Since its inception, supporters of the Jones Act have claimed that the law is essential to U.S. national security. Although indefensible on economic grounds, Jones Act advocates argue that its restrictions promote the development of both a U.S. merchant marine and shipbuilding and repair...

In policy circles of Washington, DC, in academia, and among advocates and lobbyists, there has been growing attention to the role of antitrust enforcement versus regulation in today’s economy. Various populist arguments seek an expanded role for antitrust law, as proponents seek to control the...

According to culinary scholars, American food retained a strongly British character through most of its history. Chinese food was the exception. Beginning in the early-twentieth century, Chinese restaurants began appearing outside of Chinatowns and the cuisine entered the cultural mainstream....

It is one of the most important - and unspoken - paradoxes of the modern American regulatory state: Energy and the environment, though intertwined in life, are disconnected in law. This has important implications, not the least of which is that the two fields tend to undermine each other. For...

As a net exporter of oil, the recent upward trend in the world prices of energy products represents both an opportunity and a challenge for Canada. This study investigates the aggregate and sectoral effects of a sustained increase in these prices on the Canadian economy using a multi-sector...

This paper makes use of American patent data to shed light on the geographical history of invention, and introduces a methodology (the Wellesley Technology Concordance) which creates matrices describing the distribution of patents by 43 industries of manufacture and 50 sectors of use, along with...

This paper outlines the evolution, structure and operations of US railroads. It traces the evolution of the railroad network and the regulation framework. The current industry structure is also examined along with organization and operational characteristics. The strategies underlying the...

In recent years, there has been an increasing focus by policymakers on rural infrastructure in the United States, including most recently tax credits to encourage investment. Previous work has documented the importance of railroad expansion for nineteenth century development, and demonstrated...

Many economists agree that markets work exceptionally well yet concede that this can only happen within the context of clearly defined property rights, which necessitates government action. This is false. Ice harvesters in 19th century Boston were able to create their own system of property...

On the eve of what would become a series of listings of Columbia Basin salmon under the Endangered Species Act, Professor Blumm and Mr. Simrin analyze the evolution of the Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Program program from the passage of the Northwest Power Act in 1980 through program...