Scholar Commentary

Executive Director, Christopher Koopman, joins Newsmax TV’s Liquid Lunch, hosted by John Tabacco, to discuss the future of social media and internet regulations.

Christopher Koopman discusses free speech and what big tech industries are doing on The Lars Larson Show.

Aaron Hedlund discusses the disparate impact rule under the Fair Housing Act on Marketplace.

Devils Tower, known to Native Americans as Bear Lodge, is an 870-foot butte composed of igneous rock. Long before it featured on Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the Wyoming landmark was the first national monument declared by President Teddy Roosevelt on Sept. 24

The environmental record for biofuels is bleak, but upcoming regulatory reviews offer a chance to change course. CGO Graduate Research Fellow Arthur Wardle gives a few recommendations for policymakers on Renewable Fuel Standards in the Fall 2019 edition

Every year, millions of Americans file into courthouses for jury duty. They form a critical constitutional pillar of the criminal justice system — an unbiased trial by a jury of one’s peers. As they await their assignments, many potential jurors also must decide

Can we protect endangered and threatened species by relying more on private property owners? Recent changes to the Endangered Species Act are designed to incentivize private landowners in the conservation process. CGO’s Megan Hansen recently was a guest on

For 19 years, Karla Morales Villalobos has had a typical American life, going to school, working and having fun on the weekend. But now, the 22-year-old college student is fighting to keep her family together in federal court. As a 3-year-old, she was “brought here by

Recently, the Department of the Interior announced changes to how it will enforce the Endangered Species Act. In response, multiple states have threatened to sue and a New York Times’ piece described the changes as “significantly weakening the nation’s bedrock

Latinos are quickly becoming a large portion of the American electorate, and issues that are important to them will be a big part of 2020 election strategies. A major element of that outreach strategy will be how candidates handle immigration. But an unlikely

Traffic congestion is a growing problem in most cities. A new study by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute finds that in 2017, congestion cost Americans $166 billion, or more than $1,000 per commuter each year in wasted time and fuel. This represents nearly a 47

Staking a claim in the public debate over facial recognition software, presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has called for a ban on police use of the technology. While cities like San Francisco, Oakland, Calif., and Somerville, Mass. have already banned

Recently, Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) presented a plan to eliminate carbon emissions in the country by 2050. The bill would implement a national renewable energy standard, similar to renewable portfolio standards that currently exist in 35 states and the District of

One out of four people today requires a government license to earn an honest living. In 1950, that number was only one out of 20. Occupational licensing — regulations that require training and state-issued certification to practice certain trades — has seen massive

CGO Research Director Megan E. Hansen talked about her new policy paper, Executive Discretion and the Antiquities Act, and shared suggestions for how to improve public lands management on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal morning program.

If all you knew of America’s biggest tech companies was what emerges from the echo chambers and grandstanding that is Washington, D.C. political chatter, you’d likely have grave concerns about their collective future. Perhaps you are concerned. After all, if one thing

Megan E. Hansen, CGO Research Director, discusses what can be done to balance national land and public need. See original posting from The Lars Larson Show.

In their first meeting late last month, a group of 16 legislators, tax attorneys, and members of the governor’s office formally began studying Utah’s tax system to make recommendations to Utah’s legislature that will both ensure stable sources of revenue for the state

Christopher Koopman, Executive Director, talks with American Radio Journal’s Lowman Henry about the impact on consumers of anti-trust actions against big tech firms. See original posting from American Radio Journal.

Photo: Francisco Kjolseth/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP For generations, Bruce Adams and his family have lived off the land by grazing cattle in southeastern Utah. When President Obama designated 1.35 million acres as Bears Ears National Monument

A recent study released by the American Public Power Association (APPA) concludes that, “between 1997 and 2018, increases in retail electric prices in states with deregulated electric markets and regulated states were about the same, though with a slightly higher

CGO Research Manager Brian Isom was a guest on the Next Round podcast of the Pacific Research Institute. He discusses why the Paradise and Napa Valley fires were so destructive, why devastating wildfires are becoming much more common in the West, the political

On June 9, 2019, Dr. Robert Krol of California State University, was a guest on Economics Detective Radio to discuss the policy paper he wrote for The Center for Growth and Opportunity at Utah State University titled Can we Build our way out of Urban Traffic

Protecting national parks is vital. Ensuring park managers have the ability to respond to market signals is equally vital. CGO Research Director Megan Hansen and Undergraduate Research Fellow Rebekah Yeagley examine how proposals to eliminate entry fees will affect

Today marks 49 years since Earth Day was first established by Senator Gaylord Nelson (D-WI). Since then, the United States has made great strides towards improving the nation’s collective impact on the environment. Air pollution has fallen drastically. Efforts to clean

This article was originally posted on the Medium publication The Benchmark In what is being called “the first known example of a government intentionally using artificial intelligence for racial profiling,” China is using facial recognition technology and its

Last month, the House failed to override President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency at the border. This vote is just one flash point in an ongoing debate about immigration policy, and rightly so. A large and growing body of research shows that building a

On March 12, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a new rule to allow the year-round sale of E15 fuel, a gasoline mixed with biofuel produced from corn. The ethanol industry trumpeted these changes as a boon to the environment, arguing that gasoline with

Sony recently re-released an updated version of aibo, the robotic dog it sold from 1999 to 2006. The “canine” is built and designed for companionship, using artificial intelligence to remember different people. It also recognizes how they react to its behavior

In the race to 5G, China is winning. The United States was slow out of the gate and is now playing catch up. The question at this point is not so much when we will get there but whether or not we will beat China. More importantly, it’s about what kind of economic