The hottest Public Policy Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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"Defund the Police" Failed Because We Have No History

Freddie deBoer • 7116 implied HN points • 09 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Public Policy
  1. The idea that abolishing the police was the historic default of left politics is wrong. Treating it as settled history made the debate confused and ahistorical.
  2. The movement grew largely through online networks that produced many loose, ungrounded supporters who lacked political theory and organizing skills. That made it hard to form strategy, resolve disagreements, or sustain pressure.
  3. Nobody agreed on what “defund the police” actually meant, from modest budget reallocation to full abolition, and there were no concrete plans or strategic discipline. Without clear, actionable goals the 2020 energy couldn’t be translated into durable political change.

My Day in the Socialist Snow Corps

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 1043 implied HN points • 25 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Public Policy
  1. The city recruited emergency snow shovelers at up to $30 an hour, attracting people who wanted both pay and a chance to help during the blizzard.
  2. The program was pitched as a collective, big-government effort but suffered from poor communication, confusing requirements, and bureaucratic disorganization.
  3. Participants found the experience mixed: it felt heartwarming to pitch in, yet the messy implementation and lack of clear information made the day frustrating.

Death in One Day: Inside Canada’s Assisted-Suicide Machine

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 505 implied HN points • 05 Mar 26
🏥 Health Politics Public Policy
  1. Assisted suicide has become a routine part of healthcare, with well-established referral networks and forms to fill out.
  2. About one out of every 20 deaths in Canada is due to the government-run MAID program, which has resulted in nearly 110,000 deaths overall.
  3. The program can end lives very quickly — in Ontario in 2023 many people died the same day or the next day after requesting MAID — and that speed raises ethical worries that hastening death can become the path of least resistance.

A pedagogical tax

Global Inequality and More 3.0 • 1328 implied HN points • 11 Feb 26
💰 Finance Public Policy
  1. A tougher Zucman-style tax on the ultra-rich would mainly serve as a moral, pedagogical signal rather than a big revenue source, showing society objects to extreme greed and vanity.
  2. Greed (pleonexia) is driven by a need for social validation, so people keep accumulating and displaying wealth with no natural limit, which makes status-driven consumption endless and socially harmful.
  3. A social-credit-style system for billionaires could tie tax rates to behavior, rewarding decent conduct and raising taxes for abusive or unethical actions to create real accountability and reduce elite impunity.

Stanford Starts to Make Ammends: Lessons from the Pandemic

COVID Reason • 535 implied HN points • 14 Oct 24
🚌 Education Public Policy
  1. Open dialogue is key to understanding different viewpoints and creating solutions. It's important to have respectful conversations, especially when opinions differ.
  2. Universities should promote healthy discussions and critical thinking. They play a big role in preparing future leaders to engage with tough topics.
  3. Recognizing past mistakes can lead to better decisions in the future. Learning from errors is essential for growth in both education and public policy.
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Why We All Care About Inequality (But Are Loath to Admit It)

Global Inequality and More 3.0 • 1479 implied HN points • 07 Feb 26
🌍 World Politics Public Policy
  1. People care about inequality because other people’s incomes affect their own wellbeing through social comparison, a sense of justice, and self-worth, not just because of how much they can buy.
  2. Focusing only on poverty while ignoring inequality is inconsistent, since concern for the poorest still relies on judgments about how income is distributed and who counts as a relevant peer.
  3. Opposition to studying or criticizing inequality often protects the status quo, and people’s reactions to inequality reflect motives like fairness or disgust as well as envy.

Luxury Beliefs are Real

Yascha Mounk • 5855 implied HN points • 25 Jul 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Public Policy
  1. Luxury beliefs are ideas that rich people can support because they don't face the negative effects, while poorer people may suffer from those very beliefs. It's like having opinions that sound good but aren't thought through.
  2. These beliefs have become popular as rich people can't show off their status with expensive things anymore, so they use opinions instead. But not all people with luxury beliefs are trying to signal status; some might just be naive.
  3. The idea of luxury beliefs applies across different groups, not just to one side of the political spectrum. Many beliefs held by both the rich left and right can have serious consequences for people who actually experience those issues.

George Floyd, Renee Good, and Brainworms Versus Reality

Richard Hanania's Newsletter • 5656 implied HN points • 12 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Public Policy
  1. Mass deportation and aggressive ICE raids would wreck large parts of the economy and often target people who are working and have no criminal convictions, so authorities should use discretion instead of sweeping enforcement.
  2. The idea that immigrants are causing a crime wave is false. Cities show strong multiracial resistance to raids, which demonstrates that multicultural communities can hold together.
  3. Many aggressive immigration policies are driven more by racial or demographic goals than by public safety, and that agenda creates a continuous conflict between federal agents and the communities they target, which people who value an inclusive country must oppose.

Reform has a point (about this one, very specific thing)

Odds and Ends of History • 201 implied HN points • 16 Mar 26
🎙 Podcasts Public Policy
  1. Changing how political control works in the Civil Service could have real benefits and is worth a calm, open debate instead of instant rejection.
  2. A local playground being unusable for kids for two years shows how everyday public services can get stuck and cause real frustration for communities.
  3. Text and data mining sits at the heart of the ongoing AI vs copyright debate, and we need clear rules that balance innovation with protecting creators' rights.

The New York Times Attempts to Bully Elderly People Into the Disability-as-an-Identity Worldview

Freddie deBoer • 10426 implied HN points • 03 Dec 25
🎭️ Culture Public Policy
  1. Many older people prefer to treat impairments as problems to manage rather than as a central identity, and they value preserving dignity and continuity of self.
  2. Framing disability primarily as an identity or political category can pressure people to adopt labels, reward pathology, and shift attention away from treatment, recovery, and practical needs.
  3. Society should focus on real supports — medical care, prevention, accessible services, and accommodations — instead of urging people to embrace disability as a defining identity for community or political reasons.

Top Links 1024 Slashing government. Four-day Dutch. Epstein on Dalio. Keynes on sex questions.

Chartbook • 515 implied HN points • 25 Feb 26
🌍 World Politics Public Policy
  1. The newsletter highlights arguments for shrinking government, focusing on debates over cutting public spending and reducing state power.
  2. It spotlights work-time reform, especially interest in a Dutch four-day workweek and its implications for productivity and living standards.
  3. It includes provocative biographical and intellectual pieces linking controversial figures and ideas, for example material involving Epstein and Dalio and writings about Keynes’s personal views.

Does watching gun sports increase gun sales?

Random Acts of Medicine • 99 implied HN points • 25 Oct 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Public Policy
  1. Watching gun sports at events like the Olympics might lead some people to try shooting sports, but it doesn't seem to cause a big overall increase in gun sales.
  2. Gun sales usually go up during certain seasons, like hunting seasons or holidays, and they've also spiked after events that cause fear, like elections or mass shootings.
  3. Even if there were an increase in sales due to the Olympics, it would be hard to tell if it was because of the games or other events happening at the same time, like presidential elections.

Disney World has more autonomy than any US city

The Novelleist • 260 implied HN points • 26 Feb 26
🪑 Design Public Policy
  1. EPCOT was meant to be a real, master-planned city with affordable homes, monorail commutes, lots of green space, and pedestrian-first design—not just another theme park.
  2. Disney treated Disneyland as a live lab for advanced transit, robotics, crowd flows, and pristine urban design that planners and transit agencies studied and admired.
  3. By buying vast contiguous land and creating the Reedy Creek Improvement District, Disney gained near-sovereign powers to run roads, utilities, public safety, transit, waste, and even issue bonds—more autonomy than most U.S. cities.

Eric Adams Is in Deep Sh*t

Glenn Loury • 535 implied HN points • 10 Oct 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Public Policy
  1. Eric Adams is facing serious legal trouble, being the first sitting New York City mayor to be charged with a federal crime. This makes his situation quite unprecedented.
  2. He's attempting to use race as a defense strategy, but many are skeptical that will be effective. There seems to be a general belief that this approach won't help his case.
  3. Adams's time in office is viewed as lacking by many New Yorkers. There's a feeling that he might only serve one term due to his performance.

🚀 FP! Week In Review, Briefly #22

Faster, Please! • 913 implied HN points • 21 Feb 26
🕹 Technology Public Policy
  1. AI appears to be hitting a real productivity inflection, driving corporate growth and huge investments, but it’s also causing outages, disruption fears, and political backlash.
  2. Enhanced geothermal — so-called hot rock — could become a major, always-on clean power source if government-funded R&D, demonstrations, and permitting reforms reduce early drilling risk.
  3. American science and tech face worrying headwinds — brain drain, the squeezing out of foreign researchers, and high-profile safety mishaps — that could blunt future progress if not addressed.

The Georgia Ballot

Erick Erickson's Confessions of a Political Junkie • 239 implied HN points • 17 Oct 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Public Policy
  1. Voting yes on the constitutional amendment helps protect homeowners from having their property values tied to inflation. This means more consistent property taxes for everyone.
  2. Creating a statewide tax court will provide independent, expert help on tax issues, making the tax process fairer and more efficient.
  3. Raising the personal property tax exemption from $7,500 to $20,000 can provide financial relief to property owners. It's a good move for many families.

Nipah in India, measles is the first building block to fall, flu increasing again, and US out but CA in on WHO

Your Local Epidemiologist • 1697 implied HN points • 03 Feb 26
🏥 Health Politics Public Policy
  1. Measles protection is breaking down as falling vaccination and rising misinformation have already cost several countries (and possibly soon the U.S.) their elimination status, fueling large outbreaks that mostly affect unvaccinated people.
  2. The Nipah outbreak in India is serious but currently small and controlled; the virus doesn’t spread easily between people, lives mainly in bats, and poses a very low risk of becoming a global pandemic.
  3. The U.S. has left the WHO, which reduces U.S. influence and support for global outbreak response, while states like California are linking into WHO networks to try to stay informed and protect their populations.

The Exploitation of Legal Delay

David Friedman’s Substack • 233 implied HN points • 08 Mar 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Public Policy
  1. Lawmakers can exploit delays in the court system by passing laws they expect to lose and getting some effect before the laws are struck down, sometimes repeating variants to prolong enforcement.
  2. One response is to neutralize harms after a law is overturned — refund fines, compensate those harmed, and reimburse legal costs — but invisible harms and imperfect refunds mean compensation will often be incomplete.
  3. Another response is to change incentives: make lawmakers or the state bear costs for clearly unconstitutional laws, or require faster pre‑enforcement review or a short challenge window; these reduce abuse but come with practical and fairness trade‑offs.

I Am a Pro-Natalist

Richard Hanania's Newsletter • 2779 implied HN points • 19 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Public Policy
  1. Having more children is both practically beneficial and morally important: a larger population fuels innovation and social goods, and parenthood provides meaning, so current sub-replacement fertility is seen as a real problem with an ideal fertility rate higher than today’s.
  2. Government action can raise births—expanded child tax credits and direct cash subsidies appear to increase fertility and can be cost-effective, and such support should offset parents’ opportunity costs rather than unduly burden employers.
  3. Solving the fertility decline needs a cultural shift that raises the status of parents and frames having children as a social good, even if that requires changing norms and working across uncomfortable political lines while protecting reproductive technologies and rights.

October 2024 Q&A

Glenn Loury • 238 implied HN points • 16 Oct 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Public Policy
  1. There is a Q&A session where people can ask questions and get answers from experts. It's a good chance to learn more about specific topics.
  2. Viewers are encouraged to leave their queries in the comments so they can be discussed later. This makes it interactive and engaging.
  3. Subscription options are available for more content, including a free trial for new users. This allows people to explore more without immediate commitment.

Sorry, I Still Think MR Is Wrong About USAID

Astral Codex Ten • 36891 implied HN points • 29 May 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Public Policy
  1. There's a big debate about how much money from USAID goes to charities and how much is wasted. Some people think a lot is wasted, while others argue it’s not as bad as it seems.
  2. The overhead costs of big charities like Catholic Relief Services can look high, but they actually spend most of their money on important stuff like food and health services, not just admin costs.
  3. It's important to figure out if local charities are actually better at helping people than American ones. Finding the right balance between efficiency and trust in aid distribution is crucial.

Awesome Weekend Reading

The Honest Broker Newsletter • 942 implied HN points • 06 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Public Policy
  1. THB Insider is back with a new roundup that curates a wide range of recent policy and research items.
  2. Policymakers on both sides of the aisle publicly cited the newsletter’s coverage of a major Nature retraction, showing it has real influence in policy discussions.
  3. Full access is gated behind a subscription, though a free post is offered to let readers continue reading.

The SAVE Act is Christian Nationalism in Action

Can We Still Govern? • 442 implied HN points • 23 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Public Policy
  1. The SAVE Act forces people to prove citizenship to vote, adding paperwork and costs that will stop many voters—especially those without passports or birth certificates that match their current name.
  2. Because millions of married women change their last name, the law would hit women especially hard, and it aligns with Christian Nationalist aims to weaken women’s political power and push household-style voting.
  3. Implementing the law would overload election systems, give state officials wide discretion and legal exposure, and likely slow or shrink democratic participation even amid Senate fights and legal challenges.

Why do people still not know about genes?

Heterodox STEM • 270 implied HN points • 01 Mar 26
🔬 Science Public Policy
  1. Genes are a major driver of personality and behaviour — studies show roughly half of the variation in psychological traits is genetic, and traits like aggression and criminality are substantially heritable.
  2. Most mainstream discussion blames parenting, poverty or household instability for crime and life outcomes, but that often ignores the strong genetic contribution and can lead to mistaken conclusions and poor policy choices.
  3. Correlations between childhood environment and bad outcomes are frequently confounded by shared genes, so you must control for genetics (and account for random developmental effects) before claiming that poverty or family structure directly causes crime.

Reason and Abortion

Bet On It • 171 implied HN points • 04 Mar 26
🏥 Health Politics Public Policy
  1. Popular summaries of the Turnaway Study often miss or misinterpret key findings, so careful attention to the study's statistical methods and results matters.
  2. There are serious non-religious arguments against abortion that challenge stereotypes about who opposes abortion, and these arguments lean on evidence and ethical reasoning rather than faith.
  3. Persuasive, respectful conversations and support can have large practical effects on abortion decisions, since convincing someone to continue a pregnancy is often easier than convincing someone to start a new one.

The Billiard-Ball Theory of Human Nature

Rob Henderson's Newsletter • 1420 implied HN points • 01 Feb 26
🎭️ Culture Public Policy
  1. Childhood instability and trauma — things like frequent moves, changing caregivers, and lack of affection — predict later antisocial behavior more strongly than family income.
  2. People still have agency, and explaining bad behavior only by structural causes or trauma can become a way to excuse it; policy and public talk should balance explanation with personal responsibility.
  3. Family structure and culture matter: stable, pro‑social homes and social norms that value responsibility reduce crime, while elite ideas insulated from real consequences can promote policies that worsen harm; policy has limits and must be modest.

Determined to Die

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 1451 implied HN points • 26 Jan 26
🏥 Health Politics Public Policy
  1. Canada’s assisted‑suicide program lets people request MAID even if they aren’t terminally ill, as long as they say their suffering is intolerable and can’t be relieved in a way they find acceptable.
  2. People with disabilities, chronic illnesses, mental‑health issues, and difficult social situations have been approved for MAID, and those decisions often cause deep pain and conflict within families.
  3. Because eligibility rests on subjective judgments about intolerable suffering, the program blurs the line between medical conditions and everyday social hardship, and many Canadians end up choosing assisted death each year.

population decline can be fine

bad cattitude • 163 implied HN points • 27 Feb 26
🌐 International Public Policy
  1. Population decline can be fine — what matters more is per‑person prosperity and quality of life, not raw headcounts, and many countries with falling populations still see rising per‑capita wealth.
  2. Population growth is an overrated route to economic success; mass immigration or bigger population size does not automatically raise per‑capita GDP and can worsen housing, wages, and fertility incentives.
  3. Policy should prioritize housing, institutions, human capital, and productivity rather than chasing population numbers; with good laws and investment in people, a stable or shrinking population can still thrive.

Public Choice Links, 2/23/2026

In My Tribe • 197 implied HN points • 23 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Public Policy
  1. Firms exist because centralized coordination has its own costs, but market coordination also has transaction costs, so internal management can be more efficient when that tradeoff favors it.
  2. Lobbying reached record levels in 2025 as companies spent more to influence an unpredictable federal government, and foundations/nonprofits increasingly fund projects tied to donors' ideological priorities like social justice.
  3. A universal flat Social Security benefit set above the poverty line would more effectively and cheaply reduce senior poverty, raising benefits for low earners and reducing them for higher earners, and would shift the common 'you earned it' narrative.

$3000 Essay Contest on Economic Security

ChinaTalk • 741 implied HN points • 05 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Public Policy
  1. Economic security is a rising bipartisan priority, with both parties backing a more active government role in markets to protect U.S. power and long-term growth.
  2. ChinaTalk is running an essay contest to prompt concrete thinking, asking for high-level KPIs for economic security and proposals for where to invest $10–50 billion, including defensive and offensive ideas.
  3. The contest offers a $3,000 prize pool, features prominent judges, requests 2,500–4,000 word essays, and has a submission deadline of March 1.

The Great California Wealth Exodus

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 1275 implied HN points • 25 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Public Policy
  1. A proposed California ballot measure would authorize a first-of-its-kind asset seizure or wealth tax targeting billionaires, creating major legal uncertainty and likely court battles.
  2. Many wealthy founders and investors say they plan to leave California if the measure advances, effectively prompting a potential exodus of high-net-worth people.
  3. That exodus could have big economic ripple effects because these individuals control companies worth roughly $1.3 trillion and employ about 50,000 people, putting jobs and the tech ecosystem at risk.

The Real Target of Pedophile Hysteria Is Age Gap Relationships

Richard Hanania's Newsletter • 5510 implied HN points • 20 Nov 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Public Policy
  1. Moral panics can start with a strong consensus that something is bad, then expand to cover more behaviors. It's important to recognize this pattern in discussions about issues like racism and pedophilia.
  2. Labeling attraction to teens as pedophilia can create stigmas that also affect relationships with older individuals. Understanding age of consent laws and biological attraction is key to navigating these discussions.
  3. The focus on stigmatizing age gap relationships may contribute to societal issues like declining marriage and fertility rates. Instead of judging these relationships, we should consider their potential benefits for family formation.

A Federalism Bottleneck?

Can We Still Govern? • 242 implied HN points • 27 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Public Policy
  1. Immigration enforcement depends as much on local governments and private contractors as it does on federal law and funding. ICE’s day-to-day capacity is enabled by contracts, supply chains, and 287(g) agreements, not just Washington directives.
  2. States and localities can meaningfully shape or limit federal enforcement by restricting access to state property, ending jail contracts, withdrawing personnel, or banning 287(g) partnerships. Those local actions change how and where enforcement can be carried out.
  3. Congressional budgetary and statutory fixes have limits because American federalism creates operational chokepoints. That layered system gives local officials and activists real leverage to influence enforcement and hold agencies accountable.

upon a platform of lies

bad cattitude • 203 implied HN points • 23 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Public Policy
  1. Many politicians win by promising popular things and then quickly abandoning or reversing those promises once in power, creating a pattern of bait-and-switch governing.
  2. One major party is portrayed as hollow and out of touch, relying on culture-war rhetoric and negative campaigning instead of coherent, practical policies, which is eroding public trust.
  3. Voter frustration with broken promises and declining services is creating openings for political realignment and demand for more competent, pragmatic leadership.

At least five interesting things: Bad Policy edition (#67)

Noahpinion • 17294 implied HN points • 18 Jul 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Public Policy
  1. Many Americans are losing support for strict immigration policies, especially mass deportations, as they feel it leads to fear and instability in their communities.
  2. Some progressive policies, like Inclusionary Zoning, can backfire and actually make housing less available and create divisions, rather than promoting equality.
  3. Raising the minimum wage can have negative effects on job availability, and it might not be the best solution for reducing poverty, with cash benefits possibly being a better option.

Development hailed as biggest transformation of town’s centre since ‘great fire’ has likely ‘considerable viability and funding gap’

NN Journal • 238 implied HN points • 10 Oct 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Public Policy
  1. The Greyfriars area in Northampton is set for a big redevelopment, but there are concerns about money to make it happen. A partnership with a regeneration company aims to figure out the costs and plans soon.
  2. This project could create over 7,000 jobs and boost the local economy by one billion pounds, but how to pay for it all is still unclear.
  3. Local leaders are excited about this transformation, viewing it as a chance to fix past development mistakes and improve the town's center significantly.

Is Undervalued Vacant Land just a Baltimore problem?

Progress and Poverty • 692 implied HN points • 12 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Public Policy
  1. Chronic undervaluation of vacant land is a Baltimore-specific problem — other Maryland counties do not show the same widespread under-assessments.
  2. The state appraisal office has acknowledged the issue in Baltimore and begun fixes, which means the problem is correctable rather than systemic across SDAT.
  3. Fixes focus on better data quality and sales validation, proper use of the allocation method (use a single local land rate derived from prevailing improved-property values), and mapping land values to spot side-by-side inconsistencies.

"Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism!" The Science is Settled. Right?

Injecting Freedom • 37 implied HN points • 16 Mar 26
🏥 Health Politics Public Policy
  1. An advocacy group asked the federal autism committee to review possible links between infant vaccines and autism and submitted related materials for consideration.
  2. The claim that vaccines do not cause autism is framed as a belief rather than settled science, and the group is calling for more research on the issue.
  3. They publicly shared a chapter and a comment letter to push the committee and the public to re-examine the topic and attract broader attention.

Money Saved By Canceling Programs Does Not Immediately Flow To The Best Possible Alternative

Astral Codex Ten • 41364 implied HN points • 06 Feb 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Public Policy
  1. Canceling effective programs like PEPFAR doesn't guarantee that the money will be spent on better programs. It may just sit unspent or be used for less effective initiatives.
  2. People often argue about valuing American lives more than foreign ones, but this doesn't lead to better outcomes for those in need. Many don't consider the long-term effects of cutting foreign aid.
  3. There's a need for balance in helping others. Spending a small percentage of the budget on foreign aid is reasonable, and it shouldn't diminish support for domestic needs.