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Articles by John Puri
How a Lifelong Carbon-Taxer Helped Discredit Climate Policy
The economist William Nordhaus died on October 30. In 2018, Nordhaus won the Nobel Prize in Economics for developing an economic model of climate change. For decades before then, he was an early advocate of addressing climate change through a global "carbon tax." He was championed by climate activists for taking this stand, but ironically, his prize-winning research led serious policymakers to reject their maximalist approach to slashing emissions.
How Bad Was It?
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Democrats’ Awful Start on Affordability
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Inflation Matters, It Turns Out
In January, I wrote that by putting extreme pressure on the Federal Reserve to slash interest rates to nearly zero and thereby blow out the money supply, Trump was "setting the house on fire" with himself, and the rest of us, locked inside. Well, now the House has burned down completely. And the Senate, too. Plus a solid collection of governors' seats and state legislatures. Like the two that preceded it, this was first and foremost an inflation election. Americans hate inflation.
Trump’s Tariffs and Iran War Both Fueled the GOP’s Midterm Defeat
The debate is raging on the plugged-in right, including on NR‘s pages, over whether Republicans’ midterm obliteration was mostly precipitated by the tariffs or the Iran war. Were voters more upset by rising prices for everyday goods, or by a sudden spike in fuel and diesel prices with no end in sight? Which policy brought the greater aura of chaos and self-immolation on the world stage?
The Most Important Midterm Statistic
Opens in a new window Opens an external website Opens an external website in a new window This website utilizes technologies such as cookies to enable essential site functionality, as well as for analytics, personalization, and targeted advertising. To learn more, view the following link: Privacy Policy People shop for groceries in New York City, August 26, 2026.
The Official 2026 Midterm Election Drinking Game
People watch election results while enjoying drinks at Louisiana Pizza Kitchen in New Orleans, La., November 5, 2024.(Sandy Huffaker/AFP via Getty Images) America, the midterm elections are upon us. Millions of Americans will today exercise their right to self-government, filling in bubbles or tapping a box on an electronic machine, participating in our glorious republic’s democratic system.
Does Anyone Know Why the Fed Didn’t Raise Rates?
According to the Federal Reserve today, "Economic activity is expanding at a strong pace." Despite an energy shock, "domestic spending has been resilient. Productivity growth is strong, and capital investment is robust. Job gains have kept pace with the workforce, and the unemployment rate has changed little." At the same time, "Inflation remains elevated." But rest assured, the Fed "will deliver price stability." No ifs, ands, or buts about it. And that is why the Fed decided . . .
A List of Things Democrats Might Do If They Retake Power
There are plenty of reasons to fear a Democratic trifecta in Washington, which next week’s midterms may very well set up for 2028. Below is a list of actions and policies that give conservatives cause for alarm: • Blowing out the national debt on a party-line vote that bypasses the Senate filibuster. • Threatening to eliminate the filibuster entirely to shove through partisan legislation. • Threatening to remove judges who rule against the party in power.
Paper Straws and the Fallible Logic of Perfectibility
There is a progressive impulse — indeed, one shared by many who are not formal progressives — to bring all forces into proper balance and thereby achieve perfection. It rests on the assumption, unstated but always present, that the laws of nature allow for utopia if we only have the will and the mind to attain it. That everything can be made just right. This vision brings with it a punctilious attitude of constant reform.
Fraud Is Not the Biggest Source of Health-Care Waste
As Vice President JD Vance leads the charge against wasteful spending in federal health-care programs, his Task Force to Eliminate Fraud has racked up some impressive wins. It helped the Justice Department take down hundreds of providers accused of defrauding Medicare and Medicaid of billions of dollars and removed 760,000 allegedly fraudulent enrollees from subsidized Obamacare plans, which should save $2.2 billion. Insofar as fraud can be uncovered, these actions are worthwhile.
We’re Now at 40 Federal Equity Stakes
Another day, another batch of federal “investments” in private companies. The Commerce Department distributed $389 million in funds earmarked for R&D to four companies working on semiconductor components and critical materials, taking a minority stake in each one of them. That brings the number of semiconductor firms partly owned by taxpayers to 15. And it brings the total number of federal stakes across all industries to the big four-oh.
How the Author of the Constitution Won, Eventually
MagazineDecember 2026 Issue Congress passing the 13th Amendment; cover engraving, Harper’s Weekly, February 18, 1865(Universal History Archive/Getty Images) James Madison and the Reconstruction Amendments Modern historical accounts tend to treat the Constitution’s three Reconstruction Amendments as a rupture with the Founding.
Retirees Shouldn’t Get Bigger Raises Than the Workers Who Fund Them
Starting next year, seniors receiving Social Security will see an increase in their benefit checks of 3.6 percent, or by approximately $75 per month on average. That is thanks to the program's automatic Cost-of-Living Adjustment, or COLA, which raises benefits every year in accordance with inflation. That seems fair: If the cost of living has gone up, retirees' incomes should, too. But when inflation is running high, as it presently is, the adjustment imposes an enormous fiscal cost.
Onion Futures Ban: University of Chicago Students Protest 1958 Law
University of Chicago students want Congress to repeal the 1958 Onion Futures Act, which banned futures trading on onions after a notorious market manipulation scheme.
Trump Pays Off Farmers by Decree, Yet Again
The president spends $8 billion to help cover the higher diesel prices that he caused.
If Only Tariffs Made Industries More Dynamic | National Review
We cannot expect markets to bail us out when we are damping the very forces that make them work.
What Governments Are For: The Declaration of Independence's Standard of Just Power
The Declaration of Independence establishes self-government through two inseparable principles: consent of the governed and protection of natural rights. Its vision of just government limits majority rule to preserve individual liberty and prevent tyranny.
Elizabeth Warren’s Condiment Consternation | National Review
If we're not careful, a single company might soon produce both hot sauce and mayonnaise.
More Bad Inflation Data
Consumer and wholesale prices are rising faster than expected, yet the Federal Reserve remains reluctant to raise interest rates.
Tariffs Still Raise Prices, Even If They Fall | National Review
Any expanded domestic production must be sustained by permanently higher prices.
Raising Domestic Prices Is the Point of Tariffs
Trump's tariffs are pushing up prices on American-made goods, too. That's the mechanism protectionists rely on to encourage reshoring.
Trump’s Ukraine Pressure: Of Course We're on Russia's Side
Russia wants Ukraine to lay down its arms. How is that different from the Trump administration's current policy toward Kyiv?
Remember Those ‘Root Causes’ of the Border Crisis? | National Review
They must have dissipated at exactly the moment Biden left office.
When Welfare Policy Is Economic Policy | National Review
No economy can transcend the need for human contributions.
Freedom Conservatives Plan Summits to Rebuild the Right
After the midterms, traditional conservatives will gather to forge a new path forward.
Economic Data Show American Families Are Richer Today and Can Afford to Buy More Than Ever Before
Five decades of consumer spending data challenge claims that middle-class life was universally more affordable in the past. Groceries, clothing, entertainment, and transportation consume smaller shares of family income, while rising housing and health-care costs present genuine obstacles to achieving the American dream.
Federal Reserve Reform: Let Markets Determine the Money Supply
A novel framework for conservative monetary policy.
Demagoguing Microsoft’s Immigrant Hires | National Review
JD Vance spins a tale about 'indentured servants' filling the jobs of laid-off Americans, entirely unsupported by facts.
The Federal Deficit Is Now $2 Trillion | National Review
We are reaching the point where interest on the debt exceeds economic growth, ensuring that costs will rise even if we somehow balanced the underlying budget. Which we won't.
The Trade Deficit Has Nothing to Do with Tariffs
The Trade Deficit Has Nothing to Do with Tariffs By John Puri The National Review October 7, 2026 Category: Finance & Economics In August, the U.S. trade deficit hit a seasonally adjusted $106 billion, the highest total since President Trump announced his sweeping tariff regime. Since those tariffs, the trade deficit has stayed around normal levels.
The Trade Deficit Has Nothing to Do with Tariffs
America's trade deficit persists because foreign investors want U.S. assets, not because tariffs are too low.
How Can We Have a Bad Economy with Record Consumption?
Record consumer spending masks a widening divide, as wealthy Americans account for an increasingly large share of consumption while others see little real growth.
Raising Interest Rates Isn’t Central Planning Either | National Review
So long as the central bank has discretion over monetary policy, exercising its power in a steadier, more constrained manner would not qualify as interventionism or central planning.
Federal Reserve Policy: Keep the Rate Hikes Coming
If central bankers are truly committed to restoring price stability, why not skip the waiting and increase rates twice before year's end?
Economically Illiterate Policies May Be Popular, but They’re Still Economically Illiterate
Republicans who are enticed by high marks for interventionism should remember that voters judge politicians mostly on results, not promises.
Maybe the Justices Don’t Want to Rule on Climate Lawsuits? | National Review
In Suncor v. Boulder County, the Court faces an uncomfortable choice of legal bases on which to block state-level emissions suits.
The Economy Is Great, and Also Terrible | National Review
Americans' reservations about the economy are about (1) high and rising prices, above all else, (2) a diminished pathway to upward mobility, primarily through renting and homebuying, and (3) a pervasive feeling of economic uncertainty and thus insecurity.
Another Reason Austin Is Booming? Abundant Housing
How did Austin, Texas, pull off affordable housing when almost every other major city has gone in the opposite direction? It built, a lot.
Free Trade and Specialization Are Ancient Wisdom
Even Plato knew that economic specialization makes everyone better off.
Nikole Hannah-Jones’s Daughter Is Not the Only Victim
Progressives have long subordinated individual students to the cause of racial justice.
Two Anti-Fraud Bills Could Target Welfare Frauds and Tax Cheats at the Same Time
What if members of Congress used the lame-duck session to combine two anti-fraud bills and saved a few hundred billion dollars for once? Republicans could say they went after welfare fraud; Democrats could go after tax cheats.
Don’t Ruin GLP-1 Prices by Having the Government Cover Them | National Review
Expanding government coverage could smother the market's competitive pricing.
Kevin Warsh Talks About Inflation the Right Way | National Review
Rising prices are not the inevitable by-product of a strong economy.
Banning Diesel Exports Would Backfire on Americans
Domestic refiners currently export around a fourth of the diesel they produce to other countries. By trapping all that excess diesel in America, the theory goes, refiners would need to slash prices to sell all their product at home, ultimately forcing costs down for drivers.
Did Anyone Notice Congress Was Gone? | National Review
America has no shortage of national interests that demand real governance: a menacing security environment with adversaries on the hunt, a public debt scheduled to result in catastrophe, and a functionally unbound chief executive, to name a few. Addressing these matters is what Congress is for.
Climate Law Heats Up
The Supreme Court is playing whack-a-mole with emissions suits.
Federal Reserve Raises Interest Rates, At Last Begins to Do Its Job
Since the Fed typically lowers or raises target interest rates in gradual cycles, today's rate hike is almost certainly not the last.
Incentivize States to Police Their Medicaid Waste
Fixed federal payments could give states stronger incentives to police Medicaid waste by making them bear more of the cost of overspending.
No, Republicans Did Not Give Data Centers a Special Tax Break
The 2025 tax law restored full expensing for qualifying business equipment broadly; it did not create a special federal tax break for data centers.
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