fact that he himself voted against raising the limit in 2006 as the junior senator from Illinois. On the other side are congressional Republicans, tasked with negotiating spending cuts in exchange for raising the debt ceiling — the same guys who happily voted for big-spending legislation when it was their guy in the White House."

Fueling Freedom | Randal O'Toole | Cato Institute: Commentary

Fueling Freedom | Randal O'Toole | Cato Institute: Commentary: "the prospect of 'free' federal money from a program called New Starts led cities to plan outrageously expensive rail projects that provide little real improvement in transit service. Transit agencies often cannibalize their bus systems to provide local matching funds. The result is that after hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies, there is less per-capita urban transit ridership today than in 1980."

Lower the Debt Ceiling - Mark Thornton - Mises Daily

Lower the Debt Ceiling - Mark Thornton - Mises Daily: "reducing the debt ceiling would force the government to stop borrowing so much money from credit markets. This would leave significantly more credit available for the private sector. The shortage of capital is one of the most often cited reasons for the failure of the economy to recover."

Was the Space Shuttle Worth It? - Timothy D. Terrell - Mises Daily

Was the Space Shuttle Worth It? - Timothy D. Terrell - Mises Daily: "One NASA estimate — on the low end, because it does not account for inflation — is $115.5 billion, or around $860 million per launch. That's still far higher than NASA's original projection of $7 million per launch, predicated as it was on far more frequent launches. Two more recent estimates are $193 billion (in 2010 dollars) and $211 billion. For the program's 135 launches, that's $1.43 billion and $1.56 billion per launch, respectively."

Subsidized Grief - Mark A. Pribonic - Mises Daily

Subsidized Grief - Mark A. Pribonic - Mises Daily: "The repair of one house destroyed by violent winds is the responsibility of the homeowner and the insurance company. But if the same house is flattened along with hundreds of others in close proximity, it now becomes the responsibility of the taxpayers, even though the personal loss is no greater than for the stand-alone home."

"A family crouched in their basement awaiting the arrival of a destructive storm must hope that, if their house is destroyed, many others will be too. Similarly, if one is facing a potentially deadly situation, one may hope that numerous others will meet their fate at the same time and place, because then one's heirs will receive greater benefits."

Beneficiaries of Trade: You and Me | Daniel Griswold | Cato Institute: Commentary

Beneficiaries of Trade: You and Me | Daniel Griswold | Cato Institute: Commentary: "So, when the BEA reports that imports 'subtracted' two percentage points from economic growth in the past quarter, that doesn't mean that GDP would have grown that much faster without those pesky imports. It only means that other components — private and government expenditures, investment, and exports — were overstated by that amount. The subtraction reduces the overstatement, not real gross domestic product."

"Civilian employment expanded at a healthy 1.4% a year during periods of rising trade deficits, while job growth was virtually zero during stretches when the deficit was shrinking. The jobless rate declined an average of 0.4 percentage points per year when the trade gap was on an upward trend, and jumped a painful one point per year when the deficit was trending down. Apparently, the only thing worse for the U.S. economy than a rising trade deficit is a falling one."