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October 17, 2024
Why the Veto of California Senate Bill 1047 Could Lead to Safer AI Policies
Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act, reignited the debate about how best to regulate the rapidly evolving field of artificial intelligence. Newsom’s veto illustrates a cautious approach to regulating a new technology and could pave the way for more pragmatic AI safety policies. The robust debate SB 1047 sparked, imperfect as it was, is…
October 15, 2024
State Attorneys General Are Stepping in to Deal with ESG Abuse of Investors
The current proxy advisory system — in which proxy advisors make recommendations to investors and asset managers on how they should vote on shareholder proposals — has evolved into a deeply perverse mess. This has yielded adverse outcomes for investors, retirees, and firms, and for the economy as a whole, as a result of inefficient…
October 4, 2024
23andMe: Privacy and Property Protection in Bankruptcy
Kristen V. Brown, a staff writer at The Atlantic in a piece last week. I wouldn’t argue against being concerned, but there may be more privacy protection in place than Brown believes. Certainly if my views about contract law and property pertain in these contexts. But let’s see. The problem is not new. A data-intensive…
October 1, 2024
The American Growth Imperative
Every so often, I come across a policy analysis that is so quantitatively robust and crystal clear in its presentation, that it clarifies how I think. Today is one of those days. In a just-released report the Economic Innovation Group — a non-partisan think tank in Washington, DC — focuses on the rising share of government transfers…
September 27, 2024
The Institute for Regulatory Law & Economics
Today I’m traveling to the 2024 Institute for Regulatory Law & Economics Workshop for Regulators. The 2024 IRLE Workshop marks not only the 18th annual gathering of regulators and scholars, but also the 20th anniversary of IRLE’s founding. Over the past two decades, this workshop has evolved into a valued educational and translational research resource for regulators…
September 23, 2024
Australia’s Misinformation Police
A few days ago Australian legislators introduced a bill focused on “Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation.” The Australian Parliament explains the purpose of the bill: The bill proposes to amend the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 and would make consequential amendments to other Acts to establish a new framework to safeguard against serious harms caused by misinformation or…
September 23, 2024
The National Science Foundation: Juggling Basic Research and Critical Technologies
Several weeks ago, National Science Foundation (NSF) Director Sethuraman Panchanathan announced that the new Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (TIP) would focus on four technology areas over the next three years, a substantial reduction from the 10 technology areas mandated by Congress in the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act. The agency cited budget constraints…
September 18, 2024
Japan Offers a Glimpse into the Future
I’m writing this week from Tokyo, where I am participating in a fascinating symposium on “Energy Security and Global Warming in an Increasingly Uncertain International Climate,” sponsored by the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Public Policy (GraSSP) and the Institute of Energy Economic, Japan (IEEJ).(1) My contributions to the symposium focused on global rates…
September 13, 2024
The Politics of American Energy Policy
In the U.S. presidential debate earlier this week, the Democratic nominee Kamala Harris offered a strong endorsement of not just the technology of fracking but also of fossil fuels: I was the tie-breaking vote on the Inflation Reduction Act, which opened new leases for fracking. My position is that we have got to invest in diverse sources…
September 6, 2024
Social and Physical Theories of Technological Stagnation
Among those who believe that technological change has stagnated, there are two broad categories. One social/institutional theory of stagnation, often associated with Peter Thiel, claims that the world has entered a period of technological stagnation due to avoidable social and institutional factors. Thiel and others in this camp argue that societies have chosen safety, regulation,…