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Trailer: Why We Can't Have Nice Things
Trade crossed with politics equals protectionism. That's the formula for Why We Can't Have Nice Things, a new limited-run podcast series from Reason launching on August 3. Join host Eric Boehm over...
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Why We Can't Have Nice Things: The Great Baby Formula Shortage of 2022
"When you walk into the store and there you don't see that packaging…you start to panic," says Kenzie Jaicomo, a new mom whose child was just a few months old when a sudden shortage of baby formula...
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Why We Can't Have Nice Things: The Ghosts of Protectionism Past
It's now been nearly 100 years since Congress overhauled the United States' general tariff system—a system that is by now "quite antiquated and designed for a different time and a different economy,"...
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Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Jones Act Traffic Jam
From his second-floor office overlooking the harbor in Norwalk, Connecticut, Bob Kunkel can see Long Island looming over the horizon to the south. It's only about 10 miles away, straight across the...
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Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Bootleggers, Baptists, and Ballots
Arkansas has some of the strangest liquor laws in the country—or at least the most politically contentious. Unlike a lot of other places, the state allows counties to hold referendums to decide...
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Why We Can't Have Nice Things: The 'Chicken Tax' That Makes Pickup Trucks...
The brief trade war between the U.S. and Europe in the early 1960s might seem hardly worth remembering—and it pales in comparison to the political and cultural upheaval that defined that decade. But...
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Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Can You Afford Tariffs on Tin Cans?
You probably don't think much about tin cans, even when you're buying one. It's the product inside the can—soup, beans, maybe hairspray or sunscreen—that seems to matter. But the humble tin can is...
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Trailer: Why We Can't Have Nice Things Season 2
What's wrong with American health care? That's the question that drives the new season of Why We Can't Have Nice Things, the Reason limited-run podcast series. Over the past few months, host Eric...
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Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Can Mark Cuban Make Prescriptions Affordable...
Why are prescription drugs so expensive in the United States? "Drug prices in this country are so high because there is zero transparency in the system, and when there's zero transparency in a market,...
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Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Who Decides What Health Care Is 'Needed'?
In a functioning market, entrepreneurs feel encouraged to bring new products and services to consumers—and get rewarded when those efforts succeed. Too often, that's not how it works in health care....
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Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Permission Slips for Innovation
Dr. Jay Singleton remembers the moment when he realized that Certificate of Need laws were serious business. "He stood up and stared at me and hit his hands on the table," Singleton recalls. "And he...
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Why We Can't Have Nice Things: The Case of the 17,000 Missing Kidneys
There are more than 100,000 Americans on the waiting lists to receive an organ transplant, and many of them will die without ever getting one. At least some of those lives would be saved if the...
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Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Dial 'T' for Terrible Telehealth Laws
When Mike Abell's young son was diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer, a phone call proved to be a vital lifeline. Today, that phone call might be illegal—thanks to some strict limitations that...
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Why We Can't Have Nice Things: The War on Drugs
In many cases, the government's attempts at regulating health care markets are complex, convoluted operations—and seeing the consequences of those policies can be tricky. Other times, however, it is...
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