Economic Progress

Recently, Scott Lincicome published a new report for The Heritage Foundation on advancing free trade in agriculture, noting that American agriculture has benefited tremendously from trade liberalization via the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). As Lincicome writes:  “A survey of economic analyses conducted by the USDA after NAFTA’s […]

Despite the public’s general distaste for it, corporate welfare remains popular among politicians and the favored recipients who can dole out and receive money with little accountability. However, as Dustin Hurst writes at IdahoFreedom.org, in Idaho one business owner made a clear case for how he is impacted. George Gersema, founder and owner of Employers […]

Economic development agencies are notorious for helping politically-connected businesses profit. In Florida though, this favoritism extends beyond business. Matt Galka of WJXT Jacksonville writes about how life has been good for the executives at the Enterprise Florida economic development agency. Over the last six years, executive salaries at Enterprise Florida have risen from $800,500 to […]

The world’s largest vertical farm is currently under construction in New Jersey. According to Ria Misra of Gizmodo, the farm will occupy a 70,000 square foot former steel mill and is expected to yield two million pounds of lettuce and other greens yearly. While vertical farms do offer the ability for agriculture to exist in […]

Earlier this month NFL cornerback Richard Sherman publicly condemned taxpayer-funded stadiums. More recently, Brent Gardner, in USA Today, noted the Seattle Seahawk player’s comments and gave some insight into available data on NFL stadium subsidies: “According to consulting firm Conventions, Sports, and Leisure, the 20 new NFL stadiums built between 1997 and 2015 received $4.76 […]

Virginia Postrel, in Bloomberg View, writes that a major high-speed rail project between Los Angeles and San Francisco is far behind schedule and dramatically over budget. Postrel notes that the project’s original estimated cost has ballooned from $33 billion to $68 billion, and government leaders created unrealistic expectations about the rail’s cost and benefits to […]

FreedomFest—the annual gathering of free minds—will take place July 13-16 in Las Vegas. This year’s slate of activities provides ample opportunities to champion the ideas of liberty. We highly recommend that you take advantage of the resources available at this year’s “Freedom Rising” festival, from panels and debates to the Anthem Film Festival. Whether you’re […]

Centene Corporation, a multi-billion-dollar health care provider, is considering expanding its headquarters in Clayton, Missouri. The move would bring hundreds of new jobs, but despite the fact that Centene had a profit of $355 million last year, it is seeking $147 million in corporate welfare. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial board, which is against the […]

On Friday, the White House announced $7.5 million in federal funding “to design and implement approaches that enhance the portability of licenses across states and reduce overly burdensome licensing restriction in general.” Over the past year, the Obama administration has put increasing attention on occupational licensing reform. A July 2015 White House report looked at […]

The American Egg Board, which is managed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, helped plan attacks on “Just Mayo”—a vegan mayonnaise product the egg board president described as a “major threat to the future of the egg product business.” Writing for the New Republic, Ted Genoways discusses how the egg board misused taxpayer funds. As […]