Policy Insights

Policy Insights answers important policy questions by pulling together relevant op-eds, books, podcasts, and videos from Hoover fellows. Readers are given a one stop shop that guides them through big issues and points them in the direction of more Hoover resources.

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Charter School Week

This week is Charter School Week! Charter schools have always been important, but the pandemic and its associated school closures brought charter schools’ relative flexibility into sharp contrast with traditional public schools.

Understanding Student Loan Forgiveness

President Biden has proposed forgiving up to $20,000 of federal student loans for certain lenders, which will cost taxpayers roughly half a trillion dollars. He has also proposed making several income-based repayment options more affordable for borrowers—also costing hundreds of billions of dollars. What will that mean for student loans in the future and their effects on the federal budget?

The Dangers of Price Controls

From gasoline to food, the prices of common consumers goods have risen by 10 percent or more over the last year. Of course, policy makers are eager to find ways to stop prices from rising. For some, the answer is obvious: we should ban businesses from increasing their prices.

The Social Security Trust Funds

In 2021, Social Security spent $57 billion more than it collected in dedicated tax revenue and interest on its trust funds. How did Social Security get here? And what can we do about it?

Deterrence

Aggressive actors, from Russia to North Korea, are eager to use their military might to enhance their power. Stopping these aggressors before they lash out is key to preserving human life and avoiding costly wars, but the question is how?

Inflation and Monetary Policy

The rise in inflation has brought new attention to the importance of monetary policy and how it affects our economy and daily lives. What is monetary policy, how does it affect prices, and what tools does it offer policy makers to restrain inflation?

Unpacking Putin’s War in Ukraine

Many believed that conventional war in Europe would never happen again after World War II. Yet nearly eighty years after the end of that conflagration, the world is watching Russia invade Ukraine in real time. The reactions of the United States, the European Union, and NATO will have large implications for the future of global security.

Fixing Our Health Care System

The goal of any health care policy is simple: widespread access to affordable, high-quality medical care. Unfortunately, the American health care system falls far short of that objective. Are we stuck with the status quo, or are there reforms that could bring us closer to the health care system we want?

Is Government the Answer to Our Health...

Although most agree that America's current health care system needs fixing, there is little consensus about what to do. Some think the answer is single-payer health care. Others think government can enhance competition and cut costs by directly competing with private insurance companies. Will these government-led efforts improve our system?

Keeping Our Nation Secure

The nature of war remains constant, even while technology and people continue to change. How should the United States prepare in order to safeguard its national security?

Why Is Health Care So Expensive?

It is no secret that the nation’s health care system needs reform. Washington spends more on health care than it does on any other part of the budget, including national defense or Social Security. Why is American health care so expensive?

Fixing Economic Inequality

Is today’s economic inequality as grotesque and morally intolerable as many say it is? And, more importantly, will politicians proposed solutions expand economic opportunity for everyone?

America: Growth of a Young Nation

What makes the American experiment unique and what can we do to improve it?

State Budget Woes

State and local officials continue to face significant budget challenges that predate the pandemic. What are these budget challenges and what can state lawmakers do to address them?

Cybersecurity

From pipeline hacks leading to gasoline shortages to disinformation campaigns during elections, cyberattacks are becoming a more frequent source of disruption in people’s lives. Finding the right responses to these attacks isn’t obvious. Can we take lessons from traditional warfare, or do cyberattacks demand an entirely different response?

Capitalism vs. Socialism

Over the last century countries have experimented with variations on both capitalism and socialsm. So how do socialism, capitalism, and their many variants compare?

International Women’s Day

International Women’s Day is a globally significant day in which we honor women’s social, economic, social, cultural, and political contributions. To celebrate International Women’s Day, we’re highlighting four of our female Hoover Institution fellows who are leading and transforming their respective fields.

Tax Rate Hikes and the Economy

As a candidate, Biden proposed a series of tax rate increases on high-income families to pay for some of his new programs. What would these tax rate hikes look like, and what would they do to the economy?

What Goes Wrong When the Government...

Prices contain vital information. Too often, governments interfere with them. In an attempt to protect consumers, politicians mandate lower prices. Other times, governments push prices up to benefit certain industries. These efforts might be well intentioned, but they distort the information that prices convey and tend to make us poorer.

One Hundred Years of George Shultz

In this special edition of Policy Insights, we take a look at one hundred years of wisdom from economist, businessman, and dedicated public servant George P. Shultz.

Reasons to Be Thankful

The year 2020 will not be remembered as a year of progress. But we shouldn’t forget that people in the 21st century are wealthier and freer than at any other time in history. As we approach the holiday season, let’s explore the many reasons we should be thankful, even in 2020.

Thinking about Long-Term Debt

Whether they’re overlooking skyrocketing federal debt or unfunded state pension obligations, lawmakers continue to make short-run budget decisions that will disproportionately burden future generations. How big are these problems, and are there any good solutions?

The Electoral College

How does this uniquely American institution work? And does its existence still make sense in the modern world?

Free Speech

While many Americans take free speech for granted, the tradition is far from universal. Many developed nations restrict speech that is deemed hurtful or offensive. And in the United States, there is increasing sentiment that some speech is not worth protecting. Is it time to reconsider the nation’s free-speech orthodoxy?

The American Labor Market

With COVID-19 wreaking havoc on the US economy, it is easy to be pessimistic about the future job market. The unemployment rate is in double digits and millions of households are now relying on federal unemployment benefits to survive. Nevertheless, the United States is particularly well-equipped to overcome these changes. Its economy is exceptional, and this is especially true when it comes to the US workforce.

A Better Way to Fix Infrastructure

American infrastructure is need of an overhaul. But, as we learned in the last edition of Policy Insights, government-funded projects often fail to live up to their lofty goals. The problem isn’t that dollars aren’t being spent on infrastructure. Instead, it is that the money is being spent poorly.

Infrastructure

With COVID-19 wreaking havoc on the economy, some in Congress are proposing a large increase in infrastructure spending. Supporters claim that increased spending will boost the economy while ensuring future generations will benefit from improved transportation, power, and communication systems. But will increased federal spending on infrastructure deliver on these promises, or are there reasons to be skeptical?

Federalism

Across much of the world, national governments have responded to the coronavirus pandemic by ordering nonessential businesses to close and residents to shelter in place. In the United States, in contrast, the orders did not originate from the national government; instead, local and state governments took charge.

Fixing the Way We Regulate

Health care is not the only industry where regulations often do more harm than good. From state and local policies on housing and labor rules to federal environment and banking laws, misguided regulations can hurt the economy, reduce opportunities for workers, and limit choices for consumers.

Energy Policy Insight

Over the last quarter century, the United States has experienced a dramatic transformation. With little fanfare, an energy revolution has occurred that has profoundly altered the nation’s economy, its national security, and its environment.

Fixing the Way We Tax

Nearly everyone has an opinion about taxes. For many, tax debates are mainly about who should pay more and who should pay less. These distributional questions matter. But there is another important dimension of tax policy that is often overlooked: how do taxes affect the economy?

Environmental Policy Insight

Whether it is climate change, polluted oceans, or smoggy skies, we owe it to future generations—not to mention our current well-being—to improve our environment. But finding the right answer isn’t always easy. Some proposed solutions would have large negative effects on the economy. Other ideas sound good but don’t have a significant positive effect on the environment. How can we find the best solution?

Political and Electoral Instability

American politics feels more divided than ever. Are we at an unprecedented point in history? Are there lessons to be learned from prior periods in American politics?

Inequality

Over the last decade, there have been countless reports warning about growing economic inequality in the United States. Incomes appear to have stagnated among the middle class while households in the top 1% are flourishing. Proposals to reduce inequality—from a 70 percent tax rate on top earners to a federal wealth tax—have garnered significant support.

But a close study of inequality research tells a more complicated story.

Single-Payer Health Care

Advocates of single-payer health care often underestimate the costly trade-offs that come from longer wait times, reduced access to drugs and procedures, and lower quality of care.

Social Safety Nets

The federal government spends trillions of dollars each year on social safety net programs that take many different forms. Some provide cash assistance, and others provide health care, food, or housing. With so much money being spent on so many programs, it can be difficult to comprehend the extent of the US social safety net, its effectiveness, and its shortcomings.

Public Pensions

Public pension funds around the country have failed to set aside sufficient money to honor the pension promises they’ve made to workers in the public sector.

The US Debt—Causes and Consequences

The federal government is borrowing at unprecedented rates. Spending regularly exceeds revenue, and this shortfall is predicted to grow dramatically in the near future. The result is a large and growing federal debt that threatens future Americans’ prosperity and security. What are the consequences of this higher federal debt and what can we do about it?

Education

Although education policy has national implications on economic growth, innovation, poverty, and the labor force, responsibility ultimately rests at the state and local level. Improving education is genuinely in all of our interests. And that requires a public education sector designed intentionally to innovate and improve student outcomes.