Independent Institute Sr. Vice President Mary Theroux was interviewed on KSRO radio in Santa Rosa, California about the state's repeal of the so-called maximum family grant policy which prohibits people from receiving increased welfare income if they have more children while receiving public assistance. Theroux argues that the cycle of poverty is reinforced due to limiting entrepreneurship and by creating barriers to job training for low-income Californians. Instead of the state throwing money at the problem, a culture shift is needed to help welfare recipients make better decisions which include business and job opportunities.

June 16, 2016

George Gilder, a founding member of the Board of Advisors for the Independent Institute, discussed his latest book The Scandal of Money: Why Wall Street Recovers but the Economy Never Does on June 7, 2016.

Can the American jobs machine ever be restarted? Can parents once again have confidence that their children will enjoy a standard of living higher than their own? Yes! The secret to putting the U.S. back on the path to widespread prosperity, according to Gilder, is to eliminate the economic booms and busts that have crushed the middle class and working people alike.

Drawing on his new book, The Scandal of Money, Gilder will explain why America needs a monetary system free of government monopoly and the manipulations of a central bank—a system in which gold-based money and blockchain technology can work in concert to fulfill the amazing potential of the information economy and make good on the promise of the American dream.

Scott Sumner, author of The Midas Paradox participated in this panel to discuss the welfare state and the regulatory state. Why do so few economists argue in favor of one and against the other?

This panel was recorded by Mercatus Center.

Ryan M. Yonk, Research Fellow at the Independent Institute, presents Nature Unbound: Bureaucracy vs. the Environment, an analysis of federal environmental policy, through the lenses of biological perspective and political ecology.

Get a copy of Nature Unbound: Bureaucracy vs. the Environment

Scott Sumner's new book, The Midas Paradox, is a story thirty years in the making.

This video was produced by Mercatus Center.

Sr. Fellow John C. Goodman, author of A Better Choice appeared on the Bill Martinez radio show to talk about a new bill introduced in Congress to replace Obamacare. The bill, called the "World’s Greatest Health Care Bill" will bring free market ideas to the US healthcare system by offering a fixed tax credit for all, regardless of income. Based on ideas in Goodman's book, A Better Choice, the bill corrects perverse incentives of Obamacare and gives more healthcare choices to consumers, instead of government bureaucrats.

With long lines at TSA checkpoints, air travelers are missing their flights and getting fed up. The TSA is not getting any better at customer service because travelers are not their customers. Sr. Fellow Benjamin Powell says the only way to solve the issue to privatize security and make each individual airline responsible for their passengers' security. Competition would make the airlines serve their customer base and passengers can make choices based on security and convenience.

Abby Hall Blanco analyzes the discussion about national surveillance, the case of Edward Snowden and the leak of classified NSA information that confirmed the government collects and has access to the personal information of US citizens, as well as how individual freedom and privacy have been hijacked through the years under the guise of protection from terrorism.