AIER

Public conversations about billionaires tend to oscillate between fascination and condemnation. Headlines emphasize excess, inequality, political influence, or corporate misconduct. And while criticism in some instances is certainly warranted, if we look only through the lens of suspicion, we risk overlooking the unexpected ways private fortunes sometimes become public inheri...

Thankfully, there are still some college professors who are not afraid to speak their minds on hot-button issues where their views will collide with prevailing academic orthodoxy.

One of them is Duke University professor Adrian Bejan.  He has taught mechanical engineering there since 1984 and has authored numerous scientific books with a particular emphasis on ...

Unemployment Insurance in the Wake of 2020 and the Path to Reform

The following paper examines unemployment insurance (UI) trust fund solvency before, during, and after the COVID-19 economic downturn of 2020. This paper examined UI trust fund solvency levels for all 50 states and the District of Columbia from 2014 through...

The government has a habit of chasing simple villains for deeply complicated problems. Every few years, politicians point to either drug manufacturers, insurers, hospitals, pharmacies, or “middlemen” as key to finally lowering drug costs and cleaning up the healthcare system.

Most recently, their scapegoat for high drug prices has become

Vacancy taxes are a popular idea among that segment of the left that is still resisting supply-side reforms as the economically literate solution to the housing crunch. But the number of perfectly decent housing units sitting vacant year-round in desirable markets is vanishingly small, and owners will respond to vacancy taxes in undesirable ways too.

Vacancy taxes h...