Containing the epidemic and stabilizing the economy will require further action from Congress and the administration. — Epistemic Status: Moderate. I am an economist by training who works on national public policy, not a medical professional or epidemiologist. Defer to infectious disease experts for information on the likely evolution of the virus and on how best to protect yourself from infection. …

I sometimes describe myself as Hegelian. This confuses a lot of people, so I decided to write out a concise explanation of what it means to me. Take this essay as a radical simplification of the ideas contained within. It reflects my amateur understanding, and merges Hegel’s thought with interpretations that came much later, but are clearly in the same tradition. That said, given that Hegel is hard to understand, I hope my reconstruction of his thought is reasonably accessible and clarifying of my own views.

It seems natural to ascribe a deep Christian influence to G.W.F. Hegel’s understanding of political enlightenment, given his strong Lutheranism and statements to the effect that the absolute ideal’s realization can be found in Christianity (Hegel, 1988). Yet any claim of their inseparability must reconcile Hegel’s apparent acceptance of alternative…

Last week, Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO) and Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) released a new bill to convert the Child Tax Credit into a fully-refundable, monthly child allowance. Whether you call it a “UBI for Kids” or a “Little-BIG” (Basic Income Guarantee), the American Family Act is the first proposal of…

Medicaid waivers provide a model of “executive federalism” that works. — If the defeat of the American Health Care Act (ACHA) of 2017 proves anything it’s that the politics of healthcare in America have irrevocably changed. As Niskanen Center Senior Fellow Ed Dolan recently argued, the expectation of universal coverage is here to stay. The discussion we ought to be having…

Social insurance is about solving market failures, not forced philanthropy. — Writing at Forbes, Adam Ozimek has a useful post on the topic of libertarians and charity. When asked what will replace the welfare state once it’s been abolished, the most common libertarian line is to argue that a combination of private charity and voluntary clubs will fill the gap. …

Ending the ban on supersonic overland is the key to achieving affordable, faster-than-sound air travel. — Imagine flying from New York City to Los Angeles in two hours, and for the price of a normal business class ticket. It should be possible with today’s technology, and yet a 1973 ban on civil supersonic flight overland has prevented it from becoming a reality. To understand the importance…

The ideals of liberalism seem increasingly under threat these days, so it’s worth reviewing what they are, where they come from, and why it’s essential that they make a comeback. — (a PDF version of this essay is available here) The first step is to recognize that they were not invented by some obsolete English philosopher. Rather, in their most general form, liberal principles have been rediscovered repeatedly and throughout history as practical tools for reconciling two basic social facts:

The idea of a Universal Basic Income — an unconditional cash stipend from the government that could, in principle, greatly simplify the existing system of means-tested programs — has come under fire for being antithetical to one of America’s strongest values: Work. — The argument, most recently articulated by Josh Barro at Business Insider, states that while a cash transfer may be able to provide subsistence, it cannot provide the sense of purpose and dignity that only a job can. The problem with these arguments is that they simply assume a UBI would…