Mercatus Center

Submission for the Record:New Hampshire House of Representatives, Executive Departments and Administration Committee I am thankful for the opportunity to submit comments to the Executive Departments and Administration Committee of the New Hampshire House of Representatives regarding HB 1286-FN, concerning the licensure and regulation of music therapists. I am a New Hampshire resident, a health policy instructor at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice, and a...

While economists have found a positive relationship between norms like generalized trust and economic growth, several scholars outside of economics have argued that there is a tradeoff between economic growth and morality. In particular, they argue that as markets develop, market values, e.g. a focus on money and material possessions, also increase. In this article we empirically test this claim using data from the Economic Freedom of the World project, the World Bank, and the World Values...

Matthew D. Mitchell and Anna Parsons write on regulatory hurdles faced in introducing a new cancer drug, despite the drug already having been approved by the FDA. Read it at the Wall Street Journal.

Matthew D. Mitchell writes on the roadblocks presented by certificate-of-need laws in Michigan. Read it in The Detroit News.

Chair Kapenga, Vice Chair Craig, and distinguished members of the committee: My name is Matthew Mitchell. I am an economist and a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, where I direct the Equity Initiative. In November I spoke with you about the economic literature regarding licensure. Among other things, I spoke of the evidence that most forms of licensure do not seem to increase consumer safety or quality while licensure does increase consumer prices and...

The current global-justice literature starts from the premise that world poverty results mostly from the actions of governments and citizens of rich countries. As a result, it recommends vast coercive transfers of wealth from rich to poor societies alongside stronger governance. But is it possible that global injustice is actually home-grown? If so, how can we alleviate poverty? What duties do we owe the world’s poor? In this throwback episode of the Hayek Program Podcast on "Justice at a...

January 1 did not just ring in a new year and a new decade, it also heralded the start of California’s new worker classification law: Assembly Bill 5 (AB-5). Signed last month by Gov. Greg Newsom (D), the new law will affect how freelance workers do (and don’t do) business in the state and, given California’s trendsetting status, in other states throughout the United States. AB-5 has sparked the assortment of lawsuits and political responses that such heavy-handed interventions generally do,...

Good afternoon, Chairman Scott Louser, Vice Chairman Shawn Vedaa, and distinguished members of the Interim Commerce Committee. My name is Jennifer Huddleston, and I am a research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, where my research focuses primarily on the intersection of law and technology. This focus includes issues surrounding consumer data privacy. Thank you for this opportunity to discuss such policy matters in relation to the protections, enforcement, and remedies...

The US Treasury’s semi-annual report issued this week on the exchange rate policies of China and other major trading partners is an exercise in intellectual gymnastics. The report reiterates that China was indeed a currency manipulator, as Treasury declared in August 2019, but then states it has magically ceased to be one now that the two nations are ready to sign the “Phase One” trade deal this week in Washington. In fact, under any reasonable reading of US law, China has refrained from...

We’ve all heard about out-of-reach housing prices in places like Silicon Valley and New York City. But in recent years, the cost of housing has also been rising fast in places known for steak rather than seafood. Indeed, while home prices in the middle of the country remain far below those in highly regulated coastal markets, they’ve often been increasing at a faster rate. As I detailed in a recent piece for City Journal, these rising costs prompted bipartisan majorities in Arkansas, North...