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June 26, 2025
Trump Is Half Wrong and Half Right: Eliminating FEMA, The U.S. As a Common Currency Area, The Professional Bureaucracy, and The Separation of Powers
Read the full paper below.
March 18, 2025
A Critique of Professor Cass R. Sunstein on the Social Cost of Carbon
This paper offers critical observations on the arguments presented by Professor Cass R. Sunstein in a recent opinion column on the Trump Executive Order of January 20, 2025. That executive order ended the use of estimates of the social cost of greenhouse gases (or carbon) by federal policymakers. Read the full paper below. Sunstein-SCC-Zycher-March-2025Download
November 6, 2024
Determinants of Industry Concentration and Dispersion
Abstract Given the political and public interest in rising industry concentration in developed economies, researchers have been working on uncovering underlying mechanisms and implications. Various causes of concentration have been proposed, although rarely tested in a comprehensive model. We study five distinct phenomena and their association with industry concentration: 1) Industry regulation, 2) mergers, 3)…
July 30, 2024
Observations on the Pomerleaus’ New Argument for a Carbon Tax
Summary My colleagues Kyle Pomerleau and Shuting Pomerleau propose a “carbon”(greenhouse gas emissions) tax as a fiscal tool with which to finance an extension of theindividual income tax reductions implemented in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Theyargue that such a tax would improve aggregate economic efficiency, in particular byreducing the purported negative externalities…
July 3, 2024
Minimum Standards for Maximum Pricing Constraints
Abstract Government regulators often establish maximum prices for regulated services. This paper explains the proper economic principles for establishing such constraints. The principles imply a range – an upper limit and a lower limit – that constrain the regulator’s discretion. Principles emerging from common law and from economic research align, indicating that, at a minimum,…