Wayne Winegarden, Author at Pacific Research Institute

Wayne Winegarden

Blog

Should CA pay unemployment to striking workers?

Subsidizing Strikes Is The California Legislature’s Latest Anti-Growth Proposal

Worsens California’s Uncompetitive Business Environment UI benefits are not designed for workers who have voluntarily walked off the job – it is part of the social safety net system designed to help those workers who have become unemployed through no fault of their own. Expanding these benefits to workers who ...
Business & Economics

Read on the FTC's harmful regulatory overreach

Proposed Oil Mergers Will Improve Competition

Under Chairperson Lina Khan, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has consistently used speculative consumer harms to justify regulatory actions. Unfortunately, these actions often stop mergers that would have improved consumer wellbeing and promoted greater innovation. Making these regulatory actions worse, the agency has too often used dubious justifications and novel theories, even overruling their ...
Business & Economics

Read the latest asset regulation proposal

The FDIC’s Ill-Advised Regulatory Grab

Board members of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) are aptly demonstrating Einstein’s maxim that “bureaucracy is the death of all sound work”. In this case, the board is considering an expansion of the FDIC’s regulatory reach that would impose more costs on asset managers and the millions of Americans ...
Commentary

Read the latest on drug pricing

Cost-Based Pricing For Innovative Medicines Is Unviable And Harmful

Barber et al. just published a fundamentally flawed study on diabetes medicines in JAMA Network Open (JNO). This study wrongly suggests that cost-based pricing accurately values innovative on-patent medicines, distracts from serious policymaking, and fuels political grandstanding by politicians such as Senator Bernie Sanders. Cost-based pricing could be an economically viable pricing ...
Commentary

Read about latest government green mandates

The Californization Of Colorado

Should Colorado take the plunge and embrace burdensome green mandates, state residents will soon discover just how damaging the California approach is. Like California, economic growth in Colorado will slow and families – particularly low-income families – will struggle with energy unaffordability. Making these costs even harder to justify, the ...
Blog

Learn about the Biden budget plan

President Biden’s Fiscal Illusions

The President imagines that the federal budget is driving toward a fiscal cliff because tax revenues are too low, and the rich are not paying their fair share. Such accusations may make good political talking points, but they are demonstrably false. Let’s start with his vacuous accusation of tax fairness. ...
Blog

Spending Watch

Single Payer Will Worsen California’s Healthcare System and Reduce Economic Growth

Single Payer Will Worsen California’s Healthcare System and Reduce Economic Growth Wayne Winegarden March 2024 With the introduction of AB 2200, advocates are, once again, proposing that California adopt a single payer healthcare system. Ostensibly, their proposed CalCare system would streamline payments, lower per-capita spending, guarantee “quality health care and ...
Business & Economics

Read the latest on California's reparations proposal

Here’s what California’s radical reparations plan will cost taxpayers

Much of the discussion surrounding the push for reparations in California, New York and cities like San Francisco center on the historical justifications for mass payouts. Yet, as the ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras said, “Numbers rule the universe.” Reparations proponents in California are quick to dismiss criticisms over cost. ...
Blog

Spending Watch

Too Much Government Spending and Volatile Tax Revenues Drive State’s Budget Problem

Too Much Government Spending and Volatile Tax Revenues Drive State’s Budget Problem Wayne Winegarden March 2024 This analysis is the first publication of Spending Watch, a new initiative from the Pacific Research Institute. Spending Watch is a resource that evaluates the revenue, spending, and economic impacts of major budget and ...
Business & Economics

Read on the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation's latest regulation proposal

Misguided California Regulation Would Hinder Useful Financial Tool

To a hammer, everything is a nail, and so it is with California’s Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI). Don’t let the “innovation” in the agency’s name fool you – far too many of its regulations deter rather than promote innovative solutions as evidenced by the agency’s recent stance ...
Blog

Should CA pay unemployment to striking workers?

Subsidizing Strikes Is The California Legislature’s Latest Anti-Growth Proposal

Worsens California’s Uncompetitive Business Environment UI benefits are not designed for workers who have voluntarily walked off the job – it is part of the social safety net system designed to help those workers who have become unemployed through no fault of their own. Expanding these benefits to workers who ...
Business & Economics

Read on the FTC's harmful regulatory overreach

Proposed Oil Mergers Will Improve Competition

Under Chairperson Lina Khan, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has consistently used speculative consumer harms to justify regulatory actions. Unfortunately, these actions often stop mergers that would have improved consumer wellbeing and promoted greater innovation. Making these regulatory actions worse, the agency has too often used dubious justifications and novel theories, even overruling their ...
Business & Economics

Read the latest asset regulation proposal

The FDIC’s Ill-Advised Regulatory Grab

Board members of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) are aptly demonstrating Einstein’s maxim that “bureaucracy is the death of all sound work”. In this case, the board is considering an expansion of the FDIC’s regulatory reach that would impose more costs on asset managers and the millions of Americans ...
Commentary

Read the latest on drug pricing

Cost-Based Pricing For Innovative Medicines Is Unviable And Harmful

Barber et al. just published a fundamentally flawed study on diabetes medicines in JAMA Network Open (JNO). This study wrongly suggests that cost-based pricing accurately values innovative on-patent medicines, distracts from serious policymaking, and fuels political grandstanding by politicians such as Senator Bernie Sanders. Cost-based pricing could be an economically viable pricing ...
Commentary

Read about latest government green mandates

The Californization Of Colorado

Should Colorado take the plunge and embrace burdensome green mandates, state residents will soon discover just how damaging the California approach is. Like California, economic growth in Colorado will slow and families – particularly low-income families – will struggle with energy unaffordability. Making these costs even harder to justify, the ...
Blog

Learn about the Biden budget plan

President Biden’s Fiscal Illusions

The President imagines that the federal budget is driving toward a fiscal cliff because tax revenues are too low, and the rich are not paying their fair share. Such accusations may make good political talking points, but they are demonstrably false. Let’s start with his vacuous accusation of tax fairness. ...
Blog

Spending Watch

Single Payer Will Worsen California’s Healthcare System and Reduce Economic Growth

Single Payer Will Worsen California’s Healthcare System and Reduce Economic Growth Wayne Winegarden March 2024 With the introduction of AB 2200, advocates are, once again, proposing that California adopt a single payer healthcare system. Ostensibly, their proposed CalCare system would streamline payments, lower per-capita spending, guarantee “quality health care and ...
Business & Economics

Read the latest on California's reparations proposal

Here’s what California’s radical reparations plan will cost taxpayers

Much of the discussion surrounding the push for reparations in California, New York and cities like San Francisco center on the historical justifications for mass payouts. Yet, as the ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras said, “Numbers rule the universe.” Reparations proponents in California are quick to dismiss criticisms over cost. ...
Blog

Spending Watch

Too Much Government Spending and Volatile Tax Revenues Drive State’s Budget Problem

Too Much Government Spending and Volatile Tax Revenues Drive State’s Budget Problem Wayne Winegarden March 2024 This analysis is the first publication of Spending Watch, a new initiative from the Pacific Research Institute. Spending Watch is a resource that evaluates the revenue, spending, and economic impacts of major budget and ...
Business & Economics

Read on the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation's latest regulation proposal

Misguided California Regulation Would Hinder Useful Financial Tool

To a hammer, everything is a nail, and so it is with California’s Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI). Don’t let the “innovation” in the agency’s name fool you – far too many of its regulations deter rather than promote innovative solutions as evidenced by the agency’s recent stance ...
Scroll to Top