Papers and Publications, Mercatus Center
Permanent URI for this collection
Browse
Recent Submissions
Item Regulation: A Primer(The Mercatus Center at George Mason University, 2012-08-14) Dudley, Susan E.; Brito, JerryFederal regulations affect nearly every area of our lives and interest in them is increasing. However, many people have no idea how regulations are developed or how they have an impact on our lives. Regulation: A Primer by Susan Dudley and Jerry Brito provides an accessible overview of regulatory theory, analysis, and practice. The Primer examines the constitutional underpinnings of federal regulation and discusses who writes and enforces regulation and how they do it. It also provides insights into the different varieties of regulation and how to analyze whether a regulatory proposal makes citizens better or worse off. Each chapter discusses key aspects of regulation and provides further readings for those interested in exploring these topics in more detail.Item Dodd-Frank: What It Does and Why It's Flawed(The Mercatus Center at George Mason University, 2012) Peirce, Hester; Broughel, James; Greene, Robert W.; McLaughlin, Patrick A.; Verret, J. W.; White, Lawrence J.; Peirce, Hester; Broughel, JamesMore than 360,000 words in length, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is the longest and most complex piece of financial legislation in American history. The nature and magnitude of its effects, both intended and unintended, will become clearer as regulators exercise the broad discretion given to them under the law. In this new book, the contributors ask whether the law is an effective response to the financial crisis that so deeply rattled our nation. Taking a hard look at the law’s celebrated objectives, they reveal that it not only fails to achieve many of its stated goals, it also creates dangerous regulatory pathologies that could lay the groundwork for the next crisis.Item Freedom in the 50 States, 2013 Edition: An Index of Personal and Economic Freedom(The Mercatus Center at George Mason University, 2013-03-28) Ruger, William; Sorens, JasonNow in its third edition, Freedom in the 50 States presents a completely revised and updated ranking of the American states based on how their policies promote freedom in the fiscal, regulatory, and personal realms. This edition employs an enhanced methodology that makes it an even more comprehensive index than in past editions. Improving on their previous attempts to measure freedom, authors William P. Ruger and Jason Sorens use far more variables in this edition, including new variables related to economic freedom. In fact, more than 200 policy variables and their sources are now available to the public on this website. Scholars, policy makers, and concerned citizens can re-weigh every policy and create customized indices of freedom or download the data for their own analyses.Item Liberalism and Cronyism: Two Rival Political and Economic Systems(The Mercatus Center at George Mason University, 2013-04-23) Holcombe, Randall G.; Castillo, Andrea M.Political and economic systems either allow exchange and resource allocation to take place through mutual agreement under a system of liberalism, or force them to take place under a system of cronyism in which some people have the power to direct the activities of others. This book seeks to clarify the differences between liberalism and cronyism by scrutinizing the actual operation of various political and economic systems. Examples include historical systems such as fascism in Germany between the world wars and socialism in the former Soviet Union, as well as contemporary systems such as majoritarianism and industrial policy. By examining how real governments have operated, this book dem- onstrates why—despite their diverse designs—in practice all political and economic systems are variants of either liberalism or cronyism.