Month: June 2026

Seven 2023-2025 Books That Suggest Cutting Regulations

In my “Innovative Entrepreneurs Replace Despair with Hope” paper, I claim to have identified seven books (in addition to the Klein and Thompson book) published from 2023-2025 “that either explicitly advocate, or implicitly imply, that regulations should be cut back.” In revising my paper for possible publication, I need to cut about 5,000 words due to the journal’s article word-limit, so I wrote that I would post the list of seven books here on my blog.

Here is that list (including the Klein and Thompson book).

Caplan, Bryan, and Ady Branzei. 2024. Build, Baby, Build: The Science and Ethics of Housing Regulation. Washington, DC: Cato Institute.

Dunkelman, Marc J. 2025. Why Nothing Works: Who Killed Progress―and How to Bring It Back. New York: PublicAffairs.

Hamel, Gary, and Michele Zanini. 2025. Humanocracy: Creating Organizations as Amazing as the People Inside Them. Revised & Updated ed: Harvard Business School Press.

Howard, Philip K. 2024. Everyday Freedom: Designing the Framework for a Flourishing Society. Garden City, NY: Rodin Books.

Howard, Philip K. 2025. Saving Can-Do: How to Revive the Spirit of America. Garden City, NY: Rodin Books.

Klein, Ezra, and Derek Thompson. 2025. Abundance. New York: Avid Reader Press.

Lam, Barry. 2025. Fewer Rules, Better People: The Case for Discretion. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.

Potter, Brian. 2025. The Origins of Efficiency. South San Francisco, CA: Stripe Press.

An earlier draft of my “Innovative Entrepreneurs Replace Despair with Hope” paper can be found at:

Diamond, Arthur M., Innovative Entrepreneurs Replace Despair with Hope (March 13, 2026). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=6412238 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.6412238

Entrepreneurial Innovation Celebrated on Good Morning America!

Sunday morning, June 6, I was shocked to be impressed by a replay of a June 3 report on ABC’s Good Morning America, celebrating entrepreneurial perseverance and optimism. It appears that electric planes will receive regulatory approval to start operations in early fall. Maybe Trump’s deregulation push is allowing faster innovation; innovation that is starting to payoff?

The GMA report is:

“On board the 1st electric plane” https://goodmorningamerica.com/video/133545986 via @GMA

Chicago City Council Ends Increases in Restaurant Worker Minimum Wage

The members of the Chicago city council Democrat “machine” might have ended their support for minimum wage increases because they had enrolled en masse in price theory classes at the University of Chicago. But they did not–they likely still are not able to distinguish a supply curve from a demand curve. But apparently a sufficient number of them are able to open their eyes and admit their mistake when their constituents suffer the negative job consequences of an increasing minimum wage.

(p. A15) Chicago’s distressed dining scene—recently described as “on the brink of collapse”—was bolstered by good news last week, as the City Council voted to halt future increases in the minimum wage for servers and bartenders.

. . .

In the first year after the mayor’s minimum wage hike, new restaurant and tavern licenses—a key indicator of industry health—dropped by more than 8%. The Illinois Restaurant Association reported that nearly 500 restaurants closed in the first half of 2025, and 70% of the restaurants that responded to the association’s poll reported cutting staff or reducing employee hours since the wage hike took effect.

. . . Alderwoman Samantha Nugent, who introduced a proposal to stop further increases in the wage, said her constituents were suffering from the mayor’s good intentions: “I’ve had several restaurants close down,” she said. “I’ve heard from servers, when the tip credit changed in Chicago, their hours were cut.”

For the full commentary, see:

Michael Saltsman. “Chicago’s Minimum-Wage Retreat.” The Wall Street Journal (Mon., March 23, 2026): A15.

(Note: ellipses added.)

(Note: the online version of the commentary has the date March 22, 2026, and has the same title as the print title.)