Political Economy
Lobbying, regulatory capture, and electoral access. How policy gets shaped by money, and what it costs everyone else.
Claims in this domain
80
Individual
Structural
Citizens United systematically increased corporate political influence
Super PAC spending grew from near zero in 2008 to over $3.4 billion in the 2020 cycle. Gilens and Page (2014) found that median-voter preferences have near-zero independent effect …
78
78
Individual
Structural
Corporate tax avoidance shifts the burden from capital to workers
Corporate tax revenue as a share of US GDP has fallen from 6% in the 1950s to under 1.5% today, while payroll taxes — borne almost entirely by workers — have nearly tripled as a …
87
78
Individual
Structural
Free markets naturally correct excessive inequality over time
Capital returns have exceeded economic growth rates in every measured period since industrialization, concentrating wealth upward. The top 1% income share in the US rose from 10% …
11
82
Individual
Structural
Gerrymandering structurally suppresses minority and partisan representation
In the 2012 US House elections, Republicans won 54% of seats on 48% of votes — a 6-point seat-share bonus produced by systematic district engineering. Princeton Electoral …
92
42
Individual
Structural
Government spending crowds out private investment
Crowding out is a real phenomenon under specific conditions — high capacity utilization, tight credit markets, closed economies — but those conditions did not hold during the major …
38
55
Individual
Structural
Property rights are natural and pre-political, not created by government
Property rights depend on legal infrastructure to exist at all — the 'pre-political' framing collapses under examination, but the normative intuition that acquisition can generate …
26
76
Individual
Structural
Regulations kill jobs and economic growth
Regulations do impose real compliance costs — this part of the claim is accurate. The evidence does not support the broader claim that regulations reduce employment or overall …
21
78
Individual
Structural
Regulatory capture structurally undermines market competition
Agencies from the FCC to the SEC consistently adopt the policy preferences of regulated industries, and the revolving door, notice-and-comment asymmetry, and post-Chevron deference …
79
35
Individual
Structural
Small businesses are the primary engine of job creation
The celebrated statistic is real but misleading. Small firms do account for a large share of gross job creation — but also a large share of gross job destruction. Net job creation …
30
85
Individual
Structural
Tax cuts pay for themselves through economic growth
No major US tax cut has produced revenue neutrality, let alone revenue gain. The CBO scored the 2017 TCJA as adding $1.5 trillion to the deficit over ten years; the 2012 Kansas …
9
82
Individual
Structural
The carried interest loophole is a structural subsidy for wealthy fund managers
Carried interest is labor compensation taxed as capital gains — a structural tax preference worth billions annually to the highest-earning individuals in the US economy.
89
38
Individual
Structural
The national deficit is the greatest threat to future generations
The household analogy is economically illiterate, but deficit composition and long-run interest dynamics are genuinely contested.
23
76
Individual
Structural
The revolving door between regulators and industry compromises public interest regulation
Measurable reductions in enforcement intensity, documented anticipatory deference, and cross-national comparisons with stronger cooling-off rules all point to a structural effect …
80
80
Individual
Structural
Unions harm the economy and workers
Union membership correlates with higher wages, lower inequality, and stronger middle-class income share — not just for union members but for non-union workers in the same …
12