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Best practices for cost-of-living adjustment designs in public pension systems
Striking the proper balance between cost, risk, and benefits in a way that works for both employees and employers.
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Mass Transit Systems Face Critical Challenges Now and When COVID-19 Pandemic Is Over
Public transportation is uniquely sensitive to changes in the number of people working from home, changes in commuting patterns, and concerns over public health and safety.
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Examining the causes of induced demand and the future of highway expansion
The most effective method for reducing induced demand is to implement pricing on highways.
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What Factors Impact Public Pension Reform?
This brief analyzes several different factors that impact the likelihood of state policymakers making changes to a pension plan.
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The 2021 Texas Power Crisis: What Happened and What Can Be Done to Avoid Another One?
This report focuses on ERCOT and the electric power system because the power outages were the proximate cause of many hardships suffered during the failures.
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Refocusing U.S. welfare policy on economic opportunity
This study examines how the welfare system and banking, housing, criminal justice, and labor market regulations reduce and undermine opportunities for low-income Americans.
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Frequently asked questions on public school open enrollment
Public school open enrollment policies allow students to transfer to the public school of their choice.
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Public schools without boundaries: Ranking every state’s K-12 open enrollment policies
Only 11 states have mandatory open enrollment laws that allow students to easily transfer to other public schools and 26 states allow public schools to charge tuition to public school transfer students.
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Examining every state’s open enrollment policies
Six states, including Arizona and Florida, have implemented four out of five best practices for public school open enrollment, but 34 states have implemented one or none.
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Public schools without boundaries 2024
Study finds Arizona, Idaho, Oklahoma, Utah, and West Virginia have the best public school transfer and open enrollment laws.
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Transparent K-12 open enrollment data matters to parents, policymakers and taxpayers
A total of 16 states have strong statewide cross-district open enrollment laws, while 13 states have strong statewide within-district open enrollment laws.
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Federal law unconstitutionally prohibits medical marijuana users from possessing firearms
To prevent violations of the Second and Fifth Amendments, Congress should amend the Gun Control Act of 1968 to permit an exception for legal medical marijuana use.
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Examining excess deaths, years of lives lost, and other health consequences during the COVID-19 pandemic
"The non-COVID death toll that has accompanied the pandemic is large, well into six digits."
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What Kratom and delta-8 THC illustrate about substance regulation and criminalization
Substances like delta-8 and kratom are new entrants into what has become an “underground” market for “legal” buzzes and highs.
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State policy agenda for telehealth innovation
This report examines all 50 states in four key areas where there's an opportunity to maximize the potential of telehealth services.
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Fiduciary principles need to be reaffirmed and strengthened in public pension plans
"The exclusive purpose of investing pension assets must be to provide pension benefits and defray reasonable expenses—nothing else."
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Is private equity a public financial hazard?
Private equity funds lack clear return and risk metrics, making it hard to assess performance before investments are redeemed, often a decade or more after the initial investment.
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The importance of North Carolina’s ports and how to improve them
This policy report examines the roles ports play in North Carolina’s economy, as well as how they are operated.