Robert VerBruggen

Hobart

Dad of 3, @ManhattanInst fellow, @FamStudies research fellow, @NRO contributing editor, @MedillSchool alum. Hear me @CenterClipAudio. Opinions my own.

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Articles

Wisconsin’s Act 10 Has Been a Win for Students. But it Faces an Uncertain Future

1 week ago | city-journal.org | Robert VerBruggen

Wisconsin’s Act 10 was one of the boldest Republican reforms of the early twenty-first century. Enacted in 2011, the law sharply limited the collective-bargaining rights of many public employees, including teachers. It also freed school districts from rigid union pay schedules, ended automatic paycheck deductions for union dues, and required unions to win an annual vote to continue representing workers.
Will Universities Embrace Class-Based Preferences?

1 week ago | city-journal.org | Robert VerBruggen

Class Matters: The Fight to Get Beyond Race Preferences, Reduce Inequality, and Build Real Diversity at America’s Colleges, by Richard Kahlenberg (PublicAffairs, 384 pp., $26.99)Richard Kahlenberg is an old-school liberal, committed to narrowing the gap between rich and poor. He’s also one of the leading critics of racial preferences in college admissions, having served as an expert witness for the plaintiffs in Students for Fair Admissions v.
The Supreme Court Is Right About “Ghost Guns”

3 weeks ago | city-journal.org | Robert VerBruggen

On March 26, the Supreme Court upheld the Biden administration’s regulations on “ghost guns”—privately assembled firearms with no serial numbers—ruling that they were in line with the relevant authorizing statute. These weapons have played a small but growing role in American gun crime in recent years. The Court’s go-ahead is a welcome development for those who care about targeted, legally sound gun-crime enforcement. Professional gun manufacturers and dealers must follow many rules.
¿Desregular, Por el Bien del Gran Gobierno?

3 weeks ago | fundacionbases.org | Robert VerBruggen

Los «progresistas de la oferta» se han convertido en una fuerza en los círculos políticos, o al menos entre los empollones de los think tanks, en los últimos años. No, no son liberales que han llegado a adorar los recortes de impuestos para los que más ganan en el país.
Deregulate, for Big Government’s Sake?

1 month ago | fee.org | Robert VerBruggen

Breaking down a new book by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson. The “supply-side progressives” have made themselves a force in political circles—or at least among nerdy policy wonks at think tanks—these past few years. No, they’re not liberals who’ve come to adore tax cuts for the nation’s highest earners.
An Oral History of Crimefighting That Works

1 month ago | businessandamerica.com | Robert VerBruggen

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An oral history of crimefighting that works

1 month ago | washingtonexaminer.com | Robert VerBruggen

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, things were about as bad as they could get in New York City. Roughly 2,000 residents were dying in homicides every year, far more than double the per capita rate of the United States as a whole. Public spaces, from the busy streets of downtown Manhattan to the dingy subway system, felt fundamentally out of control. But then things improved at a rate no one could have thought possible.
An Oral History of Crimefighting That Works

1 month ago | manhattan.institute | Robert VerBruggen

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, things were about as bad as they could get in New York City. Roughly 2,000 residents were dying in homicides every year, far more than double the per capita rate of the United States as a whole. Public spaces, from the busy streets of downtown Manhattan to the dingy subway system, felt fundamentally out of control. But then things improved at a rate no one could have thought possible.
Are Big Cities Really Richer?

2 months ago | city-journal.org | Robert VerBruggen

Big cities are economic powerhouses. New York City by itself generates nearly 5 percent of America’s GDP with only 2.5 percent of the country’s population. But how much of New York’s success is because of its size? Do large cities make humans more productive by bringing them together—thus fostering cooperation, innovation, and skill growth? Or do they merely attract the type of ambitious people who would succeed wherever they lived, while keeping out lower earners through high housing prices?
Education, Income, and 'Marriageable' Men

2 months ago | ifstudies.org | Robert VerBruggen

In the U.S., about 40% of kids are born to unmarried mothers. For decades, scholars and commentators have debated why this number rose so much in the latter half of the 20th century—and why marriage has continued to thrive among those with college degrees while deteriorating among those with lower levels of education.