The Agenda

Boston Fed Paper Gives Bitcoin-as-Payment-System a Thumbs-Up

By Patrick Brennan September 19, 2014

In this space, I’ve been following the evolution of the digital currency bitcoin, which has gotten big enough to merit an academic paper on it from two economists affiliated with ...

Why Los Angeles Is Liberating Its Cabs

By Reihan Salam September 19, 2014

Something very unusual is happening in Los Angeles. Instead of fighting innovative new businesses in service to deep-pocketed incumbents, local taxi regulators are very tentatively moving towards deregulation. No, they’re ...

How Avikcare Would Fix Medicaid

By Callie Gable September 18, 2014

Medicaid is a mess, and a very expensive one at that — the health-insurance program for low-income Americans is administered by states but has dozens of federal mandates and rules ...

How Conservatives Can Win on Social Issues

By Reihan Salam September 17, 2014

On Monday, Jonathan Martin of the New York Times reported on how Democratic and Republican candidates have been adapting to a changing cultural landscape. Rising support for same-sex marriage, for ...

Tesla and the Interstate Subsidy Chase

By Reihan Salam September 16, 2014

The Wall Street Journal has published an outstanding editorial on the success of Tesla, the boutique manufacturer of high-end electric automobiles, in extracting $1.3 billion in tax subsidies from Nevada for its new ...

Elizabeth Warren Is Still Deceiving People about Student Loans

By Jason Richwine September 11, 2014

Politico reports that Senator Elizabeth Warren’s student-loan “refinancing” bill, which suffered death-by-filibuster back in June, will be resurrected in the Senate as early as this week. The legislation would drop ...

Guide to the Senate Races, Louisiana Edition: Rep. Bill Cassidy (R) v. Mary Landrieu (D)

By Callie Gable September 8, 2014

Though Louisiana is generally considered a Republican state for purposes of presidential elections, its politics are famously idiosyncratic, with power alternating between candidates who identify as reformers or populists, tendencies which ...

Guide to the Senate Races, Georgia Edition: David Perdue (R) v. Michelle Nunn (D)

By Callie Gable September 5, 2014

Though Georgia is considered a relatively solid Republican state in presidential elections, its changing demographic composition has made it an increasingly attractive target for Democrats. The Republican candidate, David Perdue, has ...

Remember the Second-Order Consequences of Legislation (and a Less-Conservative Lesson)

By Patrick Brennan September 5, 2014

That, of course, won’t be an unfamiliar lesson for many right-of-center policy types, or conservatives in general, but it’s always one worth bearing in mind nonetheless, because sometimes there are ...

Recent College Graduates Are Still Adrift

By Reihan Salam September 4, 2014

In 2010, Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa revealed in their book Academically Adrift that of the 2,300 undergraduates they had studied at a wide array of four-year colleges and universities, as many as a third demonstrated ...