Author Archive | Todd Zywicki

Rumors of an Arrested Development movie have now expanded to a movie and a mini-series. I knew Will Arnett was talented but he still seems unusually good at multi-tasking.

I was at a conference last week and Federal Reserve Governor Dan Tarullo asked a question that I’ve been wanting to know the answer to as well: Why do banks “need” to be so big that they are “too big to fail”?  More precisely, it is asserted (but, in my opinion has never been demonstrated) […]

As predicted. I actually recorded the interview a few days ago but it was just posted yesterday so I had no inside knowledge that this was in the works.

I did a short recorded interview with PYMNTS.com on the ripple effect of the regulatory assault on consumer banking and the impact on that sector of the economy.  I predict increased layoffs in the consumer banking sector and that the next shoe to drop will be widespread closures of bank branches and the accompanying negative […]

In honor of Constitution Day (I’m just getting around to blogging it late), my friends at the Bill of Rights Institute (where I serve on the Board of Directors and as the Chair of the Academic Advisory Council) have produced a nifty little video describing the difference between a constitutional republic and a democracy.  As […]

I’ll be participating in a program tomorrow on “A Growing Crisis in the Credit Market,” a one-day conference on “The Plight Facing the Unbanked and the Under-Banked in America.”  The program is co-sponsored by the National Urban League, National Bankers Association, Competitive Enterprise Institute, and Hispanic Leadership Fund and will focus on the challenges of […]

A cert petition has been filed in Fisher v. Texas, which challenges the racial and ethnic admission preferences at UT-Austin.  The cert petition is here.  David and Ilya blogged on this after the Fifth Circuit’s ruling.  It is an important case for the reasons that David and Ilya noted at the time and I hope […]

Tomorrow I’ll be speaking at 12:35 for the Rutgers-Newark Federalist Society on the question of “Should We Repeal the Seventeenth Amendment?”  Hope to see you there.  Professor Bernie Bell will provide some opening remarks.

I’ve tended to side with the more hawkish Tea Party Republicans in the debt ceiling debate just because I always side with those who want to cut spending the most. But I found Charles Krauthammer’s column today very thought-provoking and to give me pause. In particular, he focuses on the debate within the framework of […]

In the most recent issue of the Weekly Standard Christopher Caldwell has an article, “Elizabeth Warren, Closet Conservative: The Most Misunderstood Woman in Washington.”  The basis for Caldwell’s article is Professor Warren’s 2003 book, The Two-Income Trap, which he refers to as “a brilliant and counterintuitive work of pop economics.”  Caldwell summarizes what he interprets […]

NY Times has a Room for Debate Feature, “The Case Against Law School.”  Several interesting entries and multiple criticisms of the operation of law schools today, even by defenders of the current general model.

My colleague and TOTM blogger J.W. Verrett has a column in The Washington Times making the case for converting the CFPB from a one-person director to a five-member agency. I, of course, agree with him as I have expressed in the past.  In part this is based on my FTC experience.  As I’ve remarked before, […]

I’ll be on the Doug Urbanski radio show today at about 2:30 talking about my column from the other day “The Truth About the Auto Bailouts.”  If you don’t have his show in your market you can listen live on-line at his website.

Just got back this weekend from a fantastic week and a half at PERC hanging out with a bunch of my old Clemson professors.  I’m writing a short piece that critiques some law and economics analysis of various aspects of the Takings doctrine, namely the “public use” requirement post-Kelo and Judge Posner’s analysis of “just […]

Which starts tomorrow.