Public Choice and Public Policy Project
AIER is pleased to announce as part of its ongoing research efforts the formation of the Public Choice and Public Policy Project. Modeled on the success of the Sound Money Project, this project creates a network of scholars that will offer regular commentary and in-depth analysis on public policy using the tools of Public Choice Economics.
Public Choice was described as “politics without romance” by Nobel Laureate James Buchanan. Buchanan along with an exceptional group of scholars that included fellow Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom, as well as Kenneth Arrow, Duncan Black, Gordon Tullock, Anthony Downs, William Niskanen, Mancur Olson and many others worked to create an approach to understanding public policy based in the realities of what government can and cannot achieve.
As the heirs to the broad legacy of the founders of Public Choice, the innovative scholars who make up this project seek to understand the reality of government decision-making and the consequences those decisions have on all of our lives. This group of scholars seeks to suggest alternatives to the romantic political notions that often dominate policy discussions.
Ryan Yonk
Director of The Public Choice and Public Policy Project
Senior Research Faculty, American Institute for Economic Research
Sign Up for Newsletter
Articles
|
Unemployment Drop Due to Fewer States with Lockdowns
“The drop in unemployment is almost entirely due to drops in states with lockdowns that have indefinite end dates and states that were partially or fully open as of May 16, 2020, with a bit of the drop coming from states that never had formal lockdown orders.” ~ Abigail Devereaux
|
Unemployment Far Worse in Lockdown States, Data Show
“In general, states that were still closed on May 9 had the highest average insured unemployment rates relative to the average for that same group on March 1. The unemployment rate of fully locked down states was at least double than states that had no formal lockdown.” ~ Abigail Devereaux
|
Question the Mask Mandates, for Reasons of Science
“CDC guidelines regarding the use of cloth masks have seen a complete 180-degree inversion over the last two months. With rapid changes like this we see the human side of science, we see the social and political aspects of the scientific process.” ~ Diana W. Thomas and Michael D. Thomas
|
Targeted Tax Incentives: Perverse and Ineffective
Often firms that receive these targeted incentives are subject to little or no accountability, and they rarely create the number of jobs or the hourly wage rates they promise.
