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Private-Market Misfires and Misconceptions – When government lets the market fix policy problems, it often fails.

It’s no secret that Americans like private markets better than they like government. In a 2014 Pew Research Center poll, 70 percent of Americans said they believed they were better off in a free market system. Only in South Korea and Germany do citizens like markets more.

From environmental policy to health care, this basic finding has framed the critical decisions of government in recent years. If we want to take on a new policy challenge, citizens and policy experts seem to agree, it’s better to trust the states than Washington. And the states should do as much as possible through private markets.

The strategy has launched some remarkable policy innovations. But most of the time, it hasn’t worked out so well in practice.

by Donald F. Kettl

Full Story: http://www.governing.com/columns/potomac-chronicle/gov-free-market-failures-government.html

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Environmentalists push back on Gianforte’s call for industry leader for DEQ

"Putting an industry representative in charge of the regulatory agency would destroy the credibility of that agency. The result, of which Mr. Gianforte is yet to be informed, would be that EPA would simply take away Montana’s primacy. … The state is delegated to have clean air and water programs within the requirements of federal law. EPA would then be in charge rather than the state." Jim Jensen, executive director of the Montana Environmental Information Center
DAVID McCUMBER for the Missoulian

Policymakers tend to assume that the markets will take care of themselves, they often don’t build governmental capacity to steer the process. The reformers then end up running after problems as they develop down the line.

Full Story: http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/environmentalists-push-back-on-gianforte-s-call-for-industry-leader/article_b03152cb-ec7a-5dba-a66b-f7bbb25ba538.html

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