The administration promised that every dollar of federal spending would produce more than a dollar of economic growth. Look at the data—it hasn’t worked out that way. By Robert J. Barro and Charles J. Redlick.

Lead with a cut in the payroll tax, and millions of jobs will follow. By Michael J. Boskin.

Some economists can’t see mankind for the math. The latest Nobel Prize went to two who focus on how humans actually behave. By David R. Henderson.

Comprehensive, low-deductible, low-copayment insurance isn’t the solution—it’s the problem. By John F. Cogan, R. Glenn Hubbard, and Daniel P. Kessler.

California’s politicians are famously addicted to division and status quo. Can’t this time be different? By John F. Cogan and Christopher Edley Jr.

Californians and New Yorkers, both clamoring for constitutional fixes, might want to take a lesson from each other’s mistakes. By Thad Kousser.

Why do the dictators rage? Because, thanks to oil, they can. By Victor Davis Hanson.

The war in Afghanistan, a primitive land of 28 million, now threatens Pakistan, a nuclear-armed nation of 180 million. The collapse of Pakistan would place in danger a third nation: ours. By Thomas H. Henriksen.

The Obama administration is acting—publicly, at least—as if Israeli settlements were the only obstacle to Mideast peace. It will never be that simple. By Peter Berkowitz.

Now that the U.S. freedom agenda has quietly been shelved, Arab lands can only reflect on what might have been. By Fouad Ajami.

Corporate taxes already drive U.S. companies offshore. The administration should think twice before making matters even worse. By Peter Robinson.

A decent education doesn’t merely confer good grades. It confers the ability to understand complex social issues—the health care battle, for instance. By Chester E. Finn Jr.

In accepting something short of perfection, we learn to accept our freedom. By Thomas Sowell.

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Markets may not be perfect, but do they still perform better than governments? And how. Martin Wolf interviews Hoover fellow Gary S. Becker.

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The doomsayers are back. Regardless of what they say, the United States remains first on any scale of power that matters—economic, military, diplomatic, or cultural. By Josef Joffe.