In a new paper (forthcoming in the Cato Journal), LSPI Texas Policy Fellow Meg Tuszynski and her SMU colleague Dean Stansel examine this question empirically, and find little – if any – evidence in support of this conjecture. Previous literature has assessed this question using immigrant populations as a whole, and found mixed results. In this paper, Tuszynski and Stansel ask…
LSPI has released a survey designed to measure the stances of young people across the country on a range of contemporary issues. While this survey is not scientific, it is intended to help us get a better sense of American’s beliefs about some of the issues that matter most in our current political climate. This will give us a better…
As a professional money manager working in public markets, I love watching how we are portrayed in popular culture. Sometimes we are the card-shark poker player staring down an opponent a la Billions, sometimes the swashbuckling economist like Jack Ryan (who does surprisingly little economics). Thankfully, however, the job is never portrayed as it actually is. I can forgive script writers who exaggerate for…
As more and more Americans take to the streets in anger over George Floyd’s killing, the calls for transparency, accountability and justice are growing too. But while the officer who killed him has been charged with second-degree murder and faces jail time, one doctrine could easily shield the officers from being held accountable for civil rights violations of excessive force and deny…
As the nation slowly starts down the road to economic recovery, we hear a steady drumbeat of calls to condition government assistance on meeting pre-virus social justice goals. From implementing regulatory burdens championed by environmentalists to restricting private enterprise by anti-capitalists and demands for protectionist trade policies, those on both the right and the left have taken Rahm Emanuel’s sinister advice following the 2008…
A new think tank by the name of American Compass recently made headlines as a “conservative” foe of private equity by launching its new “Returns Counter.” This project purports to compare the returns of private equity against public capital markets, and was launched with a politicized primer on mergers and acquisitions, private equity, and hedge fund investments. Wells King, research director at…
Tensions surrounding the COVID-19 lockdowns are exceptionally high. Protestors across the US, Germany, France, and Spain—to name just a few—have rallied en masse to demand the lifting of legally-imposed quarantines. Now that economies have begun to reopen, social media has become its own battleground with many urging—even outright shaming—others to stay home and not go to work. So why hasn’t…
May 20, 2020 The Honorable Donald J. TrumpPresident of the United StatesThe White House1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NWWashington, DC 20500 Dear Mr. President: Thank you for your leadership in this most challenging time. As you take steps to restore the economy, we write to express our concern about a misguided policy response being pushed from some quarters. Tariffs on imported oil…
Arthur Schopenhauer once quipped that if it were constantly repeated with great solemnity, nothing was too absurd for people to believe. After reading the preliminary Pandemic Anti-Monopoly Act from Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, I find myself more seriously contemplating absurdity. This proposal is a study in Schopenhauer’s point: though couched in great solemnity, both the act itself and the…
As a homeschooling father, I am no stranger to explaining our family’s choice to home educate our children. Yes, they have plenty of socialization with other children. Yes, we teach all the subjects. No, you can simply buy the curriculum and it tells you what to do. By now I have the answers memorized (as do most homeschool parents). You…