Economic Progress

Stand Together Trust was proud to be a sponsor of this year’s Young Americans for Liberty (YAL) National Convention, which took place at The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. As liberty-minded students from across the country gathered to discuss the most pressing issues facing society today, the Institute brought together experts from a […]

A lack of transparency surrounding subsidies from the  Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) casts a dark shadow on the government agency. As Tom Gantert of Michigan Capital Confidential reports, in 2016 the Great Lakes State will dole out more than $1 billion in subsidies to private businesses. Yet, the MEDC, which “oversees the state’s corporate […]

In his latest column for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, George Mason University professor Don Boudreaux brings up a very basic economic point: “The first act is not the full story.” “Experts” routinely ignore this point when proposing corporate welfare schemes. To illustrate this fact, Boudreaux examines the impact of trade on the domestic steel industry. “It’s true […]

The Mercatus Center recently released a report on one of the most regulated businesses in the United States: taxi companies. Looking at the comparatively open taxi industry in Washington, DC, the study still unveils a host of obstacles that new entrants must bob and weave. As authors Michael Farren, Christopher Koopman, and Matthew Mitchell write, […]

Luddites and taxicab protectionists alike lament the fact that ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft face lower taxes and fewer regulatory burdens. However, such complaints cannot be levied against car-sharing firms like Zipcar and Car2Go. As Josh Zumbrun reports for The Wall Street Journal, “Local governments around the country are tipping the scales and helping […]

Innovations in countless fields have transformed society and radically improved individual well-being, especially for the least fortunate. Every American’s life is now immeasurably better than it was 80 years ago. What made these dramatic improvements possible was America’s uniquely free and open society, which has brought the country to the cusp of another explosion of […]

Recently, onerous new ride-hailing regulations effectively kicked Uber and Lyft out of Austin, Texas. Now, the city is taking aim at short-term rentals with an extreme new ordinance. James Quintero of the Texas Public Policy Foundation outlined a whole host of these burdensome, intrusive regulations in the Austin American-Statesman. First, Quintero notes that the ordinance […]

Innumerable examples of bribery and cronyism paint a seedy picture of how business is done in the Windy City. However, if you believe a recent survey, Chicago’s business leaders are sick of it. Crain’s Chicago Business recently reported on a survey Crain’s Custom Media helped conduct. The survey found that “91 percent believe companies using […]

Puerto Rico’s fiscal crisis continues to dominate headlines in 2016, but the country’s fiscal troubles have been brewing for years. Corporate welfare has not helped the situation, including the $519.7 million in taxpayer funds that has been provided to 11 agricultural biotech firms in the last 10 years. Classified as farmers, businesses like Monsanto and […]

While the public is increasingly accustomed to hearing about cities handing out taxpayer funds to professional sports teams for stadiums, details on how these handouts are structured are less understood. Elaine Povich of Stateline recently broke  down the tax-free bonds that fund many stadiums. As she notes:  Governmental entities have long used tax-free municipal bonds […]