12 Aug 2011
Drinking Water Regulations and Conservation:
The latter makes the former more expensive
by Richard Belzer
in Regulatory Economics
A report in the Barnstable Patriot suggests that water conservation is raising the cost of drinking water in Hyannis, Massachusetts.
More...2 Aug 2011
Zero Tolerance Reycling:
$1,000 tickets for recyclables in the trash
by Richard Belzer
in Regulatory Economics, Regulatory Policy
Freeman Klopott of the Washington Examiner reports "[r]esidents and business owners in some of the District's wealthiest neighborhoods are outraged over tickets they've received for up to $1,000 by the city's trash police for having a recyclable item as small as a soda can mixed in with their trash."
More...15 Aug 2010
Can States Regulate Immigration? Part 13
Does the Privacy Act protect the records of unlawful aliens?
by Richard Belzer
in Regulatory Policy
The Washington Examiner reports that the Department of Homeland Security will not release records of unlawful aliens detained in Prince William County VA, on the ground that doing so would violate the Privacy Act of 1974.
Is this correct?
More...4 Aug 2010
Can States Regulate Immigration? Part 12
How does AZ's law apply in VA?
by Richard Belzer
in Regulatory Policy
Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has issued an advisory opinion concerning
whether Virginia law enforcement officers, under present state law, may conduct investigations into the immigration status of persons stopped or arrested by law enforcement and, specifically, whether Virginia officials presently have the same authority as Arizona officers under a recently enacted Arizona statute, and, further, whether that authority extends to Virginia state park personnel and local zoning officials.
More...
19 May 2010
Carbon Taxes:
Reduce global warming or raise revenue?
by Richard Belzer
in Regulatory Economics
Previously we have blogged on so-called Pigouvian taxes as policy remedies for addressing climate change, noting how they often degenerate into schemes for raising revenue rather than equalizing private and social cost. Today's news brings another example.
More...2 May 2010
Can States Regulate Immigration? Part 11
How Opposition to Arizona SB 1070 May Be Harming Unlawful Aliens
by Richard Belzer
in Legislation, Regulatory Economics, Regulatory Policy
We have reviewed Arizona's new immigration law (SB 1070) and posted
an analysis
of its major provisions. The Arizona House subsequently passed a
revision, and we analyzed
that. Meanwhile, opponents have reacted stridently,
calling the state of Arizona:
- A police state (Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.); Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.); The Nation, via National Public Radio; New York Times Supreme Court correspondent Linda Greenhouse; American Civil Liberties Union; LaRaza President and CEO Janet Murguia) in which Americans would have to "present their papers" (Rep. Connie Mack (R-Fla.), Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.))
- Reminiscent of Nazi Germany (Cardinal Roger Mahoney, Al Sharpton, Mack, Polis), the Soviet Union (Greenhouse, Mahoney), the Jim Crow South (Sharpton, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tex.), rapper Rass Kass, demonstrators in Newport News VA), or apartheid South Africa (Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.), Sharpton)
- Racist (Polis, Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson)
As our previous posts here and here make clear, these characterization are not based on the text of the law, which makes it a state crime to violate federal immigration law. Ironically, the use of extreme language by opponents of the law may have the unintended effect of better achieving the law's objectives than the law itself.
More...
27 Apr 2010
Can States Regulate Immigration? Part 9
Arizona Senate Bill 1070
by Richard Belzer
in Legislation, Regulatory Economics, Regulatory Policy
Arizona's legislature last week enacted legislation that has garnered considerable press attention and commentary, including criticism by President Obama (New York Times, Fox News, NPR, Real Clear Politics. In a Sunday op-ed published by the Washington Post, Phoenix mayor Phil Gordon says the bill is the product of a "far-right legislature"; that it is unconstitutional; and that it is motivated by "the vocal, spiteful few" who are "bitter, small-minded and full of hate." Gordon and others vow to challenge the law's constitutionality "because of the civil rights being violated and the vagueness of the statute." Colorado Democratic Rep. Jared Polis compares the law with Nazi Germany prior to the Holocaust and says he fears "Arizona is headed for a police state."
Gordon's views seem typical of those views expressed in commentaries published since Gov. Jan Brewer signed the bill into law on April 23. We've seen very few editorials and commentaries supporting the law (e.g., IBD, ).
News stories seem to track this editorial pattern; the AP, for example, uses opponents as its source for fact claims about the law, not its actual text. Meanwhile, published commentary appears to be unrepresentative of public opinion. Pollster Scott Rasmussen reports 70% of Arizona voters favor the law and 23% oppose it.
Today we analyze the text of the bill.
More...23 Mar 2010
Black Market Economics:
Humboldt County, California
by Richard Belzer
in Regulatory Economics
Mexico is getting a lot of attention for how the illegal drug business has distorted its politics, economy and society. A Dallas Morning News story reports that there have been 4,500 murders in Ciudad Juarez since January 2008.
Black markets affect parts of the United States, too, and not just major urban areas. There is the case of bucolic Humboldt County California, a verdant rain forest hard up on the State's northwest coast.
More...13 Jan 2010
Sin Taxes:
Maryland's proposed 10-cent per drink alcohol tax
by Richard Belzer
in Regulatory Economics
Sin taxes are always popular with legislators. People volunteer to pay them, and volunteers garner little public sympathy.
Maryland legislators are proposing to levy a new tax of ten cents per eight ounces of alcoholic beverage sold in the State. A news story today shows how proponents of sin taxes tend to also be in favor of sin.
More...7 Jan 2010
A Pollution Tax or a New Sales Tax?
The District of Columbia charges 5 cents for each disposable shopping bag
by Richard Belzer
in Regulatory Economics
On January 1, the District of Columbia began imposing a a 5-cent "fee" on disposable shopping bags.
Is this a pollution tax, as its backers claim, or just another sales tax?
More...4 Jan 2010
The Market Failure in Mail-Order Brides:
Can State regulation help?
by Richard Belzer
in Regulatory Economics, Regulatory Policy
Washington Examiner reporter Alan Suderman says "Maryland lawmakers are pushing for tighter regulations on the mail-order bride industry."
There is no question Maryland can write more regulations. But can regulation solve market failure?
