Economic Policy News

The rise of Uber and Lyft has been a good thing for both riders and drivers. Riders like the cheaper prices and reliable service of these ride-hailing services, and drivers love the freedom to be their own boss and make their own schedule. All around the world, hundreds of thousands of people benefit from this…

How quickly does deregulation lead to economic growth? Most economists agree that less-regulated industries create more output and employ more people in the long run. New evidence shows, however, that some benefits of regulatory reform are immediate. In a recent study, economists Peter Gal and Alexander Hijzen quantified the short-term impacts of pro-market reforms on…

Hardly a day passes without one (or seven) news reports highlighting conflicts abroad. What this reality means for America and our safety under the current budget isn’t great. As violence has increased, defense spending has decreased by about 25 percent since 2011. And now there is a legitimate question about whether slashing the budget has…

The House and Senate budget committees have held hearings suggesting an openness to a budget commission to help fix our fiscal woes. Budget experts have suggested that the budget process has a shelf life. They say the current way of budgeting clearly isn’t working because Congress habitually fails to pass budgets and annual spending bills….

Yet again, the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act has spawned an out-of-touch regulation that could harm millions of Americans. The proposed rule titled “Payday, Vehicle Title, and Certain High-Cost Installment Loans” covers small-dollar loans with terms less than 45 days, as well as certain loans with terms longer than 45 days that have an “all-in” annual percentage…

Congress is up to no good. Lawmakers passed a continuing resolution before the end of the fiscal year that will fund the government only until Dec. 9. This means Congress most likely will enact another spending package in a lame-duck session, with the strong temptation to bust the budget yet again. With a $600 billion…

The Heritage Foundation was on the road in Africa last month with a message of economic freedom. The final stop was Ghana, whose capital is Accra. Ghana is the second most populous country in West Africa, after Nigeria, and has a population of nearly 25 million. Famed for its production of cocoa beans as well…

Liberal lawmakers held a liberal spending bill hostage this week until the Republican-controlled Congress agreed to even more big government priorities. Here’s what happened: For the past few weeks, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., worked with Democrats to propose a 10-week government funding bill, commonly referred to as a continuing resolution. That bill failed…

The Heritage Foundation has taken its message of economic freedom to Africa. Today’s stop is Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia—source of the Blue Nile river and one of the oldest countries in the world that traces its history back to Biblical times 1,000 years before Christ. Remember the Queen of Sheba, in the time…

In his final budget proposal, President Barack Obama proclaimed that the federal budget is “on a more sustainable fiscal path.” This is simply not true. Over the last two presidential administrations, total debt has grown considerably, along with the risk of a significant financial crisis. U.S. government debt now climbs above $19.5 trillion. When the next president takes office, publicly-held debt will be…

After voting to proceed to a bill that didn’t exist earlier this week, the Senate has finally produced text of the continuing resolution, a short-term government spending bill. The bill, written behind closed doors by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, was brought to the floor late Thursday afternoon, and for the majority of Senate Republicans,…

It’s an all too familiar sight: It’s the end of the fiscal year, and Congress is scrambling to keep the government open after it has shirked its responsibility to pass the requisite 12 appropriations bills all year. The end of the fiscal year is when Congress tends to throw fiscal responsibility out the window in…

In the decades since The Heritage Foundation began publishing its annual Index of Economic Freedom in 1995, the world has witnessed profound advances in economic freedom. Open economies have led the world in a startling burst of innovation and economic growth, and political authorities have found themselves increasingly held accountable by those they govern. Unfortunately,…

The federal budget is out of control. Autopilot spending currently consumes 68 percent of all tax dollars and will devour an ever-larger share of the budget in the future. If the lack of a congressional budget resolution this year is any indicator, Congress isn’t jumping at the chance to make meaningful reforms. However, time is…

A recently released congressional report shows the depth of American fiscal problems and the need for lawmakers to tackle the nation’s dire financial situation. On Tuesday, the Congressional Budget Office released its 2016 Long-Term Budget Outlook. The annual publication projects the levels of U.S. spending, taxes, deficits, and the debt for the next 30 years….