Spending is projected to remain well above long term average rates of government spending, both now and into the future.

With record spending and deficits come calls for reform. Entrenched political problems, however, make spending reform easier said than done. Independent commissions are often suggested as a way to tackle intractable political problems, but not all congressionally created commissions are the same. The Base Realignment and Closing (BRAC) commissions of the late ’80s and early ’90s were remarkably successful because of their peculiar structures, not simply because they were commissions.

Policymakers continue to seek viable alternatives to resolve large insolvent financial institutions. A better option is speed bankruptcy: a process of converting some long-term debt into equity, a more palatable option than using taxpayer funds to recapitalize large banks.

This paper begins with Elinor Ostrom's work on regulating the commons and pushes the argument further, asking whether the foundation of an effective system of regulation must be found first and foremost in the rules of self-regulation that communities adopt and their citizens abide by, rather than in well-designed regulatory statutes by efficiency experts.

Mercatus Center Senior Research Fellow Veronique de Rugy suggests that in order for America’s fiscal issues to be seriously addressed, broader measures than those discussed in the president's State of the Union address will be required.

Examining the interplay between federal funding and state charter schools, focusing on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and how competition in education could reform financing and outcomes.