The Post explains: The Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked a key part of President Obama’s ambitious proposal to limit carbon emissions and reduce global warming while the plan is challenged. . . . The court’s decision does not address the merits of the challenge but indicates justices think the states have raised serious questions. The […]

The Wall Street Journal reports: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, preparing to roll out rules​aimed at reining in high-interest payday loans, is jawboning banks and credit unions to provide better alternatives for borrowers in need of small, short-term loans. Richard Cordray, director of the watchdog agency, said it is discussing ways to make it easier for […]

The Washington Post reports: Congress is considering a freeze on the airline industry’s shrinking coach seats, an unprecedented move that could lead to a more comfortable and humane flying experience. A proposed amendment to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Bill would direct the federal government to set minimum seat-size standards for the first time, […]

Available from Amazon here. I have only just started reading it, but here's a description from Chris: FTC Privacy Law and Policy is a broad-ranging primer on the FTC’s consumer protection mission. It is the first hundred-year history of the agency’s consumer protection activities, and it links consumer cases to modern internet privacy efforts. The book offers […]

Check out today's outstanding piece in Slate, subtitled "What it’s like making less than $13 an hour to serve $13 beers at one of the biggest games on Earth." It covers not only the author's experience behind the counter, but also the economics of stadium financing and the extraordinary lengths to which many of the concession […]

"We find that the benefits to economic growth are even smaller than those projected with full-employment models, and are negative for Japan and the United States. More important, we find that the TPP will likely lead to losses in employment and increases in inequality," summarize the authors. The report, called "Trading Down: Unemployment, Inequality and Other Risks of the Trans-Pacific […]

In 2006, in the federal government's RICO litigation against major players in the tobacco industry, U.S. District Judge Glady Kessler issued an opinion containing over 4,000 findings of facts. She found that the government had shown by overwhelming evidence that the industry had maintained an unlawful racketeering enterprise and had lied about the health effects […]

This shouldn't be news to regular readers, but last Friday's report reflects the risks associated with for-profit colleges. The report highlights high costs and low job placement rates. The Washington Post has the story.

A recent paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research points to a depressing feature of our society — the economic circumstances of a person's birth exert a pretty strong influence on where they'll end up. Or, as the headline in FiveThirtyEight puts it in its headline describing the trend: "Rich Kids Stay Rich, Poor Kids Stay […]