Articles
Is Workers’ Compensation Keeping Pace?
Use the proper benchmark to explore questions of what’s fair.
November 10, 2026
It’s a festive year-end session in the faculty lounge, as Professors Richard Epstein and John Yoo dissect the latest drama before the Supreme Court. Is Roe v. Wade headed for annihilation? Is California’s attempt to use the logic of the Texas abortion law to go after guns the beginning of 50-state chaos? And speaking of firearms, is SCOTUS about to upend restrictive gun control laws in blue states?
Then we leave the court behind for other legal controversies: why are lawsuits against opioid manufacturers failing around the country? Is the Biden Administration obligated to compensate immigrant families who were separated at the border? And, most important of all: exactly how many laws is Santa breaking every year? All that, plus Richard breaks down the economics of marriage, John reveals that he wants a Christmas gift from Vladimir Putin, and we get an after-action report on the professors’ joint trip to Italy.
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Essays
Limiting Federal Spending Growth to Balance the Budget
Many think that balancing the federal budget would require deep cuts in entitlement programs. This paper shows to the contrary that the budget can be balanced within 15 years through modest and sustained federal spending restraint and moderately higher economic growth. Key to this restraint is to limit the growth in the average future value of entitlement benefits per recipient to today’s level, after adjusting for inflation and rising healthcare costs.
November 10, 2026
Articles
Brazil Finances
Many correspondents have sent me views of Brazil’s fiscal situation. Some quotes follow. (Anonymous. On the one hand, credit where it is due. On the other hand, these are personal emails which I didn’t check for permission to forward, and I don’t want to out people for corresponding with me! I also didn’t check any numbers.)
November 7, 2026