Entries by Andrew Cline

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The Boston Globe agrees: local regulations are the root of the housing shortage

When the Josiah Bartlett Center released our landmark study of the nexus between New Hampshire’s housing shortage and local land use regulations, in October of 2021, the connection between the two was not widely reported in the popular press. Academics, developers and planners knew that local regulations were responsible for reducing the supply of housing, […]

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Join us for a beer & a conversation about licensing on April 11

Granite Staters entering the job market often face government-imposed barriers to entry. State-required licenses can come with onerous fees, arduous training requirements and a lack of reciprocity for individuals already licensed by another state in their field of practice. Gov. Chris Sununu has proposed a major overhaul of New Hampshire’s occupational licensing bureaucracy. The governor’s […]

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The rich folks are coming! The rich folks are coming!

“Very heavy taxes, are hurtful, because they lessen the increase of population by making the means of subsistence, more difficult.” — John Adams, 1780 Last November, Massachusetts voters approved a so-called “millionaire’s tax.” It raises the state income tax from 5% to 9% for incomes of $1 million or more, an 80% tax increase.  Four […]

As predicted, Massachusetts’ flavored tobacco ban is creating a black market

At Reason.com, Jacob Grier noticed that Massachusetts’ ban on flavored tobacco products has, predictably, created a black market in flavored cigarettes. The smuggling is so prevalent that law enforcement is running out of places to store seized products. The Massachusetts Department of Revenue reports conducting more than 300 seizures in FY 2022, compared to 170 […]

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Why universal school choice would help all N.H. students — and the public schools

“Healthy market competition is fundamental to a well-functioning U.S. economy. Basic economic theory demonstrates that when firms have to compete for customers, it leads to lower prices, higher quality goods and services, greater variety, and more innovation.” — Heather Boushey and Helen Knudsen, “The Importance of Competition for the American Economy,” The White House, July […]

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Boondoggle: State study shows soaring costs, plunging ridership for commuter rail

The January, 2023, draft of the state’s Capital Corridor commuter rail study contains nothing that commuter rail boosters should like. The financial analysis, prepared for the state Department of Transportation by AECOM Technical Services Inc. of Manchester, envisions a nearly $800 million railroad serving fewer than 100 Manchester commuters per trip, at an operating cost […]

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Medicaid can’t continue expanding forever

As legislators consider more proposals to expand Medicaid eligibility or services to specific populations, they ought to consider that Medicaid is both like and unlike the universe. Like the universe, Medicaid is expanding faster than it should be. Unlike the universe, there’s no scientific possibility of Medicaid expanding forever. (Maybe the universe can’t either.) Two bills […]