Public school spending in Mississippi increased by more than a billion dollars from 1996 to 2005. But test scores just released by the U.S. Department of Education show that science scores over that same period of time have not changed at all in Mississippi. (more…)

Competition is the essential element in improving the price and quality of goods and services. It's a curious thing to me how many business leaders believe this principle until the topic turns to education. For some reason, they treat education as if it were immune to the benefits of competition. They defend the current system rather than embracing an approach that would allow parents to choose schools that best meet their children's needs. (more…)

In the past 15 years, the number of charter schools in the United States has grown from fewer than ten to more than 3,600, and the number of students attending these schools has gone from hundreds to more than a million. (more…)

Unemployment benefit programs were created to help people who have lost jobs due to no fault of their own, and to help them for a short time until they could get other work. Many hard-working people still use it that way, but others see it as an entitlement program, where, for six months, they don't have to work. (more…)

Mississippi is known for having some of the strongest laws in the nation regulating abortions. But this year, the state House of Representatives passed a bill to repeal one of the most important of those laws - the law that requires a twenty-four hour waiting period and requires abortion clinics to provide information to women about the procedure itself, the stage of development of their unborn child, and other important information. (more…)

The one topic that has hovered over the legislature this year is not helping south Mississippi recover from the hurricane, but how to increase the cigarette tax and reduce the sales tax on groceries. (more…)

Even if there is merit to the programs of the Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi, the Legislature is going too far in their effort to help them. (more…)

In some ways, this year continues to be a strange one at the State Capitol. But in other ways, sadly, it's becoming all too predictable. Bills are being taken up in committees, and sometimes on the floor of the House or Senate without members being allowed enough time to read the bills, much less understand their ramifications. Some are being approved that are so outlandish that the best we can hope for is that the membership didn't know what they were voting for. (more…)

Price gouging is like beauty - it's in the eye of the beholder. Let's say that before the hurricane, plywood was selling for a nationwide price of $8 dollars, and after the hurricane for $50.

Economics 101 teaches that if one person has plywood and is willing to part with it for $50.00, it's because he prefers having the money to having the plywood. If another person (the buyer) has $50.00 and is willing to pay that for the plywood, it's because he prefers the plywood to the $50.00.

Some would call that "price gouging," even though no one is forced to engage in this transaction, and it results in a mutual benefit. The broader benefit is that the $50.00 price motivates more people who have plywood to get it where it's needed. After the supply increases, the price declines. Many businesses charge less out of their concern for those in need. But should it be a crime - a felony, no less - to make an economic decision to sell on the Coast for $50 what they could only get $8 for elsewhere? If so, they'll ship the plywood somewhere with fewer obstacles, thus worsening the shortage in the area that needs it most.

Regulating prices almost always ends up harming consumers.