Merrill Matthews, Ph.D., is a resident scholar with the Institute for Policy Innovation, a research-based, public policy “think tank.” He is a health policy expert and opinion contributor at The Hill. He also serves on the Texas Advisory Committee of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
Dr. Matthews is a past president of the Health Economics Roundtable for the National Association for Business Economics, the largest trade association of business economists. Dr. Matthews also served for 10 years as the medical ethicist for the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center’s Institutional Review Board for Human Experimentation, co-author of On the Edge: America Faces the Entitlements Cliff, and has contributed chapters to several books, including Physician Assisted Suicide: Expanding the Debate and The 21st Century Health Care Leader and Stop Paying the Crooks (on Medicare fraud).
He has been published in numerous journals and newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal, Investor’s Business Daily, Barron’s, USA Today, Forbes magazine and the Washington Times. He was an award-winning political analyst for the USA Radio Network.
Dr. Matthews received his Ph.D. in Humanities from the University of Texas at Dallas.
Energy Subsidies, Yours for the Taking (Audio: Interview)
IPI Resident Scholar Merrill Matthews joins WAVA’s Don Kroah t0 discuss the buckets of money the government is throwing at the green energy industry, in the form of subsidies, to stimulate consumer appeal.
Merrill Matthews on Expanding the Workforce, Social Security and Engery Subsidies (Audio: Interview)
IPI Resident Scholar Merrill Matthews joins Pratt on Texas in this Podcast Extra. The discussion includes many of the topics covered in Dr. Matthew's recent articles including: What You Need to Know About Government's Clean Energy Subsidies, A Quick and Easy Way to Grow the Workforce and The Worker-Shortage Mystery Solved--Mostly.
When Government Pressures Big Tech (Audio: Podcast)
The “Twitter Files” have revealed federal agencies making requests and even pressuring Twitter and other social media platforms to influence their content moderation decisions. What happens when government and private entities cooperate? Is there anything new about this? When should we be concerned, and when do private entities become “quasi-government actors?” Is there any such thing as a quasi-government actor? IPI Resident Scholar Dr. Merrill Matthews, Senior Research Fellow Bartlett Cleland, and President Tom Giovanetti discuss the news and the issues involved.
Should Social Security and Medicare be 'Off the Table'? (Audio: Podcast)
The most dramatic moment of Joe Biden’s 2023 State of the Union Address was when he accused Republicans of wanting to cut Social Security and Medicare, to which Republicans vociferously objected. When President Biden reacted by saying “Okay, I guess we all agree that Social Security and Medicare are off the books,” almost the entire chamber rose to its feet and cheered, but the hearts of policy experts around the country sank. That’s because, if anything, the single most important domestic policy issue should be making the necessary changes to our entitlement programs that protect current recipients while giving future recipients realistic expectations and time to prepare. Congress may be afraid to talk about entitlement reform, but IPI is not. With IPI Resident Scholar Dr. Merrill Matthews and President Tom Giovanetti.
IPI Policy Basics: Every Law Should Have an Expiration Date (Audio: Podcast)
In legislation, “sunset” means that a law or agency or regulation has a built-in date at which it disappears in a poof of common sense unless specifically reauthorized by the legislature. This is a good idea that would prevent the continual accumulation of archaic, redundant and overlapping government functions. Sunset review is a forcing function that would create predictable opportunities to review, modify, modernize and streamline government functions, and to occasionally phase out unnecessary functions. With IPI President Tom Giovanetti and Resident Scholar Dr. Merrill Matthews.
The Public Health-ization of Policy (Audio: Podcast)
IPI President Tom Giovanetti wonders how the Biden administration knows it can schedule the cancellation of the federal Covid-19 emergency order in May, since that’s now how emergencies work. If you already know when it’s going to be over, it’s not an emergency. This prompts a discussion about the use of emergency orders by executive branch officers at both the state and federal levels to advance policy goals that can’t be achieved through legislation, and the likely need for legislatures to rein in the emergency powers of their executives. With IPI Resident Scholar Dr. Merrill Matthews.
The High Cost of Educating Children of Illegal Immigrants (Audio: Podcast)
IPI’s Resident Scholar Dr. Merrill Matthews makes a back-of-the-envelope guesstimation about how much states spend on education for children of illegal immigrants, since the Supreme Court has found that such children are entitled to a public education. The point: While we at IPI are proponents of significant legal immigration, It costs states a LOT to educate children of illegal immigrants, and the likelihood is that illegal immigrants aren’t paying enough in taxes to offset the costs.
What's This About a National Sales Tax (Audio: Podcast)
A tempest in a teapot has erupted about Republicans wanting to slap a 30% “national sales tax” on American consumers. IPI was there at the beginning of the national sales tax proposal, so we give a history of the national sales tax, talk about its strengths and weakness, give credit where credit is due, and then suggest that it’s a politically untenable proposal and can only result in a self-inflicted wound on House Republicans. With IPI Resident Scholar Dr. Merrill Matthews and IPI President Tom Giovanetti.
IPI Policy Basics: The Role of Layoffs in the Economy (Audio: Podcast)
No one wants to be involuntarily released from their employment, but in a growing economy, layoffs represent the redeployment of human capital from less-productive to more-productive uses. With this understanding, policymakers should make it as easy as possible for people to change jobs and forms of income generation. Any policy that makes it harder to change jobs, start a business, or work a “gig economy” job creates friction slowing down the most efficient deployment of human capital. With IPI President Tom Giovanetti and Resident Scholar Dr. Merrill Matthews.
Democracy and Politics in Latin America (Audio: Podcast)
Special Guest Roberto Salinas of the Atlas Network talks with IPI President Tom Giovanetti and Resident Scholar Dr. Merrill Matthews about the current state of politics and democracy in Latin America, their economies, and the impact on immigration and the border crisis.
Oh, Look, I Have a Stack of Classified Documents Here by My Corvette (Audio: Podcast)
You can’t make this stuff up. Are the Trump and Biden classified document scandals different in any material way? Did the Biden people think they could keep this quiet? With IPI Resident Scholar Dr. Merrill Matthews and IPI President Tom Giovanetti.
IPI Policy Basics: Should We Limit the Debt Limit? (Audio: Podcast)
What is the debt ceiling, and why do we have it? How often does the debt ceiling come up, and isn’t it an anachronism, since Congress has already authorized that spending? Or is any leverage over spending worth preserving? IPI President Tom Giovanetti and Resident Scholar Dr. Merrill Matthews explain and discuss the debt ceiling, and remind us that the core problem is spending, not the debt limit.
Joe Biden, Welfare King
At the same time the Biden administration is bragging about its job creation numbers, President Biden has also dramatically increased the number of Americans on federal government assistance and would extend government welfare programs even more if he could. But increasing the number of Americans dependent on federal assistance is terrible fiscal, budgetary and moral policy. With IPI Resident Scholar Dr. Merrill Matthews and IPI President Tom Giovanetti.
IPI Policy Basics: Regular Order, How Congress Is Supposed to Work (Audio: Podcast)
What is “regular order” for Congress and why is that better governance than the annual drama and circus we see now every year with continuing resolutions and gigantic, must-pass omnibus spending bills? Was the old way better? Tom Giovanetti, Merrill Matthews.
House Republicans Should Just Say No to Revenge Impeachments (Audio: Podcast)
Revenge impeachments by the new Republican House will be a terrible waste of political capital, energy and time, because they won’t succeed in the Senate and will be seen by voters as just more partisan infighting. Legitimate investigations and oversight is another matter entirely. Merrill Matthews, Tom Giovanetti.
Total Records: 704
