R Street Institute

We’re hiring a Fellow, Technology and Innovation 💻 This role will focus on cybersecurity, AI, and emerging technology policy, helping turn complex issues into clear, pragmatic research and analysis. Remote or D.C.-based. Apply here: street.applytojob.com/apply/iI00hC26…

R Street is hiring a Policy Communications and Editorial Manager 📣 This role sits at the intersection of editing, media relations, public policy, and strategic communications. Ideal for someone who knows how to sharpen ideas, support scholars, and pitch timely policy work. Apply here: bit.ly/4dxRq7T

California already learned what happens when lawmakers boost public pensions during good times and assume the market will keep bailing them out. When the boom ends, taxpayers and public services are left carrying the weight. That is what makes the current push to expand benefits so reckless. 🔗 Read the full piece by @StevenGreenhut here: bit.ly/4nsJKHc

Illinois’ new interchange fee law may sound narrow, but its practical effects could be anything but. By banning interchange fees on the tax and tip portion of card transactions, the state is creating new complexity for everyday payments that the current system is not built to handle. 🔗 Read the full piece by @CarolineMelear here: bit.ly/42qPkAh

Post-election audits are becoming a more common feature of American election administration, and Alabama’s new audit law is a meaningful step in that direction. Adding routine tabulation audits gives election officials another tool to evaluate system performance and communicate more clearly with the public about election reliability. 🔗 Read the full piece by Chris McIsaac here: bit.ly/3PzAkx2

Redistricting debates often reveal less about principle than about power. When one side condemns map-drawing in one state while defending it in another, the public is left with a clear impression that many complaints are less about fairness than about who benefits. 🔗 Read the full piece by @Marc_Hyden here: bit.ly/3R1rwR2

If a company identifies a legitimate problem and quickly implements a fix, that should count for something in the regulatory conversation. Waymo’s response to the San Francisco power outage issue showed that these systems can adapt and improve. That is how innovation works, and lawmakers should not treat iteration as disqualifying. 🔗 Read the full piece by @StevenGreenhut here: bit.ly/4ns7efJ

Technology policy is moving quickly ⚡ We’re looking for someone who can help make sense of it. R Street is hiring a Fellow, Technology and Innovation, to provide timely research and analysis on cybersecurity, AI, and emerging tech issues. Apply here: bit.ly/49NsGGb

Volatility management is one of reinsurance’s underappreciated benefits. By ceding excess exposure, insurers reduce earnings volatility and protect their balance sheets from outsized shocks. That stability is valuable not just for shareholders, but for policyholders who depend on insurers remaining financially sound after major loss events. 🔗 Read the full testimony by Jerry Theodorou here: bit.ly/4upUetL

One of the most interesting parts of the SECURE Data Act is its voluntary code-of-conduct mechanism. Firms could opt into approved third-party standards that meet or exceed the law’s requirements and receive a rebuttable presumption in enforcement actions if they remain in compliance. That is a more flexible approach than one-size-fits-all regulation. 🔗 Read the full piece by @AdamThierer here: bit.ly/4d7EKUZ

The reinsurance market’s response after the 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons is a useful reminder that private capital can move quickly when risk and opportunity align. After severe catastrophe losses weakened incumbent reinsurers, new Bermuda firms backed by private capital entered the market within months. That kind of agility is hard for government programs to replicate. 🔗 Read the full testimony by Jerry Theodorou here: bit.ly/3RhQkEk

The new SECURE Data Act would create a preemptive national privacy framework with access and deletion rights, data portability and minimization requirements, and certain opt-out rights related to targeted advertising or the sale of personal data. That kind of national consistency is exactly what the current patchwork lacks. 🔗 Read the full piece by @AdamThierer here: bit.ly/4fh85xu

Are you a strong editor who can move quickly with the news cycle? 📰 R Street is hiring a Policy Communications and Editorial Manager to support op-eds, policy pieces, rapid response media efforts, and strategic communications. Remote or D.C.-based. Apply here: bit.ly/49Wt1Gv

It is not too late to quit, and the study backs that up with hard numbers. Continuing to smoke at age 65 is associated with an average loss of 5.9 years of life expectancy. Quitting at 65 avoids about 1.7 years of life lost. The study’s conclusion is that fatalism among older smokers is medically and empirically wrong. 🔗 Read the full study by Jeffrey S. Smith here: bit.ly/4uGut7Q

Training pathways matter because they shape whether people can move into in-demand occupations without unnecessary time, debt, or credential barriers. When those pathways are too narrow or too weak, employers struggle to hire and workers miss out on viable routes into solid careers. 🔗 Read the full study here: bit.ly/4f16kEP

California’s latest robotaxi bill looks less like a serious safety measure and more like an effort to slow a technology that threatens existing jobs. When lawmakers pile on unworkable staffing and response requirements, they are not making autonomous vehicles safer. They are making them harder to deploy. 🔗 Read the full piece by @StevenGreenhut here: bit.ly/3RBKWMk

AI is making human work more designable, not less important. At #OTT2026, Erica Schoder made the case that evidence, judgment, and trust still depend on human encounters, especially in rooms where people with different stakes have to work together. Read her full speech: bit.ly/4uTI106

Diversification in reinsurance operates at two levels at once. Primary insurers reduce their concentration in a particular geography or product line, and reinsurers diversify by taking small positions across many cedants and risks. That spread of risk is one of the main reasons the market can absorb shocks that would overwhelm individual carriers. 🔗 Read the full testimony by Jerry Theodorou here: bit.ly/4ttBg3K

Interested in cybersecurity, AI, and the future of technology policy? 🔐 R Street is hiring a Fellow for our Technology and Innovation team to work on research, commentary, policy memos, briefings, and more. Apply here: bit.ly/4nDidTo

A state-by-state privacy regime may sound flexible, but in practice it creates confusion for both innovators and consumers. Data collection and use are inherently interstate in nature, which is why overlapping state mandates can quickly become unmanageable for companies trying to operate nationally. 🔗 Read the full piece by @AdamThierer here: bit.ly/4uJKASn

job opening: "Fellow, Technology and Innovation" at the R Street Institute. Come work with the great tech team & me at @RSI! Details below. Note: I'm not in charge of the hiring process, so please just apply directly via this link: street.applytojob.com/apply/iI00hC26…