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These are the best new articles, videos, podcasts, and other resources we have found to teach public choice and government failure. They bring economics to life by showing students real-life examples and current events.
 

News Articles

(Listed from most recent to oldest)

Why a century-old beach building program could last 'forever' | E&E News by POLITICO (July 30, 2024)
The Army Corp of Engineers has been replenishing beaches for decades.  The total ongoing costs of such projects are unclear, but the incentives are--rebuilds benefit the immediate coastal communities, the politicians who support the rebuilds, and the cost is spread across American taxpayers.

Rich nations are earning billions from a pledge to help fix climate | Reuters (May 22, 2024)
Climate change policies aren't free from self-interested politicians.

How Panera Bread ducked California’s new $20 minimum wage law | The Mercury News (Feb. 28, 2024)
A carveout to California's new $20 minimum wage for fast food restaurants exempting chains that bake and sell bread as a separate menu item (not including bagels or croissants) sounds suspiciously like rent-seeking.

Why a new ‘tomato tax’ is rotten to the core | Food Dive (Feb. 5, 2024)
The Florida Tomato Exchange wants Congress to reimpose a 21% tariff on imported tomatoes, to the benefit of Florida tomato growers. Tomato prices for consumers could increase as much as 52% as a result. Talk about concentrated benefits and dispersed costs.

Myopic Voters and Natural Disaster Policy | Marginal Revolution (Feb. 18, 2021)
Voters reward politicians for spending on a disaster but not for spending money to prevent a disaster.

Age-weighted voting | Marginal Revolution (July 24, 2019)
In an attempt to get the true median voter theorem, should we move to age-weighted voting? Pairs well with discussing quadratic voting.
 

Videos

The Theory of the Median Voter | MRU
Does this classic theory hold today? Probably, but sometimes it sure doesn’t seem that way.

The Agenda Setter | MRU
Another important model in a democratic society, when there are multi-dimensional preferences rather than uni-dimensional preferences.

Podcasts

Acemoglu on Why Nations Fail | EconTalk 
“Why Nations Fail”? Dr. Acemoglu discusses major ideas from his book with the same title. What may explain differences in the economic success between nations and over time?

Here’s why all of your projects are always late - and what to do about it | Freakonomics 
Lots of interesting stuff to unpack here, including forays into behavioral economics, but I’ve included it here because of the rather lengthy disquisition on the massive delays of major government infrastructure projects. Government contractors, and their interactions with government agencies, are not usually considered part of the public choice pantheon, but perhaps they should be included?
 

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