Agriculture
Regulation
Government regulations typically restrict people’s behaviors and choices– causing economic damage, especially to society’s vulnerable who can least afford to comply. Locke works to deregulate and support innovation and growth.
Research Brief
Environment
Sorry, California, Governor Cooper Has No Authority to Order a “Clean Trucks” Rule
Gov. Roy Cooper signed an “Memorandum of Understanding” with California Gov. Gavin Newsom to promote “zero-emissions” trucks and buses. Cooper’s recent executive order demands the drafting of an “Advanced Clean…
Regulation
North Carolina’s Outdated Alcohol Restrictions
A few years ago I charted several ways in which the state was more restrictive against alcohol production, distribution, and sales than other states. The good news is that the…
Research Brief
Agriculture
Can California Hog the Regulation of North Carolina Pig Farms?
The Supreme Court is mulling whether to allow California, which has virtually no domestic pork industry, to regulate other states’ pig farms. If farms are forced to adopt California’s strictures,…
Energy
Fear Congressional Regulation, Not the Speech
On September 14, 2022, Locke CEO Amy Cooke testified before U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations regarding the importance of free and open debate in…
Freedom Focus
Budget, Taxation & Economy
Big government crushes wealth creation, harms the poor
Increasing productivity is the key to wealth creation. Investment in capital goods and the division of labor are the key factors to rising productivity. Government hampers productivity through interventions like…
Research Brief
Education
A Back-to-School Look at the NC Threat-Free Index
Although most families are hoping to back to school means back to normal, there are still some wanting to go back to forced masking, social distancing, isolated lunches outside, daily…
Health Care
The CDC Quietly Removed Key “Facts” About mRNA Vaccines
Read the whole thing. Two changes I'd like to highlight here are (a) changes to the CDC's early discussion about "temporary discomfort" from the injection and, even more importantly, (b)…
Energy
Implementation of H.B. 951: What’s on the Road Ahead?
In October 2021, the General Assembly passed, and Gov. Roy Cooper signed H.B. 951, a transformational piece of energy legislation that could be the conservative response to the costly and…
Research Brief
Budget, Taxation & Economy
North Carolina Tourism Spending and Tourism Jobs Still Below Pre-Pandemic Levels in 2021
State visitor spending in 2021 would have needed to be another $2 billion higher to break even with the 2019 record. Tourism jobs in 2021 were still 18% below pre-pandemic…
Energy
An Important Judicial Check Against Hyperregulation
My latest article for the American Institute for Economic Research finds a flicker of good news amid the blizzard of bad news that has marked the Biden years so far.…
Research Brief
Education
Proposed Title IX Rewrite Casts Long Shadow Over Review of Healthful Living Standards
A review of North Carolina’s healthful living academic standards will highlight the best standards and content in the areas of sex, healthy living, and creating a healthy environment. Pres. Biden’s…
Research Brief
Health Care
DHHS Stops Reporting Covid Cases by Vaccination Status
DHHS data during the Covid-19 pandemic have been questionable, to say the least. From late 2021 to the present, the proportion of new Covid cases to individuals considered fully vaccinated…