Publications
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Research & Commentary: Nutrition Information Overload
Publication -Research and Commentaries -One of the new requirements of President Barack Obama’s health care legislation concerns disclosure of nutrition information in restaurants — essentially a tactic designed to shame people into better eating habits. -
Why Regulate? New Applications of the ‘Johnston Test’
Publication -Policy Briefs -The following text is complete except for the omission of footnotes and two tables. -
Research & Commentary: VAT Will Increase Both Debt and Taxes
Publication -Research and Commentaries -A value-added tax (VAT) is a sales tax applied at each stage of production for a good or service, instead of only at the point of final sale. -
Research & Commentary: A Different Way to Budget
Publication -Research and Commentaries -States are beginning to turn away from baseline budgeting, a method that has proven ineffective in keeping the size of government to a responsible level. -
Research & Commentary: Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-CT) and Rep. Barney Frank’s (D-MA) sweeping Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, currently under consideration in the U.S. Senate, is both ambitious and controversial. -
Research & Commentary: Extending the Bush Tax Cuts
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Without Congressional action the Bush tax cuts will sunset on January 1, 2011 and raise U.S. residents’ tax bills by a whopping $3.1 trillion over the next 10 years. -
Research & Commentary: Constitutionality of School Voucher Programs
Publication -Research and Commentaries -In this year’s session the Illinois state legislature failed to pass a voucher bill benefiting low-income students in failing Chicago schools. Legislators expressed concern about the measure’s constitutionality. -
School Vouchers, Prosperity, and Job Creation
Publication -Research and Commentaries -States and localities are struggling with the need to slow the growth of spending for public K-12 education, while government employee unions and some legislators continue calling for ever-more money. -
Amicus Brief: McDonald v. Chicago
Publication -Policy Studies -McDonald v. Chicago, 561 U.S. ___, 130 S.Ct. 3020 (2010), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States on June 28, 2010, that determined whether the Second Amendment applies to the individual states. -
Research & Commentary: Health Care Reform May Kill HSAs
Publication -Research and Commentaries -The question keeps coming up from concerned citizens: “Under President Barack Obama’s new health care regime, what’s going to happen to my health savings account (HSA)? -
Research & Commentary: Interchange Fee Update
Publication -Research and Commentaries -In an effort to force a reduction of what consumer advocates call "swipe fees" and depository institutions call "interchange fees," many in Congress are proposing heavy regulation of these fees, which are charged for processing transactions through debit -
22 Reasons Why Free-Market Think Tanks Are More Effective than Anyone Else in Changing Public Policy
Publication -Policy Briefs -Jeff Judson, past president of the Texas Public Policy Foundation and a senior fellow of The Heartland Institute, makes the case for free-market think tanks as the most effective drivers of public policy change. -
Research & Commentary: Donald Berwick’s Radical Agenda
Publication -Research and Commentaries -While everyone in Washington is chatting about a different nominee, President Barack Obama’s choice of Donald Berwick to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is an equally unique one and in some ways the more surprising choice. -
Research & Commentary: Wisconsin Auto Insurance Mandates and Minimum Rate Hikes
Publication -Research and Commentaries -In his 2009 budget, Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle introduced a series of regulatory changes to Wisconsin’s auto insurance market. -
Credit Scoring in Washington State
Publication -Policy Briefs -Across the country, credit scores play an important role in many insurance companies’ ratemaking. -
Saving Science after ClimateGate
Publication -Policy Briefs -Billions of dollars are being spent each year on publicly funded scientific research in the U.S. -
Research & Commentary: South Carolina Cigarette Tax Ignores Real Budget Problems
Publication -Research and Commentaries -South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford’s veto of a 50-cents-per-pack cigarette tax hike shows he understands such tax hikes are bad for the state’s economy and bad for all of the state’s taxpayers, not just those who smoke. -
Research and Commentary: K-12 Teacher Tenure and Merit Pay
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Last week, Florida’s legislature passed landmark legislation to tie teacher compensation to educational outcomes and phase out tenure for K-12 teachers. On April 15, Gov. -
Research & Commentary: New Hampshire’s Vanishing Tax Advantage
Publication -Research and Commentaries -New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch (D) has proposed his fifth cigarette tax increase in five years. The 20 cents-per-pack increase would bring New Hampshire’s cigarette tax to $1.98 per pack, well above the national average. -
The Financial Turmoil of 2007-XX: Sinners and Their Sins
Publication -Policy Briefs -The financial crisis that started in the summer of 2007 in the subprime mortgage market in the U.S. -
Advancing Student Achievement
Publication -Books -For the last half century, higher spending and many modern reforms have failed to raise the achievement of students in the United States to the levels of other economically advanced countries. -
No. 126 The State Public Pension Crisis: A 50-State Report Card
Publication -Policy Studies -Taxpayers in almost every U.S. state owe large and possibly unpayable retirement pensions to the men and women who work for the government. -
The Financial Turmoil of 2007-XX: Sinners and Their Sins
Publication -Policy Briefs -The financial crisis that started in the summer of 2007 in the subprime mortgage market in the U.S. -
Advancing Student Achievement
Publication -Books -For the last half century, higher spending and many modern reforms have failed to raise the achievement of students in the United States to the levels of other economically advanced countries.