Regulation of the Day 26: Fortune Telling in Maryland

Posted on August 5, 2009 | Comments Off on Regulation of the Day 26: Fortune Telling in Maryland

You need a license to tell fortunes in Annapolis, Maryland. You can apply for one by clicking here.

(Hat tip to Damon W. Root.)

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Posted in Regulation of the Day

Unintentionally Funny Headline of the Day

Posted on August 5, 2009 | Comments Off on Unintentionally Funny Headline of the Day

capitol1

D.C.’s new mental hospital ‘too small’

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Posted in General Foolishness

Regulation of the Day 25: Cattle with Scabies

Posted on August 4, 2009 | Comments Off on Regulation of the Day 25: Cattle with Scabies

If you own cattle and they are at risk of catching scabies, you may want to read up on the pertinent federal regulations. There are a lot of them.

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Posted in Regulation of the Day

The Antitrust Religion still Has Many Adherents

Posted on July 31, 2009 | Comments Off on The Antitrust Religion still Has Many Adherents

Here’s a letter I sent recently to the Financial Times:

July 29, 2009
Editor, Financial Times
1330 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10019

From Mr Ryan Young.
Sir, Mario Monti’s call for harmonized and reinvigorated EU and U.S. antitrust policies (“Watchdogs of the world, unite!”, July 29) is misguided. Consumers are best served when competing firms concentrate on bettering themselves, rather than hobbling their rivals. Antitrust policy discourages the former, and encourages the latter. Why bother with the ongoing challenge of competing in the marketplace if one can merely go to Brussels or Washington?

The great irony of antitrust policy is that it reduces market competition whenever and wherever it is applied. Such is its very nature.

Ryan Young
Fellow in Regulatory Studies,
Competitive Enterprise Institute,
Washington, DC, US

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Posted in Antitrust, Correspondence, Economics

Regulation of the Day 24: The Width of Ladders

Posted on July 31, 2009 | Comments Off on Regulation of the Day 24: The Width of Ladders

It is illegal for a portable metal ladder to have steps narrower than 12 inches.

Not sure why that merits a regulation; ladders so narrow aren’t particularly useful. Doubt they’d sell very well.

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Posted in Regulation of the Day

In Which Greed Is Good

Posted on July 29, 2009 | Comments Off on In Which Greed Is Good

The great economist Joseph Schumpeter wrote that “[F]ree trade is the cement that holds together the idea of peace.”*

His logic is sound. To put it bluntly, killing the customer is bad for business. And money talks. Commerce gives people who may hate each other a powerful incentive to get along; greed can be a force for good.

*Thomas K. McCraw, Prophet of Innovation: Joseph Schumpeter and Creative Destruction, (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007), p. 110.

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Posted in Economics, Great Thinkers, Trade

200th Post

Posted on July 29, 2009 | Comments Off on 200th Post

This humble blog has survived to its 200th post. My sincerest thanks to both of my readers for making it all worthwhile.

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Posted in Housekeeping

Regulation of the Day 23: Texting While Driving

Posted on July 29, 2009 | Comments Off on Regulation of the Day 23: Texting While Driving

Four Senators have introduced a bill to ban texting while driving.

Texting while driving is both dumb and dangerous. But making it a crime won’t make people stop doing it. It will merely make more people into criminals. Besides, all you have to do to not get caught is keep your phone below your car’s windows and out of sight. The ban would be unenforceable.

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Posted in Nanny State, Regulation of the Day

Policy Translated: Fiscal Stimulus

Posted on July 28, 2009 | Comments Off on Policy Translated: Fiscal Stimulus

CEI is putting out a series of short videos called “Policy Translated.” Our policy wonks hold forth on an issue, and snarky subtitles translate what we’re saying into English. You can check out the channel here. Below is my contribution, where I explain why fiscal stimulus doesn’t work very well.

In case the embedded video doesn’t work, you can watch it by clicking here.

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Posted in Economics, Stimulus

Regulation of the Day 22: Rhinestones

Posted on July 28, 2009 | Comments Off on Regulation of the Day 22: Rhinestones

The Consumer Product Safety Commission ($63.25 million 2008 budget, 401 employees), after much deliberation, has banned crystal rhinestones from children’s products. There is no evidence of harm.

The precautionary principle strikes again.

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Posted in Regulation of the Day