Writing

A newsletter aggregating legal scholarship on Abundance: changes to law or policy to enable building, growth, and innovation. Each issue curates recent academic articles and policy papers on topics like housing, permitting, energy, infrastructure, procurement, and administrative capacity.

The US strategy for winning the technology race with China is premised on the false assumption that we are and always will be further out on the frontier than China. The US must admit that China is ahead in some domains and will outpace us in others, and adjust our tactics accordingly.

Both sides of the impoundment debate miss important points. Those who think impoundment is the President’s constitutional prerogative overrely on shaky historical evidence. Those who think impoundment is prohibited by the Impoundment Control Act underappreciate the Act’s failure in both enforcement and enabling beneficial delays or cancellation of wasteful spending.

Other Transactions (OTs) represent an underutilized alternative to traditional federal procurement. Although a dozen major executive agencies have OT authority and it has been used for high-impact inititatives like SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Operation Warp Speed, OTs account for a mere 2% of total federal contract spending. Three barriers constrain further adoption: bureaucratic sclerosis, legal uncertainty, and the specter of corruption. This paper addresses each in turn, focusing on legal analysis that demonstrates how agencies can navigate administrative and fiscal laws to foster innovation without sacrificing accountability.

Except for the last forty years, the US has always had a powerful Comptroller with direct control over spending and a high degree of independence from political branches. Its power and independence was eroded through reforms seeking efficiency and by the Supreme Court’s decision in Bowsher v. Synar. We should revitalize this office by restoring its authorities and insulating it from interference, returning to a powerful check on abuses of spending.