Benchmark Blog

"If the human species ends before we can spread sustainably across several star systems, I think it will be because of complacency."

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), currently the regulatory body in charge of the skies, has made efforts to prevent clear safety concerns. Its most recent endeavors include pilot certification tests and drone registration requirements.

Today is Earth Day, reminding us to revisit the environmental progress we’ve made and work to confront the biggest environmental challenges still before us. One of the challenges that the Biden Administration has promised to tackle is conservation — committing to protect 30% of America’s land and water by 2030.

It’s tempting to meet our biggest environmental challenges with equally big solutions that often come from the top down and are elegantly crafted to fit every situation. But meeting our most daunting environmental challenges will require more tailored solutions that consider the unique circumstances of time and place.

America has a wealth of natural assets that deserve to be managed carefully using the best available data. In order for agencies to achieve that goal, they need to provide clearer guidance on what regulations apply to crowdsourced projects and embrace partnerships with private groups.

The debate over Free Speech on the Internet is a touchy issue, especially when we start talking about social media platforms and forums for democratic debate. Seemingly, everything boils down to a single question: Do you have a First Amendment right to social media, or not?

Acolytes claim that massive broadband expenditures will close the digital divide, but all of the plans are unabashedly focused on infrastructure. In reality, only a small part of the digital divide will actually be solved by making broadband infrastructure available everywhere.

Immigrants should be able to trust the police. On March 17, the Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP) sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas asking him to end partnerships between Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and local police departments.

It’s time to start managing for fire, not against it. While a global pandemic may have overshadowed them, wildfires across the U.S. reached record levels in 2020. Nationally, 47,000+ fires burned over eight million acres, creating the third-largest burn area in the last decade.

Productivity gains came at a premium to personal well-being. In the year since many of us were pushed into remote work arrangements article after article have popped up to declare that remote work and flexible work arrangements are the “future of work.”

Reform that clarifies immigration processes will meet the needs of U.S. businesses and reduce illegal immigration.

One weird trick that unlocks unreasonably effective procurement.

How public lands can help fund conservation and provide renewable energy.

With the Facebook Oversight Board still in its infancy, the Board’s cases and its decisions could be seen by some as inconsequential. But contrary to this belief, the Board’s move to provide a decision on the Trump deplatforming case poses an existential risk of eliminating the Board’s “independence” and credibility.

Four million Texans lost power last week as the Lone Star state became as cold as Alaska. The abnormally-low temperatures brought the state to a halt. State authorities advised nearly 13 million Texans to boil their water to ensure it was safe to drink. People huddled in furniture stores and ran cars to stay warm. Texas’s crisis is the […]

There is a bipartisan push to make high-speed broadband a key component of an infrastructure bill. President Biden promised to support cities and towns wanting to build broadband networks during his campaign, saying it “will encourage competition among providers, to increase speeds and decrease prices in urban, suburban, and rural areas.” Ultimately, Biden concludes, “high-speed internet access […]

This post is part one of a series that explores the current Big Tech antitrust cases. The case against Google filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) finds its roots in a common theory about platforms. As the complaint summarizes, Most general search engines do not charge a cash price to consumers. At least one, […]

The US should live up to its promise to take in the "tired, poor, and huddled masses yearning to breathe free" by ensuring refugees have a place here.

"Regardless, if you think 2021 got off to a rocky start, rest assured, the future of tech and innovation is bound to bring some brightness into our lives."

We need productivity improvements in the sectors that disproportionately affect the poor, how do we do it? Here are a few ways.

Next week President-elect Joe Biden will be sworn in as the 46th president of the United States. Biden and his team plan to take bold action to address climate change and other environmental challenges. Those plans include stricter limits on pollution, federal incentives for clean energy, and higher fuel economy standards. He’s also discussed a commitment to […]

The 30 by 30 initiative provides a feasible step toward preserving nature and combating climate change that has the potential to attract bipartisan support.

Imagine you are born outside of the United States. You work hard, get an education, and work in a well-paying job. After 10 years of experience, you decide you want to move to the United States. You would like to keep working in the same field you’ve been in for years, but you are not […]

That fear of concentrated economic power is the beating heart of antitrust law in the U.S., and it’s deeply felt on both sides of the aisle.

Machine learning has unlocked one of the biggest scientific breakthroughs of this century. Learn more on the CGO Benchmark.

Last week, BioNTech and Pfizer announced that their COVID-19 vaccine had shown efficacy in human trials, and this Monday, Moderna did the same. No one was sure this point would ever be reached. Both groups have submitted applications to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for emergency approval, paving the way for the vaccines to be distributed beginning […]

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has now filed its long-awaited case against Google, taking aim at the company for its “anticompetitive tactics to maintain and extend its monopolies in the markets for general search services, search advertising, and general search text advertising.” The primary focus of this case is narrower than expected, alleging that Google “entered into […]

Give geothermal the same permitting concessions as oil and gas on public lands It’s hard to overstate the importance of the shale revolution. Unconventional oil and gas wells have made the United States a net energy exporter for the first time since the 1950s. The revolution has been a rare bright spot in U.S. economic […]

The concerns about immigration’s effect on culture are important. Yet far from endangering or erasing American culture, immigrants enrich that culture.

Alternatives are better for public health and taxpayers For most, COVID-19’s emergence has meant some level of distancing from friends and families. Yet for immigrants detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), social distancing to prevent the spread of COVID-19 has been difficult. Immigrant detention centers across the country have been hotspots for COVID-19. ICE […]