The Niskanen Center

The plan to re-add Argentina to the visa waiver program “sends a muddled message” to countries that have lower visa refusal rates.

“It would be much more predictable for everybody if we were able to make it much less political," says Gil Guerra.

The U.S. cut off a million TPS holders. Here’s why that’s everyone else’s opportunity. - Niskanen Center The United States is poised to discard nearly a million legally present, work-authorized individuals, many with deep roots and valuable economic potential before the end of the year.

Across the U.S., TPS holders live with an estimated 260,000 U.S. citizen children and about 320,000 US citizen adults.

This decision will force families to either separate or uproot their lives entirely to countries that are unstable and unsafe. www.niskanencenter.org/the-u-s-cut-...

YIMBYism started as a single-issue movement. It's time to think bigger. New research shows that voters who like cities back denser housing. To make cities more likeable, YIMBYs need to act more like a party.

It’s probably not a coincidence that the YIMBY movement emerged after a generation-long decline in urban crime.

@cselmendorf.bsky.social @profschleich.bsky.social

hypertext.niskanencenter.org/p/yimbyism-s...

Argentina’s preparing to re-enter the U.S.’s visa waiver program, despite failing to meet a key requirement.

This sends a confusing message on the international stage.

A step in the right detection? Electronic monitoring and the future of community corrections - Niskanen Center Electronic monitoring could replace incarceration for certain American prisoners and reduce the prison population without endangering public safety.

Smart use of electronic monitoring technology with clear rules and swift, fair responses to violations can shrink incarceration + reduce crime.

Here's a path forward for community corrections:
www.niskanencenter.org/a-step-in-th...

This summer, an outstanding class of 11 interns contributed across our teams at Niskanen. We are grateful for their dedication and support in advancing effective policy solutions.

Expelling law abiding, productive members of our communities is a self-inflicted wound.
bsky.app/profile/nisk...

This is not good for the economy and will particularly hurt certain industries and places.

Realistically, these individuals are not going back to their home countries. It's too dangerous.

It's time for the international community to step in. www.niskanencenter.org/the-u-s-cut-...

The U.S. is getting ready to kick a million legally present, work-authorized individuals out of the country this year.

@cselmendorf.bsky.social and @profschleich.bsky.social are two of my faves and this is right. But voltsman worries too much in his thread, imo. It is not a hard political line to draw to say that we can talk aesthetics once we have the space to, which necessitates legalizing more housing.

Lessons from the forgotten history of Democratic abundance Moderates and leftists misunderstand the 1990s. That is stopping them from seeing their joint path forward.

Does liberalism need an “abundance mindset”?

I ventured into the #abundance debate with an essay for @niskanencenter.bsky.social historicizing everybody’s favorite topic. #USPolitics

hypertext.niskanencenter.org/p/lessons-fr...

Unlocking HVDC: How Congress can enable a more resilient grid - Niskanen Center A macrogrid would strengthen our existing electricity system by acting as an interregional superhighway, routing power around bottlenecks in the AC grid.

www.niskanencenter.org/how-congress...

More than one-third of Americans limited or went without essentials at least once to afford their utility bills.

There's a politically feasible solution to this. It's called the macrogrid.

screenshot of article with text: So agencies lean heavily on consultants for everything: from niche technical work to, increasingly, design and project management. Consultants do serve an important function for some expertise that genuinely requires temporary deployment. With thin internal capacity, agencies become “bad clients”—unclear on goals, slow at making decisions, and weak at contracting. Consultants, meanwhile, face incentives to expand project scope and complexity (not trim it), but also don’t own the hard tradeoffs needed to keep budgets in check. The result: bloated costs, frustrated agencies, and consultants who can’t deliver what they are best at. The federal government already has several successful models for addressing this challenge. For example, the U.S. Digital Service (USDS) was established with the goal of combining the benefits of in-house capacity and mission alignment with the flexibility of consultants.The USDS will deploy temporary surges of technical capacity to major software projects in the federal government. The federal government even operates a major civil engineering consultancy: the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Army Corps has provided specialized technical construction and management expertise to many federal, state, and local clients through the Interagency and International Services program for decades.

Small agencies shouldn't need to rely on cross-pressured consultants for project management. A federal agency modeled on the Army Corp could step into this role and provide management and design expertise better aligned with the public interest.

First, federal policy should encourage better zoning around regular bus stops to maximize ridership on the broader transit network. Urbanized areas with populations greater than 200,000 receive a large portion of their capital and maintenance budgets for non-fixed-guideway buses from Section 5307 Urbanized Area Formula Grants. This formula should be modified to include a competitive Transit Oriented Development set-aside that rewards agencies whose local partners have increased returns on investment by enacting pro-housing reforms. Eligibility could hinge on adopting “pro‑housing policies” (as defined by BMHNT) within a quarter mile of high‑frequency bus stops (service every 15 minutes or better at the time the policy launches). It would essentially operate as a transit “prize”—a carrot for states and localities weighing broader transit-oriented development bills. Second, federal policy should incentivize expanded feeder services to reach more areas, combined with supportive housing policies in those newly accessible areas, to maximize access to fixed guideway investments. CIG projects should receive higher scores when they encompass more developable land covered by pro‑housing policies within the project’s “transit‑shed”.

Transit projects also work best when there are people nearby to use it. The Build More Housing Near Transit Act is a good step that rewards allow housing growth around "fixed guideway" capital investments. But we can go further and reward allowing growth near regular buses too

Don't miss @rohanaras.bsky.social's inaugural piece for Niskanen!

Congress could save taxpayers billions and boost transit ridership w/ 2 simple ideas ⬇️⬇️⬇️

A century ago, Walter Folger Brown (later postmaster general and an architect of the US airline network) proposed moving the non-military projects of the Army Corps of Engineers out of the War Department and into a civilian agency. Echoes of that here. cup.columbia.edu/book/when-go...

The power of a single-issue group Narrow interests can get things done and reduce polarization

Great post today from @mattyglesias.bsky.social, riffing on (and questioning) my @niskanencenter.bsky.social essay w/ @profschleich.bsky.social

www.slowboring.com/p/the-power-...

Making federal transit dollars work: Two reforms for better value - Niskanen Center American transit investments regularly underdeliver compared to the potential of the infrastructure built and the amount of money invested.

I have a new piece up (first with @niskanencenter.bsky.social!)

The federal government spends billions of dollars on transit each year. What can the feds do to get more on the dollar? Two things:
- Create an Army Corp for transit projects
- Incentivize legalizing housing near transit

Unlocking HVDC: How Congress can enable a more resilient grid - Niskanen Center A macrogrid would strengthen our existing electricity system by acting as an interregional superhighway, routing power around bottlenecks in the AC grid.

An HVDC macrogrid can move power efficiently over long distances: Regions experiencing cold snaps or heat waves can avoid blackouts by bringing in power from unimpacted regions.

Let's build it! www.niskanencenter.org/how-congress...

Regions that rely on just 1–2 fuel sources risk widespread failures when extreme weather hits.

We hope you can see the problem here ⬇️

From compliance to delivery: Why agencies need product managers - Niskanen Center To improve public service delivery, the federal government should adopt a Product Operating Model and build product management capacity across agencies.

Read more from @ann-lewis.bsky.social:
www.niskanencenter.org/from-complia...

Using product managers to develop government tech could transform everything from filing taxes to accessing healthcare.

It’s time for our government to build tech that works well, not just tech it won’t get sued for.

YIMBYism started as a single-issue movement. It's time to think bigger. New research shows that voters who like cities back denser housing. To make cities more likeable, YIMBYs need to act more like a party.

The research is in: If you want to build support for dense housing, you have to make sure American cities are places people want to live.

hypertext.niskanencenter.org/p/yimbyism-s...

This is such an important point. Ideally, we have some groups that focus on the broad goal of making cities work for people.

But single-issue coalitions can unite a really diverse network of people around one issue.

Our housing crisis is a big problem. We need all hands on deck!

YIMBYism started as a single-issue movement. It's time to think bigger. New research shows that voters who like cities back denser housing. To make cities more likeable, YIMBYs need to act more like a party.

I want to enthusiastically endorse this piece from @cselmendorf.bsky.social & @profschleich.bsky.social. Thus far YIMBY has been almost entirely focused on More Housing, but ultimately, if you want people to accept density, you have to make it *nice*, and that means more than just housing.

The housing movement would benefit from:

(1) Coalitions that focus on making cities work for people (people will support housing density if they like cities)

(2) Single-issue groups that continue to be laser-focused on increasing housing supply.

It needs both!

From compliance to delivery: Why agencies need product managers - Niskanen Center To improve public service delivery, the federal government should adopt a Product Operating Model and build product management capacity across agencies.

Read more from @ann-lewis.bsky.social:
www.niskanencenter.org/from-complia...

From compliance to delivery: Why agencies need product managers - Niskanen Center To improve public service delivery, the federal government should adopt a Product Operating Model and build product management capacity across agencies.

Federal tech projects often measure success by compliance — not whether the tech actually works for the public.

The private sector utilizes product managers to build tech that works. Government agencies should do the same.