Mercatus Center

Revenue shortfalls associated with the Great Recession and the corresponding slow recovery have hindered the ability of US state governments to balance their budgets.

One of the centerpieces of the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation was the creation of a new federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau of the Federal Reserve.

According to Keynesian economic theory, many recessions have little or nothing to do with underlying (structural) economic problems. Instead, recessions are the result of a crisis in confidence.

Citizens are departing high tax US states for low tax rates. These effects are particularly strong among bordering states.

Getting rid of obsolete regulation of the broadcast and distribution of video programming is essential to the efficient operation of a market that has the potential to greatly increase the benefits

Government-provided deposit insurance is not free. The reason is straightforward: Government-provided deposit insurance in practice differs significantly from that proposed in theory.

The United States is at a tipping point: the gross national debt is over $16 trillion, equal to or exceeding the gross national product; unemployment is high; and job creation is low.

Critics of the Bush tax cuts often dismiss the tax changes as a failed experiment in free-market economics.

With most state lawmakers facing large budget deficits, they have become more aggressive about collecting online sales taxes.

Despite the lack of action, most policymakers understand the urgency of the federal entitlement crisis, and specifically, of the need to reform the largest entitlements—Medicare, Social Security an