Incentives matter, even in criminal behavior. How are violent crime and police violence related to one another?

By Albert Gustafson As the Trump administration finalizes its plans to implement tariffs against foreign steel and aluminum, it’s clear that the president doesn’t mind ignoring economists — even within his own administration. The Trump budget, first rolled out in January, shows a similar rejection of economic orthodoxy. Despite hawkish rhetoric about reducing the national debt during his campaign, […]

Stretching the tools of economic analysis to understand the rationale for legal and social norms

Many erroneously propose war as an economic good, but this calculus of euqality and human life is a dangerous innovation.

“Zoning policies that restrict new development in almost every city have made the most upwardly mobile places also some of the least accessible.”

My summer at the Platte Institute revealed the unattractive underside of local government