Recent Policy Studies

• Economic Growth
  

  Ten Principles for Improved Business Climates

  By Joseph L. Bast, Heartland Institute
  
  Legislative Principles, 01/10/2011
  

  Maintaining a good business climate has never been more important. Thanks to the Internet, the collapse of communism around the world, and advances in shipping and logistics, capital and labor are much more mobile than in the past. Businesses must bid for customers and workers not only from local competitors but from businesses in other communities, in other states, and even in other countries. Small changes in taxes, regulations, and other cost drivers can lead to businesses losing customers and possibly failing or relocating. There is no single list of factors or recipe for a good business climate.

  
  
  
• Education
  

  25 Ways to Reduce the Cost of College

  By Richard Vedder, et al., Center for College Affordability and Productivity
  
  Report, 01/10/2011
  

  While higher education is intensely competitive, the outcomes resulting from this pressure are far from desirable. “A major reason why competition does not yield optimal results in higher education is that students cannot adequately evaluate the options available to them.” The reason they cannot evaluate their options is that there is virtually no information available about the quality of teaching or how much they can expect to learn. Without this information, students are forced to rely on reputation, which in turn encourages institutions to focus their efforts on improving their reputation, as opposed to their teaching. Not surprisingly, this leads to some highly undesirable outcomes as “behavior is distorted by an information-starved market, where institutional quality stagnates due to lack of competitive pressure to improve vital areas like teaching, where innovators are ignored at best and stifled at worst, where public investment is diminishing by the year due in significant part to a lack of information—and thus, confidence—in what the public receives in return.”

  
  
  
• Budget & Taxation
  

  Cigarette Taxes and Smuggling 2010

  By Michael LaFaive. Todd Nesbit, Mackinac Center for Public Policy
  
  Report, 01/10/2011
  

  Lawmakers consistently advance cigarette excise taxes in order to raise revenue, improve health or both. Few seem aware that the higher tax is unlikely to raise the projected revenue or cause smokers to abandon cigarettes in droves. With high cigarette excise taxes, states like Michigan, California, New York and New Jersey have already created massive illegal cigarette markets. Indeed, state tobacco taxes have provided profits for organized crime. There are real societal costs to smuggling and its unintended consequences: violence against innocent victims, strain on police and the legal system, theft, property damage and use of unfiltered legal cigarettes and adulterated counterfeit tobacco products.

  
  
  
• Foreign Policy/International Affairs
  

  The Many Faces of Mexico

  By David J. Danelo, Foreign Policy Research Institute
  
  Orbis: A Journal of World Affairs, 01/10/2011
  

  The United States should not unilaterally deploy soldiers to the border; Mexico City would justifiably protest such a move as a threat to Mexican sovereignty. A mutual resolution, in contrast, emphasizes shared responsibility, particularly in the Sierra Madres and Rio Grande Basin. Historically, the United States and Mexico have cooperated in these regions. By establishing joint federal authority in the desert and mountains, the United States and Mexico could address smuggling both north and south. A border deployment also gives Mexican soldiers a clearer mission than a vague mandate to ‘‘beat the cartels’’—a goal that, despite their patriotism and valor, is not being achieved.

  
  
  
• Family, Culture & Community
  

  Generosity in Canada and the United States: The 2010 Generosity Index

  By Alex Gainer, Charles Lammam, Niels Veldhuis, Fraser Institute
  
  Fraser Alert, 01/10/2011
  

  US jurisdictions top the overall Generosity Index rankings. Utah places first (8.7 out of 10.0), followed by Maryland (7.6 out of 10.0), and Connecticut (6.2 out of 10.0). Manitoba is the highest-scoring Canadian province (3.8 out of 10.0), but its performance ranks only 35th overall out of 64 North American jurisdictions.

  
  
  
• Health Care
  

  Reforming Medicare: The Affordable Care Act versus the Rivlin/Ryan Proposal

  By Andrew J. Rettenmaier, Thomas R. Saving, National Center for Policy Analysis
  
  Brief Analysis, 01/10/2011
  

  The Affordable Care Act essentially imposes price ceilings on Medicare payments to providers. These price controls will lead to fewer health care options and lower quality of care for the Medicare population. In contrast, the Rivlin/Ryan approach would affect both the demand and supply side of the health care market – patients would shop and providers would respond. Provision for low-income beneficiaries in the form of health spending accounts could be structured to keep pace with the new system. The more realistic cost savings resulting from the Rivlin/Ryan proposal could be accomplished without the unintended consequences of price ceilings.

  
  
  
• Economic and Political Thought
  

  Too Much Choice?

  By James Paterson, Centre for Independent Studies
  
  Policy, 01/10/2011
  

  Modern behaviourists have adopted a scientific veil to argue that humans are fundamentally irrational and that society would be better off if these irrationalities were controlled. But it is not clear that people are as wildly irrational as they claim. Even if they are able to conclusively prove that individuals are so irrational they can’t be trusted to run their own lives, surely the answer is not to hand power over their lives to equally irrational policymakers with potentially skewed priorities.

  
  
  
• Economic Growth
  

  Free and Fair—How Australia’s Low-Tax Egalitarianism Confounds the World

  By David Alexander, Centre for Independent Studies
  
  Policy, 01/10/2011
  

  On the one hand you can be a small government, inequality-tolerant country like the United States; on the other you can be a high taxing, egalitarian state like the Scandinavian countries, and all countries fit somewhere on this spectrum from right to left. What is not appreciated, but has been demonstrated by recent research, is that Australia offers a genuine alternative to these models—a unique form of low-taxing egalitarianism—that is both more successful and more sustainable than other models. This combination of freedom and fairness in Australia has provided an environment conducive to economic reform and can continue to do so in the future.

  
  
  
• Education
  

  School Passports: Making the Stimulus Pay Off for Students and State Budgets

  By Brian Gottlob, Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice
  
  Report, 01/07/2011
  

  The Obama Administration is currently using more than $4 billion in federal stimulus funds in a controversial program called Race to The Top in an attempt to improve student achievement in public schools throughout the country. However, this study analyzes a different approach to spending stimulus funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act – creation of a $4 billion tuition scholarship or education voucher program to enable public school students in 50 states to attend private schools of their choice.

  
  
  
• Health Care
  

  National Health Care Reform and the New Medicaid

  By Roger Stark, Washington Policy Center
  
  Policy Brief, 01/07/2011
  

  Medicaid costs will explode as a result of recent health care reform legislation. Eventually, the federal government will have only three choices, all of which are bad: run huge budget deficits, raise taxes, or ration medical care by limiting funding.

  
  
  
• Health Care
  

  Medi-Cal Long-Term Care: Safety Net or Hammock?

  By Stephen A. Moses, Pacific Research Institute
  
  Report, 01/07/2011
  

  The ability of California’s economy to support a large and growing publicly financed LTC system is doubtful, yet advocates and courts consistently stymie program cutbacks. Efforts to save money by “rebalancing” from institutional to home care have made Medi-Cal services more attractive and increased caseloads without controlling costs. Constantly expanding Medi-Cal LTC benefits could cause a financial catastrophe. The path to a better approach lies through understanding why most Californians end up on Medi-Cal when they need LTC. Conventional wisdom says that Medi-Cal LTC eligibility requires poverty-level income and very low assets. But the truth is that most middle-class people qualify easily for the program. So can the affluent with help from “Medi-Cal planners.” This report explains how easy and elastic Medi-Cal eligibility rules desensitize the public to LTC risk and cost, resulting in a false sense of security and entitlement.

  
  
  
• Crime, Justice & the Law
  

  Corrections 2.0: A Proposal to Create a Continuum of Care in Corrections through Public-Private Partnerships

  By Leonard C. Gilroy, Adrian T. Moore, Reason Foundation
  
  Policy Brief, 01/06/2011
  

  State fiscal crises are driving change in correctional systems. In recent years, states like Texas, Rhode Island and California have begun transformational shifts in corrections—applying strategies like the expansion of residential and community-based treatment and diversion programs, the adoption of sentencing reforms, and the increased use of out-of-state privately operated prisons—to help address some major challenges, including the need to reduce expenditures amid budget pressures, the need to target chronically high recidivism rates, and the need to avoid major capital expenditures on new prisons and other facilities. In short, fiscal crises are presenting an opportunity for state policymakers and corrections administrators to “think outside the box” in transforming and right-sizing correctional systems.

  
  
  
• Transportation/Infrastructure
  

  The Tampa to Orlando High-Speed Rail Project: Florida Taxpayer Risk Assessment

  By Wendell Cox, Reason Foundation
  
  Policy Brief, 01/06/2011
  

  Florida taxpayers face two potentially significant financial risks from the project: (1) Capital Cost Escalation: If construction cost projections prove overly optimistic, costs could increase substantially from the current estimates. The state of Florida would be responsible for virtually all of any such increase. This report estimates that the cost to Florida taxpayers could be $3 billion more than currently projected. (2) Operating Subsidy Liability: If ridership and revenue projections prove overly optimistic, it could become necessary for the state to provide an annual operating subsidy for the service. A state operating subsidy could also be necessitated by operating costs that are greater than projected. This risk could easily run into the hundreds of millions of dollars per year.

  
  
  
• Foreign Policy/International Affairs
  

  Latin American Action Agenda for the New Congress

  By Roger F. Noriega, American Enterprise Institute
  
  The American, 01/06/2011
  

  After years of passivity and improvisation, US policy in Latin America is dysfunctional. It must be retooled to confront grave and growing security challenges, as well as to cultivate promising economic opportunities in the region. Vigorous bipartisan oversight by the newly elected Congress will encourage the Obama administration to develop a more sensible policy toward this key region that addresses Mexico’s antidrug campaign, Hugo Chávez’s hostile regime, free trade with Colombia, and relations with Brazil and Cuba.

  
  
  
• Foreign Policy/International Affairs
  

  ‘Chávez Has Begun to Take the Path of Dictatorship’

  By Richard S. Williamson, American Enterprise Institute
  
  The American, 01/06/2011
  

  A majority of Venezuelan voters rejected their president, Hugo Chávez, last September. He has responded by tightening his grip on power and extending his repressive policies. Meanwhile, the Obama administration has been too cautious, too hesitant, and too reluctant to stand up to Chávez and speak out forcefully for the Venezuelan people. The spread of democracy has stalled and Chávez seeks its retreat in the Western Hemisphere. The United States is failing to defend and project its principles, its values, and the universal human rights to which all people everywhere are entitled.

  
  
  
• Natural Resources, Energy, Environment, & Science
  

  Cap-and-Trade by Any Other Name …

  By Kenneth P. Green, American Enterprise Institute
  
  The American, 01/06/2011
  

  One can only hope that those in Congress who were smart enough to reject cap-and-trade will be smart enough to reject it again, even if it is couched in different language, and only covers electrical utilities. After all, with everyone talking about moving transportation over to electricity (like electric cars), do we really want to increase the cost of electricity, and put more of it at the risk of intermittent sources such as wind and solar power?

  
  
  
• Monetary Policy/Financial Regulation
  

  Living in the Political Wake of the Bubble

  By Alex J. Pollock , American Enterprise Institute
  
  The American, 01/06/2011
  

  Although we cannot eliminate financial cycles, here are four suggestions to moderate future cycles. First, develop counter-cyclical loan-to-value (LTV) ratios. Second, the practices regarding loan loss reserves should require building bigger loan loss reserves during the good times. Third, the government should encourage new bank creation during the bust. Finally, saving, not just lending, should be encouraged as an essential element in housing finance.

  
  
  
• Monetary Policy/Financial Regulation
  

  How Government Failure Caused the Great Recession

  By Mark J. Perry, Robert Dell, American Enterprise Institute
  
  The American, 01/06/2011
  

  If we define “banking crisis” to mean bank failures and system losses exceeding 1 percent of a country’s gross domestic product (GDP), we find that in the period 1875-1913, a period of marked expansion in international trade and capital flows comparable to the last three decades, there were only four banking crises worldwide. By contrast, in the period 1978-2009, a period of much more extensive bank regulation, central bank intervention, government protection of depositors and other bank creditors, and government control of mortgage markets, about 140 banking crises occurred worldwide. Of these, 20 were more severe than any crisis from the earlier period of 1875-1913, in terms of total bank losses as a percent of GDP.

  
  
  
• International Trade/Finance
  

  Protection Made to Order Domestic Industry’s Capture and Reconfiguration of U.S. Antidumping Policy

  By Daniel Ikenson, Cato Institute
  
  Trade Policy Analysis, 01/06/2011
  

  The increase in antidumping activity reflects several developments that have nothing to do with foreign behavior, including a progressive expansion of the definition of dumping, relaxation of evidentiary standards, and a pro-domestic industry bias in the law’s administration. Ultimately, the antidumping remedy is a much larger problem than the dumping it is presumed to address.

  
  
  
• Economic Growth
  

  Obama’s Foreign Aid Strategy: Hire More Federal Workers, Spend More Taxpayer Money

  By Helle Dale, James Roberts, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 01/06/2011
  

  The Obama Administration’s long-awaited and inaugural Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR), subtitled “Leading Through Civilian Power,” was finally released on December 15, almost a year after it was initially promised. The goal of the QDDR is to provide the same kind of robust justification to back up President Barack Obama’s pledge to double the U.S. development assistance budget by bringing a new level of “granularity” to USAID’s budget presentations to Congress. However, the QDDR before us fails at achieving this goal.

  
  
  
• The Constitution/Civil Liberties
  

  Legislative Powers: Not Yours to Give Away

  By Douglas Ginsburg, The Heritage Foundation
  
  First Principles, 01/06/2011
  

  Although the Constitution contains no explicit prohibition against Congress delegating its legislative powers (to the President or an administrative agency, for example), the principle of non-delegation is fundamental to the idea of a limited government accountable to the people. Indeed, the people, in whom sovereignty ultimately resides, carefully assign certain powers to each branch of government. The delegated powers are defined as placed in distinct branches of government for the “accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands,” writes James Madison in Federalist No. 47, “may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.” While the executive must exercise some discretion in the application of law, lawmaking remains the prerogative of Congress. Since the New Deal, the Supreme Court has unfortunately sanctioned ever greater delegations of legislative power to administrative agencies. That the courts have flouted this principle does not mean that Congress can or should ignore this element of constitutional construction.

  
  
  
• Budget & Taxation
  

  Beware of a VAT Attack on the American Economy

  By J.D. Foster, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 01/06/2011
  

  American liberals have pined over a European-style value-added tax (VAT) ever since the VAT spigot first gushed in the 1960s. The VAT’s popularity in the United States is due to its ability to raise vast new sums to finance a huge expansion of government, to do so with less damage to the economy than hiking the income tax, and all the while keeping the taxpayer almost completely in the dark. Despite its popularity in Europe especially, Americans’ widespread, enduring, and well-grounded antipathy toward the VAT has kept it appropriately at bay all these years. Washington’s irresponsible spending splurge may change this dynamic. Unless American policymakers force federal spending to retrench, Obama and friends may finally slake their Euro-VAT envy. Central to this debate is whether a VAT is necessary (it is not) and whether it is wise, the latter issue hanging on a handful of arguments about the VAT’s economic effects.

  
  
  
• Education
  

  “Educate to Innovate”: How the Obama Plan for STEM Education Falls Short

  By Lindsey Burke, Jena Baker McNeill, The Heritage Foundation
  
  Backgrounder, 01/06/2011
  

  President Obama’s Educate to Innovate initiative has provided billions in additional federal funding for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education programs across the country. The Administration’s recognition of the importance of STEM education—for global competitiveness as well as for national security—is good and important. But the past 50 years suggest that federal initiatives are unlikely to solve the fundamental problem of American underperformance in STEM education. Heritage Foundation education and national security analysts explain that, though Educate to Innovate is intended to raise the U.S. “from the middle to the top of the pack in science and math,” the federal program’s one-size-fits-all approach fails to remedy the underlying problems of academic performance and does not plug the leaky pipeline in the American education system.

  
  
  
• Health Care
  

  Medicare Variation Revisited: Is Something Wrong with McAllen, Texas, or Is Something Wrong with Medicare?

  By Robert A. Book, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 01/06/2011
  

  Health policy analysts have long known that Medicare spends much more per patient in some parts of the country than in others, even after accounting for regional differences in prices and other health measures. Many assume that Medicare spending and utilization patterns are representative of the health care system as a whole, even though Medicare accounts for less than one-quarter of total U.S. health care. Many assume regional variation is due to “practice patterns” or “physician culture”—and that the lower levels of spending are necessarily proper, with higher spending indicative of wasteful care by doctors and unreasonable demands by patients. Recent research has demonstrated otherwise. Regional variation in Medicare spending is not correlated with variation in non-Medicare spending, and variation in non-Medicare spending is associated with measures of disease burden and health status. The data indicate that something is deeply wrong not with the doctors or the patients but with Medicare’s payment system, service mix, and incentives.

  
  
  
• Elections, Transparency, & Accountability
  

  The Filibuster Protects the Rights of All Senators and the American People

  By Brian Darling, The Heritage Foundation
  
  Backgrounder, 01/06/2011
  

  The filibuster in the U.S. Senate protects the rights of Senators to debate and amend legislation, thereby protecting the interest of the American people. The filibuster actually realizes the Founders’ intent that the Senate slow the legislative process “to ensure due deliberation and inquiry” before passing a bill. Current efforts to limit the filibuster to expedite the legislative process are misguided. One of the problems causing the expansion of the use of the filibuster are the actions by Senate Majority Leaders to limit debate and block other Senators from offering any amendments to select bills during Senate floor debates. The Senate would be better served by ending the Senate Majority Leader’s power to limit amendments and debate.

  
  
  
• The Constitution/Civil Liberties
  

  Support and Defend: Understanding the Oath of Office

  By Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation
  
  First Principles, 01/06/2011
  

  At the start of each new Congress, all Members beginning a new term of office (the entire House of Representative and one-third of the Senate) take an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. In doing so, the Members of Congress perform an act that harkens back to the country’s founding and its first principles. As it applies to Members of Congress, the “Oaths Clause” plays an important role by obliging them to observe the limits of their authority and act in accordance with the powers delegated to them by the Constitution. The oath also serves as a solemn reminder that the duty to uphold the Constitution is not the exclusive or final responsibility of the Judiciary but is shared by Congress and the President (per Article II, Section 1) as co-equal branches of the United States government.

  
  
  
• National Security
  

  Chinese Military Modernization: The Future Is Arriving Much Sooner Than Expected

  By Dean Cheng, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 01/06/2011
  

  As Secretary of Defense Robert Gates prepares to go to China and President Obama prepares to host Chinese leader Hu Jintao, it is important that they recognize that the Chinese leadership has an increasingly capable military at its disposal. Worse, the factors shaping that military remain opaque.

  
  
  
• Budget & Taxation
  

  Value-Added Tax: Why the VAT Is Not Pro-Saving

  By J.D. Foster, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 01/06/2011
  

  VAT proponents who seek massive new sources of revenue—whether in the short run to pay for President Obama’s spending surge or to address the nation’s unsustainable long-term fiscal imbalance—sometimes misapply arguments that have some validity in the context of a revenue-neutral tax reform. A good example is the argument that a VAT would increase private saving. However, as an add-on tax, the VAT would not improve saving incentives as some suggest but would instead hammer private savings for an extended period as individuals and families slash their saving rates to sustain current consumption in light of the VAT’s higher prices.

  
  
  
• Immigration
  

  Beyond DREAM: Getting Immigration Reform Right

  By Jena Baker McNeill, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 01/06/2011
  

  Now that Congress has rejected the “amnesty” strategy once again, it is time for the Administration to put this unrealistic approach aside once and for all and begin a serious, practical, and honest approach to fixing America’s broken borders and flawed immigration system. Pushing the issue off on the next generation or using immigration as a tool to win votes through amnesty is not only irresponsible but wrong in terms of national security, the rule of law, and economic prosperity.

  
  
  
• Budget & Taxation
  

  The Value-Added Tax Is Wrong for the United States

  By Curtis Dubay, The Heritage Foundation
  
  Backgrounder, 01/06/2011
  

  In the context of unprecedented U.S. budget deficits, some proponents of the value-added tax (VAT) are calling for the U.S. to levy a VAT to close the federal deficit. They are seriously mistaken. While a VAT has some advantages to the current U.S. tax code, adding the VAT to current federal taxes—as proponents propose—would realize none of these benefits and would instead depress the economy. The real cause of the massive federal deficit is Congress’s overspending, not a lack of taxation.

  
  
  
• National Security
  

  Afghan Review Shows Troop Surge Working

  By Lisa Curtis, James Phillips, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 01/06/2011
  

  The White House review on Afghanistan released Thursday demonstrates that the 30,000 additional U.S. troops deployed to Afghanistan this year are beginning to make a difference in the direction of the war. In order to build on these tentative gains, the Administration should take a stronger leadership role in driving political reconciliation inside Afghanistan, intensify efforts to work with Pakistan in denying Taliban sanctuary on its side of the border, and refrain from discussing troop deadlines, which undermines the overall strategy.

  
  
  
• Information Technology
  

  Red Tape Under the Tree: FCC Plans Internet Regulation for Christmas

  By James Gattuso, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 01/06/2011
  

  Should regulators in Washington, D.C., set the rules for the Internet? Julius Genachowski, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), thinks so. He has crafted a plan to impose so-called “net neutrality” rules on Internet service providers, setting an FCC vote on the proposal for next Tuesday. Details of the plan are not yet known outside the commission and will likely not be released until after the commission votes. It is reportedly based on a net neutrality plan floated a month ago in Congress. That plan, however, was soundly rejected by Congress. The Genachowski plan—which would end-run Congress—should be rejected as well.

  
  
  
• Foreign Policy/International Affairs
  

  Friend of Liberty: Cuba Broadcasting Targets the Castro Tyranny

  By Helle Dale, Ray Walser, Morgan Roach, The Heritage Foundation
  
  Backgrounder, 01/06/2011
  

  Since World War II, U.S. international broadcasting has been a major tool for breaking information barriers and blockades constructed by totalitarian and similarly closed authoritarian regimes. Today, the United States continues to open new doors to individual and media freedom, and to advance the free exchange and debate of ideas for citizens of states that are still not free. Despite this record, Radio and TV Martí—the United States’ Spanish-language broadcasts to Cuba—have come under increasing attack primarily from liberals and members of the Democratic Party. The Heritage Foundation explains why U.S. broadcasts to Cuba are as vital to the cause of freedom as ever.

  
  
  
• The Constitution/Civil Liberties
  

  Limited County Land Use Authority: An Avenue to Protecting Private Property Rights

  By Ryan Brannan, Texas Public Policy Foundation
  
  Policy Brief, 01/06/2011
  

  Texas has always placed considerable importance on protecting property rights, and the case of county land use controls is no exception. The Texas Constitution addresses county land use authority in Article 9 where it lays out limited constitutional authority for county regulation of land use. This approach to county land use regulation directly correlates to Texas’ historical protection of property rights.

  
  
  
• Natural Resources, Energy, Environment, & Science
  

  Texas’ Renewable Energy Experiment: High Costs, Poor Results

  By Bill Peacock, Texas Public Policy Foundation
  
  Policy Perspective, 01/06/2011
  

  While much of the criticism of the restructuring of the electricity market over the last few years has focused on its alleged role in increasing prices, most of the actual increases in consumer costs have been brought about by fuel and energy efficiency mandates.

  
  
  
• Budget & Taxation
  

  Privatize State Supported Living Centers: A Fiscal Necessity and Quality of Care Requirement

  By Arlene Wohlgemuth, Texas Public Policy Foundation
  
  Policy Perspective, 01/06/2011
  

  State Supported Living Centers, originally referred to as state schools, are an increasingly inefficient and ineffective system of care for those with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).The current state-run, institutional system is a Medicaid program that suffers from higher provider rates but lower quality care than privately-run facilities in the community. However, despite past efforts to address these issues, change has yet to be made. The issue takes on even more importance in light of the projected budget shortfall facing the next legislature. Now is an excellent time to fully address the problems with the system and improve the care Texas provides for this special population.

  
  
  
• Health Care
  

  Final Notice: Medicaid Crisis A Forecast of Texas’ Medicaid Expenditures Growth

  By Jagadeesh Gokhale, Texas Public Policy Foundation
  
  Report, 01/06/2011
  

  The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ObamaCare) expands Medicaid eligibility and introduces an individual mandate for all U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents to purchase health insurance. Under the new law—which will become fully effective in 2014—the federal government will almost fully cover the cost of those newly eligible for Medicaid through 2019, with federal financial support expected to be extended thereafter. However, additional federal financial support is not provided for new enrollees among those eligible for Medicaid under the old laws. The individual health insurance mandate makes it virtually certain that many more “old-eligibles” will enroll in Medicaid and increase states’ Medicaid financing burden significantly.

  
  
  
• Health Care
  

  The ObamaCare Fraud

  By Shikha Dalmia , Reason Foundation
  
  Reason, 01/06/2011
  

  There are a great many things wrong with Obamacare, but the biggest is perhaps one that neither party is paying any attention to: It is one huge entrapment scheme that will turn patients and providers into criminals.

  
  
  
• Budget & Taxation
  

  Ten Principles of Federal Tax Policy

  By Daniel J. Pilla, Heartland Institute
  
  Legislative Principles, 01/06/2011
  

  The power to tax is the most ubiquitous of all government powers. It reaches directly or indirectly to all classes of people, all industries, all elements of society. Taxes always place at least some burdens on business, individuals, and the economy. They are a necessary evil. However, citizens should tolerate only those taxes that are lawful and used to support legitimate functions of government. For these reasons, policymakers and legislators have a responsibility to adhere to sound constitutional and economic principles when levying taxes, and citizens have a moral and legal duty to hold legislators accountable for violations of these principles.

  
  
  
• Economic and Political Thought
  

  Why Does Sovereignty Matter to America?

  By Steven Groves, The Heritage Foundation
  
  Report, 01/06/2011
  

  The United States is a sovereign nation. Sovereignty is a simple idea: the United States is an independent nation, governed by the American people, that controls its own affairs. The American people adopted the Constitution and created the government. They elect their representatives and make their own laws. The Founding Fathers understood that if America does not have sovereignty, it does not have independence. If a foreign power can tell America “what we shall do, and what we shall not do,” George Washington once wrote to Alexander Hamilton, “we have Independence yet to seek, and have contended hitherto for very little.” The Founders believed in sovereignty. In 1776, they fought for it. But why does sovereignty still matter to America?

  
  
  
• Economic and Political Thought
  

  Why Does Religious Freedom Matter?

  By Jennifer Marshall, The Heritage Foundation
  
  Report, 01/06/2011
  

  Religious liberty and a thriving religious culture are defining attributes of the United States, characterizing the American order as much as its political system and market economy. From the earliest settlements of the 17th century to the great social reform causes led by religious congregations in the late 19th century and again in the 20th century, religion has been a dominant theme of American life. Today, almost 90 percent of Americans say that religion is at least “somewhat important” in their lives. About 60 percent are members of a local religious congregation. Faith-based organizations are extremely active in providing for social needs at home and in sending aid abroad. Why does religious liberty matter—to America and to the world?

  
  
  
• Regulation & Deregulation
  

  Why Regulate? New Applications of the “Johnston Test”

  By Joseph L. Bast, Heartland Institute
  
  Policy Brief, 01/04/2011
  

  Most policymakers are relatively uninformed about why governments regulate in the first place, and consequently have difficulty framing the issue of regulatory reform. It is hardly their fault: the academic literature shows little consensus, and what agreement exists has not been presented in a fashion that elected officials can apply to the choices they face. This essay attempts to fill this gap in the literature.

  
  
  
• Education
  

  The Parent Trigger: A Model for Transforming Education

  By Joseph L. Bast, Bruno Behrend, Ben Boychuk, Marc Oestreich, Heartland Institute
  
  Policy Brief, 01/04/2011
  

  The Parent Trigger is an innovation in education reform recently passed into law in California. Briefly put, if half the parents whose children attend a failing public school sign a petition requesting reform of the school, the school must either shut down, become a charter school, or undergo one of two other types of reform.

  
  
  
• Regulation & Deregulation
  

  Regulatory Issues Affecting Recycled Auto Parts

  By Alan B. Smith, Eli Leher, Heartland Institute
  
  Policy Brief, 01/04/2011
  

  Recycled auto parts serve a valid and valuable purpose for American consumers. They’re generally good for the environment and save money. Current public policies, however, have begun to erode their usefulness in small but meaningful ways. State legislators and Congress should recognize that the recycled parts industry is largely a success story and would not benefit from burdensome new regulations.

  
  
  
• Regulation & Deregulation
  

  Understanding Reinsurance in Florida

  By Eli Lehrer, Christian Camara, Heartland Institute
  
  Policy Brief, 01/04/2011
  

  Without a developed reinsurance market, only very large companies could write any insurance in Florida. Even a mid-sized insurer that operates nationally would have a difficult time taking on the extreme risks of writing wind insurance in Florida, and small companies—those that exist only in Florida, for example—probably couldn’t write any significant amount of insurance at all. Having more companies creates more competition, which lowers rates.