Blog

New data on ridesharing driver earnings

02.08.2024

How much do ride-sharing drivers earn? Lyft has just released a paper that sheds light on this important policy question. The paper estimates “earnings after expenses” for drivers on the Lyft platform, based on reasonable and straightforward accounting for additional driver costs such as fuel, maintenance, cleaning, and depreciation. The Lyft paper finds that the…

Trade Fact of the Week: U.S. Geological Survey: 33,000 tons of gold out there under the hills

02.07.2024

FACT: U.S. Geological Survey: 33,000 tons of gold out there under the hills. THE NUMBERS: Quantity of gold “above ground” worldwide –  2024: 212,582 tons* 2000: 144,000 tons? 1950:   70,000 tons? 1900:   30,000 tons? 1500:    ~5,000 – 15,000 tons? * World Gold Council estimate. WHAT THEY MEAN: Previewing the betrayals, the shattered dreams,…

Europe’s App Store Regulation Experiment

02.02.2024

The European Union is running a massive regulatory and economic experiment. In information technology, a key sector where the region is lagging, the EU has adopted several pieces of prescriptive legislation — including the Digital Markets Act (DMA) — designed to change the behavior of the most successful tech companies (none of which are European).…

PPI’s Trade Fact of the Week: WTO members will decide whether to preserve “duty-free cyberspace” by February 29.

01.31.2024

FACT: WTO members will decide whether to preserve “duty-free cyberspace” by February 29. THE NUMBERS: Internet users as a share of the worldwide population –  2024:      67% 2018:      49% 2012:      34% 1998*:       3% The WTO membership approved ‘duty-free cyberspace’ in May 1998. WHAT THEY MEAN: In PPI’s latest…

Challenges with the LNG Climate Test Pause

01.26.2024

Today, the White House announced a temporary pause on future Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) export terminal projects to include consideration of their climate impact. PPI is concerned that the pause announced today overstates and oversimplifies the serious climate, energy, and foreign policy considerations involved in assessing America’s stance on future LNG export expansion. Europe has…

To Stem the Scourge of Smoking, Follow the Science, Not the Dogma

01.25.2024

Today, tobacco addiction remains a global scourge, with its effects remaining particularly acute in Asia. To turn that tide, government officials will need to be able to parse science from dogma. They need to understand what works, and what doesn’t, to minimize the catastrophic health effects of smoking. So, how can well-intentioned policymakers distinguish wisdom…

PPI’s Trade Fact of the Week: Senegal is the U.S.’ fourth-largest source of wigs.

01.24.2024

FACT: Senegal is the U.S.’ fourth-largest source of wigs. THE NUMBERS: U.S. imports of wigs from Senegal –  2022: 23.5 million 2020: 19.2 million 2017: 0.1 million 2012: 0.2 million   WHAT THEY MEAN: A sad prediction by an eminent economist, about a decade ago – In The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing…

Uncompromising Activism: The New Threat to the Environment, Geopolitics and the Biden Administration

01.18.2024

Under pressure from green activists, the Biden administration is considering adopting a climate test in permits for new liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facilities. Coming out of the pandemic-driven supply shocks and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, American LNG exports were the largest of any single country in 2023 and served crucial roles in the U.S.…

PPI’s Trade Fact of the Week: 55 countries have ratified the WTO’s 2022 fishery subsidies agreement. They need 55 more by late February.

01.17.2024

FACT: 55 countries have ratified the WTO’s 2022 fishery subsidies agreement. They need 55 more by late February. THE NUMBERS: ‘Capture fisheries’ annual tonnage by country, 2021 – Country Total Ratified WTO Fisheries Agreement? World: 92.2 million tons — China 13.1 million tons Yes Indonesia 7.1 million tons Not yet Peru 6.6 million tons Yes Russia…

PPI’s Trade Fact of the Week: A quarter of Ohio’s manufacturing workers work for international businesses

01.10.2024

FACT: PPI’s Trade Fact of the Week: A quarter of Ohio’s manufacturing workers work for international businesses. THE NUMBERS: U.S. private-sector employment, 2021: 124.38 million … at foreign-owned businesses: 7.94 million … U.K.-owned: 1.22 million … German-owned: 0.92 million … Canadian-owned: 0.87 million … Japanese-owned: 0.96 million … all other countries: 3.97 million   WHAT…

Looking Forward: Pacific Strategy and U.S. Relations with Vietnam and Thailand

01.04.2024

Thoughts and Conclusions After Consultations in Hanoi and Bangkok, December 2023 Note: A five-person PPI staff group including Marshall and Gresser recently returned from a two-week visit to these two countries, with extensive consultations in Hanoi and Bangkok.  The following lays out some of the information and conclusions the group drew from these visits. Vietnam…

Some Observations on Proposed Capital Requirements

01.04.2024

Strong capital requirements help protect taxpayers and prevent financial crises. As the savings and loan industry bailout of 1989 and the 2008 financial crisis underscore, when banks take on too much risk with too little capital, workers, small businesses, and American taxpayers pay the price. PPI believes strong, tangible capital requirements for depository institutions are…