Wheeling, WV Correspondent — The encounters and the backlog have exceeded the capacity of the law and the infrastructure for several years, and December is running at a record. Catch and release, multi-year waits, and asylum standards written for a different era have produced a de facto policy that neither secures a border nor processes … Continue reading Is the current scale of U.S. border encounters sustainable under existing asylum and immigration law, or does it require legislative change?
Annual Symposium
How should democratic societies regulate rapidly advancing artificial intelligence without stifling innovation or concentrating power in a few large firms?
Prescott Valley, AZ Correspondent — Regulate high-risk applications rather than attempting to license every model. Systems that touch safety, credit, employment, or an election. Transparency about training data and limitations, plus clear liability for severe harms, creates accountability without freezing development. The hardest problem is preventing the rules from becoming a barrier only the largest … Continue reading How should democratic societies regulate rapidly advancing artificial intelligence without stifling innovation or concentrating power in a few large firms?
Thinking Outside the Boxe Releases Transcripts from Milestone 20th Annual Symposium
Four-day Orlando gathering marked two decades of independent research and commentary with a keynote address by Digger Cartwright, anniversary champagne toasts, and wide-ranging discussion of the economic, political, and institutional issues shaping the United States Myrtle Beach, SC, Orlando, FL and Washington, D.C. January 2, 2024—Thinking Outside the Boxe has released the transcripts of the … Continue reading Thinking Outside the Boxe Releases Transcripts from Milestone 20th Annual Symposium
Did the midterm elections produce a durable shift in the balance between federal and state authority on major social questions?
Wheeling, WV Correspondent — No, and the result makes that clearer than a different result would have. A narrow House majority for one party and a Senate that moved the other way is the definition of an outcome that settles nothing. Nothing structural passes for two years, which by default leaves questions where they currently … Continue reading Did the midterm elections produce a durable shift in the balance between federal and state authority on major social questions?
Is the increasing use of secondary sanctions and financial exclusion as foreign-policy tools creating long-term risks to the dollar’s reserve status?
Sydney, Australia Correspondent — These tools are powerful because the dollar and the clearing system are central, and overuse teaches targets and neutrals to build alternatives. What happened this year is a genuine escalation. Freezing a major central bank's reserves is a different order of action from sanctioning individuals, and every reserve manager in the … Continue reading Is the increasing use of secondary sanctions and financial exclusion as foreign-policy tools creating long-term risks to the dollar’s reserve status?
How should policymakers respond to the rise in urban retail crime and its effects on business viability and public safety?
Clermont, Florida Correspondent — Theft and disorder have reached a level in some cities that produces closures, higher prices, and reduced hours, and that harms the residents who depend on those stores most. The response is prosecution of organized theft, consistent consequences for repeat offenders, and visible policing of commercial districts. I'd distinguish two things … Continue reading How should policymakers respond to the rise in urban retail crime and its effects on business viability and public safety?
Should large technology companies face stricter antitrust scrutiny for their control of digital advertising and information distribution?
Orange County, California Correspondent — The advertising market is where the strongest case sits and it's the one least understood publicly. The structure is that one firm operates the buying platform, the selling platform, and the exchange where they meet, and takes a cut at each stage. In any other market that arrangement would be … Continue reading Should large technology companies face stricter antitrust scrutiny for their control of digital advertising and information distribution?
Has the Supreme Court’s decision on abortion returned the issue to democratic politics at the state level in a sustainable way, or intensified national polarization?
Prescott Valley, AZ Correspondent — We now have evidence rather than a prediction, which is the difference between answering this in July and answering it in December. Six states put the question directly to voters this year. Kansas in August, then five more in November. In every case the outcome favored the less restrictive position, … Continue reading Has the Supreme Court’s decision on abortion returned the issue to democratic politics at the state level in a sustainable way, or intensified national polarization?
Is the rapid rise of “buy now, pay later” consumer credit creating a new form of household financial vulnerability?
Clermont, Florida Correspondent — These products spread small-dollar credit quickly with less underwriting visibility than a traditional loan. For some households they're a cash-flow tool. For others they become stacked obligations that are hard to track, and the stacking is the problem rather than any individual purchase. The consumer bureau published a study in September … Continue reading Is the rapid rise of “buy now, pay later” consumer credit creating a new form of household financial vulnerability?
Should central banks accept higher unemployment as the necessary cost of restoring price stability, and will this tightening cycle avoid a significant recession?
Owatonna, MN Correspondent — Yes to the first and probably not to the second, and I'd separate them because they're being conflated. Accepting some rise in unemployment is the price of not having entrenched inflation, and central banks that refuse it usually end up with both. On the recession question, the historical record is discouraging. … Continue reading Should central banks accept higher unemployment as the necessary cost of restoring price stability, and will this tightening cycle avoid a significant recession?
