Big Ideas

Despite the Doubters, It’s Still Top Dollar Desmond Lachman 06/27/2009

There’s much chatter that the Chinese renminbi will eventually replace the U.S. dollar as the world’s preeminent international reserve currency, but this supposed inevitability is highly questionable.

Offsets Chipping Away at the Cap Ted Gayer 06/23/2009

The House of Representatives recently received a painful lesson in the pitfalls of carbon offsets. Despite this, it has decided to ignore this important lesson in its cap-and-trade bill.

Old and in the Fray: The Coming Entrepreneurship Boom Dane Stangler 06/17/2009

It’s no secret the population of the United States is aging rapidly. The country may be on the cusp of an entrepreneurship boom—not in spite of this aging population but because of it.

The National Kidney Foundation’s Bizarre Logic Sally Satel 06/11/2009

The public is receptive to the idea of rewarding organ donors. It’s time to leverage that receptivity.

White Makes Right? Steven Chu’s Helpful Idea Samuel Thernstrom 06/05/2009

Energy Secretary Steven Chu made headlines when he proposed ‘soft’ geoengineering by painting roofs and roads white in order to reflect sunlight back into space. That idea might seem absurd to some, but Chu has done the nation a service.

A Stimulus You Can Believe In Ted Frank 05/29/2009

Direct costs to the United States of tort litigation are $252 billion a year. Indirect costs are far higher. Reform would boost the economy at a critical time.

Obama’s European Energy Vacation Max Schulz 05/28/2009

President Obama is absolutely right that we can learn a lot from the European approach to energy. But he is dead wrong on what those lessons are.

Why Not Negative Interest Rates? Alex J. Pollock 05/21/2009

Could we have negative nominal interest rates to combat a potential deflation? The question is debated from time to time, especially recently. It may seem unlikely, but it is not impossible.

Decoding the Use of Gene Patents John E. Calfee 05/15/2009

In good news, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has resisted researchers' overreaching in their patenting of genes, and researchers’ work is seldom compromised by patents.

The Luxury City vs. the Middle Class Joel Kotkin 05/13/2009

The sustainable city of the future will rest on the revival of traditional institutions that have faded in many of today’s cities.