Stephen Slivinski and Yasmeen Kallash-Kyler Housing policy reform is tricky. Getting policy changes off the ground in the first place can be difficult and compliance after enactment may not be certain. Pressure groups (often called NIMBYs, “not in my backyard” activists) who hope to maintain the status quo can be very vocal in their opposition. And even under existing laws ...
Alfredo Carrillo Obregon and Scott Lincicome On March 6, President Donald Trump exempted Canadian and Mexican imports that enter the US free of duty under the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) from the 25 percent tariffs implemented under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) until April 2. At first glance, the announcement might seem like a big, positive move to restore free ...
Jeffrey A. Singer As Josh Bloom and I wrote last November, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) imposed onerous requirements on health care providers prescribing the effective drug clozapine to patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia. Clozapine is an “atypical” antipsychotic drug. Atypical antipsychotic drugs have fewer movement-related side effects—like tardive dyskinesia, tremors, and stiffness—than “typical” psychotic drugs. The FDA approved clozapine ...
Colleen Hroncich Remote pandemic schooling wasn’t working for her second-grade daughter, so Rebecca Simmons decided it was a good time to start homeschooling. “I was supplementing her work anyway,” she recalls. “I had to beg the teacher for more. At one point, she made me promise I wasn’t going to tell anybody that she gave me more work. And I’m ...
Jeffrey Miron and Jacob Winter Much debate exists about whether the US tax and transfer system unfairly benefits wealthy people at the expense of ordinary Americans. For example, Democratic members of Congress are criticizing Republican efforts to extend the Trump tax cuts. It is important, however, to consider the system as a whole. Recent research (Cato Research Brief no. 423) ...
Michael F. Cannon A congressional staffer recently asked about the performance of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), including the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA). Since 1992, PDUFA has allowed the FDA to hire more drug-application reviewers by charging user fees to drug manufacturers. User fees now account for almost half of FDA revenues. I thought it might be ...
Chris Edwards Congress should cut federal spending to reduce massive budget deficits. One target for reform should be business subsidies—often called corporate welfare—which total $181 billion a year, according to a new Cato study. My article at National Review today summarizes 10 reasons to cut corporate welfare in addition to the taxpayer cost. Corporate welfare is central planning, which does ...
Jeffrey A. Singer The Drug Enforcement Administration reported last year that its heroin seizures decreased by almost 70 percent, while its fentanyl seizures increased by nearly 451 percent between 2019 and 2023. However, as I recently reported, heroin has been reemerging among illicit drug users in the United States over the past year, particularly in Western states. Meanwhile, a different ...
Jeffrey Miron A major controversy during the COVID-19 pandemic revolved around vaccine mandates, imposed by both governments and private entities, such as employers. Much of the debate failed to distinguish between the two types, treating all mandates as a single issue, whether in support or opposition. An example is Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s executive order, which prohibited all organizations, public ...
Scott Lincicome On March 1, President Trump instructed the Secretary of Commerce to initiate an investigation under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 on the effects of imported timber, lumber, and their derivative products on US national security. This case follows an amended Section 232 action on steel and aluminum from early February and a new investigation of ...