CATEGORIES

Control Your Card-board, Control Your Life

SINCE ALBERT JONES filed his U.S. patent for corrugated paper packing material in 1871, cardboard products have played the cart to globalization’s horse. Cheaper and lighter than a crate and more protective than paper or straw, cardboard has made myriad goods affordable and deliverable to just about anywhere. From carrying glass vials of medicine at the turn of the 20th century to entire couches at the beginning of the 21st, cardboard is a linchpin of modern life.

California Is Taxing Itself to Death

FOR DECADES, CALIFORNIA has been a desirable destination for Americans lured by the promise of riches, stardom, or at least a good place to surf.

Markets, Misunderstood

A sweeping new book on the history of free market thought misses the mark

TRUE CRIME DISTORTS THE TRUTH ABOUT CRIME

In their telling, it was Kercher’s roommate, an American exchange student named Amanda Knox, who had killed the young woman during some sort of satanic sex game gone awry

THE PIRATE PRESERVATIONISTS

WHEN KEEPING CULTURAL ARCHIVES SAFE MEANS STEPPING OUTSIDE THE LAW

Africa's Planned Cities Need Unplanning

NIGERIA'S SLUMS AND STARTUP CITIES CAN LEARN FROM EACH OTHER

Private Tyranny' Is Less Private Than You Think

KIMBERLY NARANJO MAKES for a sympathetic protagonist. In childhood, she suffered abuse at home. In early adulthood, she struggled with addiction

HOW Hippies Saved the Fourth Amendment

THE NIXON ADMINISTRATION DID EVERYTHING IT COULD TO CURB ANTIWAR ACTIVISM. THEN THE COURTS SAID IT HAD GONE TOO FAR

Affirmative Action Loses in Court

THE END OF affirmative action in university admissions has been prophesied since 2003, when the Supreme Court issued its decision in Grutter v. Bollinger. In the majority opinion, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote that “25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary to further the interest approved today

Taylor Swift, Junk Fees, and the 'Happy Meal Fallacy'

WHEN AMERICA’S LARGEST ticket retailer announced plans to adjust its pricing structure, President Joe Biden was quick to claim credit

Subsidies Won't Stop Stagnation

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN is making a “big bet on place-based industrial policy,” writes Brookings Institution senior fellow Mark Muro

Civics in Public Schools Won't Fix American Democracy

ON THE CAMPAIGN trail in May, Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy provocatively proposed raising the voting age to 25 for Americans who have not had any kind of civic experience, such as serving in the military or working as a first responder

America's Immigrant Brain Drain

THE UNITED STATES boasts more international students, immigrant inventors, and foreign-born Nobel laureates than any other country

Montreal: It's All French to Me

THE MONTREAL BIODÔME’S scarlet macaw named Bouton “will be deported to the Toronto Zoo next Friday after she only spoke English during a government inspection,” The Beaverton reported in July 2013

Ben Smith's One Neat Trick for Going Viral

The Semafor editor and former BuzzFeed News editor in chief on the online media explosion of the 2000s

Be Like Pixar, Not NASA

Artificial intelligence poses the most risk when it is embedded in a centralized, tightly coupled organization. But it can facilitate decentralization too

Adam Smith Wasn't a Progressive

Stop quoting him out of context on taxation, education, and monopoly.

An Interview With Adam Smith No, not that Adam Smith.

On the occasion of his 300th birthday, Adam Smith—the Scottish Enlightenment luminary and so-called father of capitalism— was not available for comment, despite attempts to contact him via Ouija board and seance.

Don't Tread on Pride Flags

What do Gadsden flags and Pride flags have in common?

SMALL-TOWN LIFE IS THE ANTI-TWITTER

WHEN I MOVED from New York City to rural northern Arizona, I faced two obstacles: my vocabulary and my manners. Spicy language and brusqueness were normal in the East Village, where I was unlikely to see many faces again. But they were impediments in a sparsely settled place where you run into the same people day after day. Life in a relatively rural area encourages nicer manners, so I learned to rein myself in

FOSTER-PARENT RED TAPE HURTS FAMILIES AND TAXPAYERS

RULES FOR BECOMING a foster parent are meant to keep kids safe. But many of these rules make it needlessly difficult to find appropriate homes for children whose biological parents are unable to care for them

THEY ARE COMING FOR YOUR GAS STOVE

IN MAY, THE Democrat-controlled New York State Legislature and Gov. Kathy Hochul inked a $229 billion state budget agreement that included a ban on residential gas stoves. By 2029, only electric ranges will be allowed in new residences

COVID'S MISSING STUDENTS

DURING THE FIRST few months of the COVID-19 pandemic, a staggering number of students went “missing.” Kindergarten enrollment rates dropped, and students already enrolled in classes failed to log in for online learning

THE TOWN WITHOUT ZONING

CAN CAROLINE, NEW YORK, RESIST THE IMPOSITION OF ITS FIRST-EVER ZONING CODE?

THE DEA AT 50

FOR FIVE DECADES, DRUGS HAVE BEEN WINNING THE WAR ON DRUGS

Liberalism Isn't Rule by Elites

BUT PATRICK DENEEN’S “COMMON-GOOD CONSERVATISM” ALMOST CERTAINLY WOULD BE

WHEN TRADE WAR THREATENS REAL WAR

BIDEN IS BLURRING THE LINES BETWEEN ECONOMIC POLICY AND MILITARY ACTION

Inside an Abusive Anti-Porn Camp for Teens

WHY ARE WE SENDING KIDS INTO THE WILDERNESS TO STOP THEM FROM LOOKING AT PORNOGRAPHY?

GET YOUR POLITICS OUT OF MY PICKLEBALL

FAULT LINES EMERGE AS GOVERNMENT GETS INVOLVED IN AMERICA’S WEIRDEST, FASTEST-GROWING SPORT

'Excited Delirium' is No Excuse for Police Abuse

A small change in wording by medical examiners could have a big impact on how deaths in police custody are reported. In March, the National Association of Medical Examiners (NAME) said “excited delirium” should not be cited as a cause of death.