February 2018

Former White House ethics attorney Walter Shaub questioned whether a gun that Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai received from the National Rifle Association (NRA) violates the FCC’s ethics rules. In a number of tweets on Feb 23, Shaub expressed his confusion as to why accepting the gift didn’t go against the standards of conduct for federal employees that bar employees from receiving gifts from lobbyists, such as the NRA.

[Commentary]  One of the internet’s most important qualities is that it slashes transaction costs to a bare minimum. What has followed is a remarkable development: It is becoming cost-effective, even profitable, to serve the world’s poorest two billion people—whether they are online or not. Entrepreneurs are devising new services to provide neighborhood-scale renewable energy and clean water, gas cooking-stoves, microloans for consumer goods and insurance against natural disasters.