Research Reports
Cosmetology | Economic Liberty | Hair Braiding | Occupational Licensing
Untangling Regulations
Natural hair braiding is a beauty practice popular among many African, African-American and immigrant communities in the United States. But braiders in many states have to endure hundreds of hours of unnecessary coursework and pay…
Economic Liberty | Vending
Street Eats, Safe Eats
Boston |Las Vegas |Los Angeles |Louisville |Miami |Seattle|Washington, D.C. Introduction America loves food trucks. These new mobile vendors are creating jobs, satisfying hunger and making downtowns cool…
Economic Liberty | Vending
The Attack on Food Freedom
Today’s bans and strict regulations ultimately limit the choices available to eaters—which include quite literally everyone—and, in the process, prevent food entrepreneurs from earning an honest living.
Judicial Engagement Means No More Make-Believe Judging
Every person who goes into court deserves a sincere, impartial judge. A substantial portion of American constitutional doctrine is devoted to ensuring they don’t get one. What civil rights plaintiffs often get instead is a…
Educational Choice
Opening the Schoolhouse Doors
Alabama’s scholarship tax credit programs follow in the footsteps of at least six similar tax credits dating to the 1970s that give students a choice of public, private or religious schools, demonstrating that scholarship tax…
Economic Liberty
Florida’s Dirty Dozen
Florida legislators can make Florida more business friendly by repealing 12 anticompetitive, senseless and arbitrary laws that hold back entrepreneurs.
Economic Liberty
The Balance Between Public Protection and the Right to Earn a Living
One of the significant challenges facing licensing professionals is striking the most effective, efficient and just balance between regulation of occupations and preserving occupational practice free from unnecessary government restrictions. As discussed in greater detail…
Other
Terms of Engagement
The Constitution was designed to limit government power and protect individuals from the tyranny of majorities and interest-group politics. But those protections are meaningless without judges who are fully committed to enforcing them, and America’s…
First Amendment | Political Speech
Information at the Margin: Campaign Finance Disclosure Laws, Ballot Issues, and Voter Knowledge
All 24 states that permit voters to cast ballots directly on policy matters also require that contributions and expenditures on ballot issue campaigns be disclosed publicly. Scholars assert that information about the financial involvement of…
Economic Liberty | Occupational Licensing | Teeth Whitening
White Out
As the teeth-whitening industry has exploded in recent years, so too has the push for laws and regulations that enable licensed dentists and hygienists to capture a greater share of that market by banning anyone…
Civil Forfeiture | Private Property
Rotten Reporting in the Peach State
Georgia has some of the worst civil forfeiture laws in the nation, a problem compounded by law enforcement agencies’ routine failure to report forfeiture revenue and expenditures as required by law. But a 2011 Institute…
Civil Forfeiture | Private Property
A Stacked Deck
State data show that from 2003 to 2010, forfeiture revenue in Minnesota jumped 75 percent, even as crime rates declined, and the average value of forfeited property was only $1,000.
First Amendment | Political Speech
The Public’s Right to Know Versus Compelled Speech: What Does Social Science Research Tell Us About the Benefits and Costs of Campaign Finance Disclosure in Non-Candidate Elections?
The National Conference of State Legislatures has called campaign finance disclosure the most basic form of campaign finance regulation and further notes that “[a]ll states require some level of disclosure from candidates, committees, and political…
Civil Forfeiture | Private Property
Arizona’s Profit Incentive in Civil Forfeiture
Arizona’s civil forfeiture laws need to be reformed. In the upside-down world of civil forfeiture, police and prosecutors can seize and keep cash and property that was allegedly involved in criminal activity—without ever proving a…
Economic Liberty | Vending
Seven Myths and Realities about Food Trucks
Using facts and real-world examples, IJ shows that there is no basis for the argument that restaurants need government intervention to “protect” them from food trucks.
Economic Liberty | Vending
Food-Truck Freedom
In order to foster the conditions that will let food trucks thrive, this report offers recommendations based on the legislative best practices of Los Angeles and other cities.
Economic Liberty | Occupational Licensing
License to Work 1
License to Work, 1st Edition Published in 2012, this is an older edition of IJ’s landmark License to Work report. You can download the report here, but please see the third and current edition…
Economic Liberty | Occupational Licensing
Testing the Utility of Licensing: Evidence from a Field Experiment on Occupational Regulation
This study examines hypothesized benefits associated with occupational licensing in one long-regulated industry in Louisiana—floristry—in order to determine to what extent licensing results in theorized benefits that might justify the costs associated with licensure systems.
Testing the utility of a licensing policy: Evidence from a field experiment
This study examines hypothesized benefits associated with occupational licensing in one long-regulated industry in Louisiana—floristry—in order to determine to what extent licensing results in theorized benefits that might justify the costs associated with licensure systems.
Comment on Carpenter and Ross (2009) Eminent Domain and Equity
In an October 2009 Urban Studies article, Dick Carpenter and John Ross present new research on eminent domain in the US. The authors study areas where local governments plan to acquire property via eminent domain…
Educational Choice
Opening the Schoolhouse Doors
Indiana’s Choice Scholarship Program empowers thousands of families to choose the best K-12 schools for their children—public, private or religious—just like state-funded college scholarship programs have done for decades.
Educational Choice
Expanding Choice
Scholarship tax credits would expand educational opportunities for Idaho families, building on long-standing state policies encouraging private investments in education, as well as successful school choice programs in other states.
Educational Choice
Indiana’s History of School Choice: Attempts to Derail New K-12 Scholarship Program Threaten Decades of Choice
Heather Coffy is a hardworking, single mother who wants to ensure her children receive a quality education. Her oldest son, Delano, was struggling in the public school system. After her complaints to public school administrators were ignored,…
Eminent Domain | Private Property
Comment on Carpenter and Ross (2009): Eminent Domain and Equity—A Reply
In this report, Director of Strategic Research Dick Carpenter responds to commentary on his article about the effects of eminent domain on poor and minority communities. Suggested citation: Carpenter, D. M.
First Amendment | Political Speech
Full Disclosure
Publicly disclosing contributions to ballot issue campaigns does little to help voters make better choices—and instead imposes substantial costs on people wishing to participate in politics.
Civil Forfeiture | Private Property
Inequitable Justice
This report examines a federal law enforcement practice known as “equitable sharing.” It enables—indeed, encourages—state and local police and prosecutors to circumvent the civil forfeiture laws of their states for financial gain. Civil forfeiture is…
First Amendment | Political Speech
Publicly Funded Elections Infringe on Candidates’ First Amendment Rights
Suggested citation: Primo, D. M. (2011). Publicly funded elections infringe on candidates’ First Amendment rights. In N. G. Dziedzic (Ed.), Election Spending (Opposing Viewpoints Series, pp. 74–83). Greenhaven Press.
Other
Government Unchecked
The past five decades have seen a relentless expansion in the size of government and a sharp increase in the number of liberty-stifling laws and regulations at every level. Despite this explosion of political power,…
Economic Liberty | Vending
Streets of Dreams
Street vending is, and always has been, a part of the American economy and a fixture of urban life. Thanks to low start-up costs, the trade has offered countless entrepreneurs—particularly immigrants and others with little…