Research Reports
Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Interior Design | Occupational Licensing | Occupational Speech
Misinformation & Interior Design Regulation
This report responds to a purported rebuttal of the Institute for Justice’s research on interior design regulations and details how its author, an advocate of increased regulation, fails to provide any evidence of the need…
Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Interior Design | Occupational Licensing | Occupational Speech
Designing Cartels Through Censorship
Business interests sometimes use titling laws – laws establishing who can use professional titles – as a form of occupational regulation to restrict entry. Such laws allow practitioners to provide services without a license, but…
Eminent Domain | Private Property
Baltimore’s Flawed Renaissance
Baltimore’s redevelopment strategy has long been deeply flawed and eminent domain has negatively impacted the city’s renewal.
Eminent Domain | Private Property
Simplify, Don’t Subsidize
An independent developer details the outrageous bureaucratic and regulatory hurdles small developers must pass in order to build private projects.
Other
The Dirty Dozen
Ever wonder how our nation changed from a country with a Constitution that limited government power to a land where the Constitution is interpreted to limit the rights of the citizenry? And what can be…
Eminent Domain | Private Property
California Scheming
The report summarizes the legal history and areas of contention behind eminent domain for private development in California.
Eminent Domain | Private Property
Doomsday? No Way
When the U.S. Supreme Court upheld eminent domain for private development in the 2005 Kelo case, the public reacted with shock and outrage, leading to a nationwide movement to reform state laws and curb the…
Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Interior Design | Occupational Licensing | Occupational Speech
Designing Cartels
This report examines titling laws, little-known regulations that require people practicing certain professions to gain government permission to use a specific title, such as “interior designer,” to describe their work. Although titling laws receive little…
Educational Choice
Fatally Flawed
In October 2007, the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute released a research report on public school choice and parental involvement, Fixing the Milwaukee Public School: The Limits of Parent-Driven Reform. Unfortunately, as this analysis finds, the…
First Amendment | Political Speech
Campaign Finance Red Tape
Twenty-four states permit citizens to make laws directly through ballot measures. These states also regulate how citizens—if they band together—may speak out about them. In the name of “disclosure,” these regulations impose complicated registration and…
Eminent Domain | Private Property
50 State Report Card
Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s now-infamous decision in Kelo v. New London, 44 states have passed new laws aimed at curbing the abuse of eminent domain for private use.
Eminent Domain | Private Property
Victimizing the Vulnerable
In Kelo v. City of New London—one of the most reviled U.S. Supreme Court decisions in history—the Court upheld the use of eminent domain by governments to take someone’s private property and give it to…
Eminent Domain | Private Property
Development Without Eminent Domain
The former mayor of Anaheim, Calif., describes how that city’s leadership brought economic vibrancy to one neighborhood without resorting to any takings of private property. He also explores the successes and failures of other cities…
Economic Liberty
Brightening the Beacon
This report presents concrete actions that can be taken by the city of San Diego, the state of California and business leaders-to open opportunities and substantially strengthen the region's economic base.
Educational Choice | Publicly Funded Scholarships
Private Choice In Public Programs
Georgia’s Special Needs Scholarship Program extends to a new group of students the same kind of educational choice already enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of Georgia citizens from prekindergarten through college. Prior to the adoption…
First Amendment | Political Speech
Disclosure Costs
This study examines the impact of one of the most common features of campaign finance regulations: mandatory disclosure of contributions and contributors’ personal information. While scholars have looked at the effects of other kinds of…
Eminent Domain | Private Property
Eminent Domain & African Americans
Eminent domain has become what the Founding Fathers sought to prevent: a tool that takes from the poor and the politically weak to give to the rich and the politically powerful.
Educational Choice | Publicly Funded Scholarships
Private Choice In Public Programs
Voucher programs that give recipients the free and independent choice of an array of providers, including faith-based organizations, have a long and established history in Arizona, including six different educational voucher programs that help more…
Eminent Domain | Private Property
Dreher and Echeverria
In the fight to protect home and small business owners from the government’s abuse of eminent domain, it was only a matter of time until the apologists of the practice—taking property from one private individual…
Economic Liberty
One Test, Two Standards
Most of us have a drawer or a closest in our home where we put things that are not important enough to have their own place but are not quite worthless enough to throw away…
Eminent Domain | Private Property
A False Sense of Security
Washington state law is rife with opportunities for eminent domain abuse.
Educational Choice | Tax Credit Scholarships
Fiscal Analysis of Arizona’s Corporate Tax Credit Scholarship Program
This report updates a 2005 analysis by Arizona’s Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC) that looked at the fiscal impact of a proposed corporate tuition tax-credit scholarship program and reflects the program as actually passed in…
Educational Choice | Tax Credit Scholarships
Arizona Individual and Corporate Tax Credits
Arizona’s tax code, like that of many state, national and international governments, includes a series of tax credits individuals and corporations may use to offset taxes owed. Arizona’s individual and corporate scholarship tax credit programs…
Eminent Domain | Private Property
Myths and Realities of Eminent Domain Abuse
The report debunks several of the most prevalent myths about eminent domain for private gain.
Eminent Domain | Private Property
Redevelopment Wrecks
Cities and developers tend to overhype the benefits of private development projects that use eminent domain. But many of these projects are failures.
Eminent Domain | Private Property
Opening the Floodgates
One year after the U.S. Supreme Court case, Kelo v. New London, local governments threatened eminent domain or condemned at least 5,783 homes, businesses, churches and other properties so that they could be transferred to…
Economic Liberty
The Land of 10,000 Lakes Drowns Entrepreneurs in Regulations
This study shows how Minnesota’s government-imposed regulatory barriers block the path to the American Dream and how these barriers can be removed.
Educational Choice
School Choice and the North Carolina Constitution
Education has always been an issue of central concern for the people of North Carolina. Even before statehood, the area’s colonists made concerted efforts to secure the blessings of education for their children. In 1776,…
Economic Liberty | Hair Braiding
A Dream Deferred
Hair braiding provides outstanding economic opportunities, but licensure requirements in many states have given mainstream cosmetologists a near monopoly.
Eminent Domain | Private Property
Kelo v. City of New London
This white paper explains to both legislators and the general public why eminent domain reform is needed after the Kelo v. New London decision.