Regulation: A Primer by Susan E. Dudley and Jerry Brito provides an overview of regulatory theory, analysis, and practice. It examines the constitutional underpinnings of federal regulation and discusses who writes and enforces regulation and how they do it. It also provides insights into the different varieties of regulation and how to analyze whether a regulatory proposal makes citizens better or worse off.

Regulation: A Primer

Dudley, Susan E.

Brito, Jerry

Administrative Law

Mercatus Center at George Mason University

Restoring the Balance between Protection and Innovation The Constitution gives Congress the power to establish copyright “to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts.” This requires Congress to engage in a delicate balancing act, giving authors enough protection that they will be motivated to create expressive works, but not so much that it hampers innovation and public access to information. Yet over the past half-century Congress has routinely shifted the balance in only one direction—away from access and freedom and toward greater privileges for organized special interests. Conservatives and libertarians, who are naturally suspicious of big government, should be skeptical of an ever-expanding copyright system. They should also be skeptical of the recent trend toward criminal prosecution of even minor copyright infringements, of the growing use of civil asset forfeiture in copyright enforcement, and of attempts to regulate the Internet and electronics in the name of piracy eradication. Copyright Unbalanced is not a moral case for or against copyright; it is a pragmatic look at the excesses of the present copyright regime and of proposals to expand it further. It is a call for reform—to roll back the expansions and reinstate the limits that the Constitution’s framers placed on copyright. About the Editor Jerry Brito is a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and director of its Technology Policy Program. He also serves as adjunct professor of law at Mason. He has written for both online and print publications, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Reason, Wired.com, Ars Technica, and The Atlantic. Brito is the co-author of Regulation: A Primer, with Susan Dudley. About the Contributors Tom W. Bell is a professor at Chapman University School of Law and an adjunct fellow of the Cato Institute. He is the coeditor of Regulators’ Revenge: The Future of Telecommunications Deregulation, with Solveig Singleton. Eli Dourado is a research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University with the Technology Policy Program. Timothy B. Lee is an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute. He covers technology policy for Ars Technica and has written for both online and print publications, including Slate, Reason, Wired.com, and the New York Times. Christina Mulligan is a postdoctoral associate in law and a lecturer in law at the Information Society Project at Yale Law School. David G. Post is professor of law at the Beasley School of Law at Temple University, where he teaches intellectual property law and the law of cyberspace. He is the author of In Search of Jefferson’s Moose: Notes on the State of Cyberspace and coauthor of Cyberlaw: Problems of Policy and Jurisprudence in the Information Age, with Paul Schiff Berman, Patricia Bellia, and Brett Frischmann. Post is a regular contributor to the influential Volokh Conspiracy blog. Patrick Ruffini is president of Engage, a digital media firm with clients including Fortune 500 companies, presidential and statewide candidates, technology startups, and issue advocacy campaigns. Reihan Salam is a policy advisor at Economics 21, a contributing editor at National Review, a Reuters opinion columnist, and a CNN contributor. He is the coauthor of Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream, with Ross Douthat.

Copyright Unbalanced: From Incentive to Excess

Business & Money

Salam, Reihan

Post, David G.

Bell, Tom W.

Dourado, Eli

Lee, Timothy B.

Mulligan, Christina

Ruffini, Patrick

Economics

More than 360,000 words in length, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is the longest and most complex piece of financial legislation in American history. The nature and magnitude of its effects, both intended and unintended, will become clearer as regulators exercise the broad discretion given to them under the law. In this new book, the contributors ask whether the law is an effective response to the financial crisis that so deeply rattled our nation. Taking a hard look at the law’s celebrated objectives, they reveal that it not only fails to achieve many of its stated goals, it also creates dangerous regulatory pathologies that could lay the groundwork for the next crisis.

Dodd-Frank: What It Does and Why It's Flawed

White, Lawrence J.

Peirce, Hester

Broughel, James

Verret, J. W.

McLaughlin, Patrick A.

Greene, Robert W.

Political and economic systems either allow exchange and resource allocation to take place through mutual agreement under a system of liberalism, or force them to take place under a system of cronyism in which some people have the power to direct the activities of others. This book seeks to clarify the differences between liberalism and cronyism by scrutinizing the actual operation of various political and economic systems. Examples include historical systems such as fascism in Germany between the world wars and socialism in the former Soviet Union, as well as contemporary systems such as majoritarianism and industrial policy. By examining how real governments have operated, this book demonstrates why—despite their diverse designs—in practice all political and economic systems are variants of either liberalism or cronyism. About the Authors Randall G. Holcombe is DeVoe Moore professor of economics at Florida State University. He received his PhD in economics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and taught at Texas A&amp;M University and at Auburn University before coming to Florida State in 1988. Holcombe is the author of twelve books and more than one hundred articles published in academic and professional journals. His books include The Economic Foundations of Government (1994), Public Policy and the Quality of Life (1995), From Liberty to Democracy: The Transformation of American Government (2002), and Entrepreneurship and Economic Progress (2007). His primary research areas are public finance and the economic analysis of public policy issues. Andrea M. Castillo is a program associate at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. She attended Florida State University and received a BS in economics and political science in 2012. She blogs at Neighborhood Effects and is a columnist for The Umlaut.

Liberalism and Cronyism: Two Rival Political and Economic Systems

Holcombe, Randall G.

Castillo, Andrea M.

Legal Theory & Systems

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—privately managed, profit-seeking government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs)—played a crucial role in inflating America’s housing bubble. Now that the bubble has burst and the GSEs’ mistakes have resulted in huge taxpayer losses, their role must be rethought. In this compendium, six leading mortgage and real-estate finance scholars present their proposals to reform America’s housing finance system in ways that are productive yet sensitive to the fragile state of the current recovery. Each proposal considers how to protect taxpayers from future losses associated with the GSEs, increase the role of private capital in financing mortgages, and maintain a safe and robust system to channel capital to able borrowers.

House of Cards: Reforming America's Housing Finance System

Thallam, Satya

What policy vision will govern the future of technological innovation? Will innovators be forced to constantly seek the blessing of public officials before they develop and deploy new devices and services, or will they be generally left free to experiment with new technologies and business models? In this book, Adam Thierer argues that if the former disposition (“the precautionary principle”) trumps the latter (“permissionless innovation”), the result will be fewer services, lower quality goods, higher prices, diminished economic growth, and a decline in the overall standard of living. When public policy is shaped by “precautionary principle” reasoning, it poses a serious threat to technological progress, economic entrepreneurialism, and long-run prosperity. By contrast, “permissionless innovation” has been the secret sauce that fueled the success of the Internet and much of the modern tech economy in recent years, and it is set to power the next great industrial revolution—if we let it.

Permissionless Innovation: The Continuing Case for Comprehensive Technological Freedom

Science & Math

Thierer, Adam

Technology

Top experts explain everything you wanted to know about Medicaid—from federal-state financing to potential reforms Medicaid, originally considered an afterthought to Medicare, is today the largest health insurance provider in the United States. Under the Affordable Care Act, the Congressional Budget Office projects Medicaid enrollment to increase nearly 30 percent by 2024 and federal spending on the program to double over the next decade. For the states, Medicaid is already the largest single budget item, and its rapid growth threatens to further crowd out other spending priorities. In this collection of essays, nine experts discuss the escalating costs and consequences of a program that provides second-class health care at first-class costs. The authors begin with an explanation of Medicaid’s complex state-federal funding structure. Next, they examine how the system’s conflicting incentives discourage both cost savings and efficient care. The final chapters address the pros and cons of the most mainstream Medicaid reform proposals and offer alternative solutions. This book offers a timely assessment of how Medicaid works, its most problematic components, and how—or if—its current structure can be adequately reformed to provide quality care for those in need at sustainable costs. <ul>Contributors include: <li>Joseph Antos, American Enterprise Institute</li> <li>Charles Blahous, Mercatus Center at George Mason University</li> <li>Darcy Nikol Bryan, MD, practicing physician</li> <li>James C. Capretta, Ethics and Public Policy Center</li> <li>Robert F. Graboyes, Mercatus Center at George Mason University</li> <li>June O’Neill, Baruch College, CUNY</li> <li>Nina Owcharenko, Heritage Foundation</li> <li>Thomas Miller, American Enterprise Institute</li> </ul>

The Economics of Medicaid: Assessing the Costs and Consequences

Medical Books

Fichtner, Jason J.

Administration & Medicine Economics

A consensus has recently emerged among academics and policymakers that US copyright law has fallen out of balance. Lawmakers have responded by taking up proposals to reform the Copyright Act. But how should they proceed? This book offers a new and insightful view of copyright, marking the path toward a world less encumbered by legal restrictions and yet richer in art, music, and other expressive works. Two opposing viewpoints have driven the debate over copyright policy. One side questions copyright for the same reasons it questions all restraints on freedoms of expression, and dismisses copyright, like other forms of property, as a mere plaything of political forces. The opposing side regards copyrights as property rights that deserve—like rights in houses, cars, and other forms of property—the fullest protection of the law. Each of these viewpoints defends important truths. Both fail, however, to capture the essence of copyright. In Intellectual Privilege, Tom W. Bell reveals copyright as a statutory privilege that threatens our natural and constitutional rights. From this fresh perspective come fresh solutions to copyright’s problems.

Intellectual Privilege: Copyright, Common Law, and the Common Good

Intellectual Property

When Washington came to the rescue of wealthy and well-connected bankers, both progressives and libertarians objected to the inequity of favoring one industry over others. Beyond the philosophical objections, what happens when governments play favorites with businesses? What are the social and economic consequences of special privilege? In this essay, public-choice economist Matthew Mitchell surveys the various tools that governments use to favor one firm or industry over others, demonstrating that favoritism takes many forms. Well researched and tightly argued, this short essay demonstrates the extraordinarily destructive force of government-granted privilege. Citing both anecdotes and academic research, Mitchell makes a strong case that favoritism misdirects resources, impedes genuine economic progress, breeds corruption, and undermines the legitimacy of both the government and the private sector. Taxpayers, business leaders, and policymakers will profit from a close study of this provocative work.

The Pathology of Privilege: The Economic Consequences of Government Favoritism

Mitchell, Matthew

Education & Reference

Federalism questions are at the heart of today’s intensely controversial policy debates. From education to disaster relief to health care and insurance, federal arrangements are failing, and the federal structure itself has reemerged as a subject of public debate. Bloated bureaucracies defy reform and governments pursue ever-deeper debt. These debilities loom especially large in times of economic stress and widespread public disaffection. This essay examines the sources and the scope of federalism’s failures. It provides a trenchant, constitutionally grounded analysis with profound implications for a range of current policy debates. Federalism’s restoration requires not merely rebalancing the federal-state relationship through decentralization. Rather, we must restore the structure of federalism to competitive federalism—which encourages states to compete to enhance freedom and economic growth—in response to the rise of cartel federalism, which squashes competition between the states and makes states dependent on the federal government.

Federalism and the Constitution: Competition versus Cartels

Politics & Social Sciences

Greve, Michael S.

Politics & Government

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