Blog
How did the US become the world’s center of pharmaceutical innovation?
What kinds of policies helped the US surpass Great Britain to become the world’s center of pharmaceutical innovation? I think it was a combination of shrewd reforms on the part of the United States, and self-destructive reforms on the part of Europe and other developed nations. In the 1970s, Europe ...
Sally C. Pipes
December 10, 2025
Blog
Plan to Tear Up Local Streets Latest Controversy for California’s Train to Nowhere
The Fresno Bee reports that streets in the center of city would have to be rebuilt as a series of overpasses and underpasses to avoid the road-level tracks for high-speed rail. The city was under the impression, based on a 2018 agreement, that the streets would remain as is while the train ...
Kerry Jackson
December 9, 2025
Blog
In the Age of AI, Will Machines Start a Nuke War?
READ THE PDF In the Age of AI, Will Machines Start a Nuke War? In May of last year, China rejected American proposals to limit the use of artificial intelligence for controlling the launch of nuclear weapons. President Joe Biden raised this issue with Xi Jinping in California the preceding ...
Gordon Chang
December 8, 2025
Blog
After balking, Fresno rightly OKs housing-streamlining compromise
after balking, fresno oks housing-streamlining compromise by Sal Rodriguez | December 5, 2025 (Editor’s Note: This piece has been updated from the article originally published on December 5 to reflect Fresno’s recent action on the issue.) The answer to the housing shortage plaguing cities across the country isn’t really that ...
Sal Rodriguez
December 5, 2025
Blog
Robotaxis offer real-world solution for urban traffic congestion
Waymo is the Autonomous Vehicle division of Alphabet/Google, which for two decades has mapped almost every road in America. The cars are electric I-Pace Jaguars made in Austria by Magna Steyr and, he said, quite luxurious. Other cities hosting Waymos include Los Angeles, Austin, Atlanta and San Francisco, also covering ...
John Seiler
December 4, 2025
Blog
Spending Watch
Lacking Fundamental Reforms, California’s Fiscal Outlook Is Still Dismal
Lacking Fundamental Reforms, California’s Fiscal Outlook Is Still Dismal Wayne Winegarden and Nikhil Agarwal December 2025 The Legislative Analysts’ Office’s (LAO) latest Fiscal Outlook for 2026-27 warns that more budget pain is on the way. The nonpartisan budget analyst’s review concurs with previous PRI Spending Watch analyses where we warned ...
Wayne Winegarden and Nikhil Agarwal
December 3, 2025
Blog
Ni Estudian – Ni Trabajan – On California’s Poor Education System and Its Consequences for Public Safety
The prospects for California’s high school grads are not good as they face a shrinking job market and a correspondingly high youth unemployment rate. In Latin America, they are known as the “Nini’s” – out of school and out of work. According to a November 2025 LA Times article, a ...
Steve Smith
December 2, 2025
Blog
Trucking and Shipping Latest Victims of California’s “Cruelest Law,” AB 5
If anyone thinks they’re seeing fewer trucks ripping up and down Interstate 5 or slogging through the perpetual 405 gridlock, it might not be their imagination. California law is strangling the freight-hauling business. There has been “a wave of bankruptcies among California trucking companies,” reports Floor Covering News, a trade publication, partially the result of the economic decline of the freight ...
Kerry Jackson
December 1, 2025
Agriculture
The abundance of Thanksgiving hides the challenges in agriculture
We are a nation that celebrates with food. Birthdays are synonymous with cake and ice cream. Easter is all about eggs and chocolate. Halloween is everyone’s favorite day for candy. But the ultimate in food-related holidays is Thanksgiving. This Thanksgiving, Americans will consume about 46 million turkeys, 77 million hams, ...
Pam Lewison
November 27, 2025
Blog
PRI’s 2026 Holiday Book List
Nikhil Agarwal – Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson The book I’m recommending is Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson. A critique of liberal policies by two liberals, the book explains perfectly why government-led development and infrastructure projects are doomed for failure in a pluralistic, democratic society like ...
Pacific Research Institute
November 26, 2025
How did the US become the world’s center of pharmaceutical innovation?
What kinds of policies helped the US surpass Great Britain to become the world’s center of pharmaceutical innovation? I think it was a combination of shrewd reforms on the part of the United States, and self-destructive reforms on the part of Europe and other developed nations. In the 1970s, Europe ...
Plan to Tear Up Local Streets Latest Controversy for California’s Train to Nowhere
The Fresno Bee reports that streets in the center of city would have to be rebuilt as a series of overpasses and underpasses to avoid the road-level tracks for high-speed rail. The city was under the impression, based on a 2018 agreement, that the streets would remain as is while the train ...
In the Age of AI, Will Machines Start a Nuke War?
READ THE PDF In the Age of AI, Will Machines Start a Nuke War? In May of last year, China rejected American proposals to limit the use of artificial intelligence for controlling the launch of nuclear weapons. President Joe Biden raised this issue with Xi Jinping in California the preceding ...
After balking, Fresno rightly OKs housing-streamlining compromise
after balking, fresno oks housing-streamlining compromise by Sal Rodriguez | December 5, 2025 (Editor’s Note: This piece has been updated from the article originally published on December 5 to reflect Fresno’s recent action on the issue.) The answer to the housing shortage plaguing cities across the country isn’t really that ...
Robotaxis offer real-world solution for urban traffic congestion
Waymo is the Autonomous Vehicle division of Alphabet/Google, which for two decades has mapped almost every road in America. The cars are electric I-Pace Jaguars made in Austria by Magna Steyr and, he said, quite luxurious. Other cities hosting Waymos include Los Angeles, Austin, Atlanta and San Francisco, also covering ...
Spending Watch
Lacking Fundamental Reforms, California’s Fiscal Outlook Is Still Dismal
Lacking Fundamental Reforms, California’s Fiscal Outlook Is Still Dismal Wayne Winegarden and Nikhil Agarwal December 2025 The Legislative Analysts’ Office’s (LAO) latest Fiscal Outlook for 2026-27 warns that more budget pain is on the way. The nonpartisan budget analyst’s review concurs with previous PRI Spending Watch analyses where we warned ...
Ni Estudian – Ni Trabajan – On California’s Poor Education System and Its Consequences for Public Safety
The prospects for California’s high school grads are not good as they face a shrinking job market and a correspondingly high youth unemployment rate. In Latin America, they are known as the “Nini’s” – out of school and out of work. According to a November 2025 LA Times article, a ...
Trucking and Shipping Latest Victims of California’s “Cruelest Law,” AB 5
If anyone thinks they’re seeing fewer trucks ripping up and down Interstate 5 or slogging through the perpetual 405 gridlock, it might not be their imagination. California law is strangling the freight-hauling business. There has been “a wave of bankruptcies among California trucking companies,” reports Floor Covering News, a trade publication, partially the result of the economic decline of the freight ...
The abundance of Thanksgiving hides the challenges in agriculture
We are a nation that celebrates with food. Birthdays are synonymous with cake and ice cream. Easter is all about eggs and chocolate. Halloween is everyone’s favorite day for candy. But the ultimate in food-related holidays is Thanksgiving. This Thanksgiving, Americans will consume about 46 million turkeys, 77 million hams, ...
PRI’s 2026 Holiday Book List
Nikhil Agarwal – Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson The book I’m recommending is Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson. A critique of liberal policies by two liberals, the book explains perfectly why government-led development and infrastructure projects are doomed for failure in a pluralistic, democratic society like ...