Civitas Outlook
Topic
Economic Dynamism
Published on
June 19, 2025
Contributors
Richard Epstein

Richard Epstein: Law and Economics of Public Sector Unions

This video podcast was originally published by the Commonwealth Foundation.

Renowned legal scholar Richard A. Epstein joins David Osborne to dissect the legal foundations and economic consequences of public sector unionization. From the early days of private labor unions to the rise of government unions, Epstein explains how collective bargaining has evolved—and why public sector collective bargaining, in his view, breach the public trust. They explore everything from the antitrust roots of union restrictions to Roosevelt’s and Kennedy’s diverging views on public unions, the fallout of the Janus decision, and why many reforms fall short. If you care about the future of labor policy, this episode is a must-listen.

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Can the U.S. Defense Industrial Base Meet Today’s Challenges?

Can the U.S. Defense Industrial Base Meet Today’s Challenges?

May 13, 2025
1:35:10
Virginia Postrel and Adam Thierer on Big Trends and Big Ideas in Dynamism

Virginia Postrel and Adam Thierer on Big Trends and Big Ideas in Dynamism

Apr 29, 2025
1:09:22
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More on

Economic Dynamism

Defending Technological Dynamism & the Freedom to Innovate in the Age of AI

Human flourishing, economic growth, and geopolitical resilience requires innovation—especially in artificial intelligence.

Adam Thierer
Economic Dynamism
Jun 6, 2025
Partisan Trust in the Federal Reserve

This paper examines partisanship in public perceptions of the Federal Reserve.

Carola Binder, Cody Couture, Abhiprerna Smit
Economic Dynamism
Apr 22, 2025
The American Dream Is Not a Coin Flip, and Wages Have Not Stagnated

This paper challenges the prevailing narrative that stagnant wages are causing the American dream to fade. It contrasts subjective public opinion with revised objective intergenerational mobility measures.

Scott Winship
Economic Dynamism
Mar 6, 2025
Political Economy and the Rise of Commercial Humanism

Western attitudes toward commerce have transformed from early moral condemnation to a modern appreciation that sees trade as socially beneficial.

Erik Matson
Economic Dynamism
Feb 28, 2025
It’s Not Easy, but We Can All Learn to Think like Adam Smith

To truly understand what a dynamic economy requires, we would do well to recover the 18th-century sensibility that understood dynamism as a social and cultural phenomenon as much as an economic one.

Ryan Streeter
Economic Dynamism
Jun 18, 2025
Locked Out of the Dream: Regulation Making Homes Unaffordable Around the World

The first in a two-part series on the global housing crisis.

Joel Kotkin
Economic Dynamism
Jun 5, 2025
A Most Favored National Policy for Pharma Drugs Makes Sense

"Most favored nation" pricing can help make America's pharmaceutical marketplace more competitive.

Dirk Mateer
Economic Dynamism
May 19, 2025
The High Cost of California’s Green Energy Policies

California can only prosper if it can develop affordable, reliable energy from all sources, including the state’s fossil fuel supplies.

Joel Kotkin
Economic Dynamism
May 7, 2025
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Can the U.S. Defense Industrial Base Meet Today’s Challenges?

Economic Dynamism
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Economic Dynamism
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Joel Mokyr on American Dynamism vs. Techno-pessimism

Economic Dynamism
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Arthur Herman on Mobility, Markets, and Natural Law

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Dignity and Dynamism: The Future of Conservative Technology Policy

Economic Dynamism
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American Aspiration – a Blueprint

We need to refocus on what prosperity produces and requires at the level of ordinary, individual people trying to make their way to that better version of themselves that only they can achieve. 

Ryan Streeter
Economic Dynamism
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Today’s Upside-Down Preference for Wind over Natural Gas

Trump is right to push for his safe pipeline; Hochul should abandon her dangerous wind farms.

Richard Epstein
Economic Dynamism
Jun 19, 2025
The Worst Thing about Trump’s Approach to Trade

The precedents set by President Trump will create serious problems for future interactions between the business sector and the state.

Paul Mueller
Economic Dynamism
Jun 18, 2025
Looking West: Trade and America’s Future in the Asia-Pacific

In what world does it make sense for the United States to allow Beijing to slowly turn the Asia-Pacific rim into a Chinese-dominated economic lake from which America is excluded?

Samuel Gregg
Economic Dynamism
Jun 18, 2025
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