by Dan Mitchell | Jan 25, 2026 | Blogs, Economic Growth, Europe
About five years ago, I fretted about the gradual erosion of economic liberty in Western Europe. And I followed up two years ago with similar analysis, grousing that the entire western world was joining Western Europe in the drift toward more...
by Dan Mitchell | Dec 13, 2025 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Europe, Tax Harmonization
My views on the European Union are summarized in my three–part series entitled “Yes to Globalization, No to Global Governance.” In other words, I liked the European Union in the past when it was basically a free-trade pact among European...
by Dan Mitchell | Dec 6, 2025 | Blogs, Europe, Welfare and Entitlements
If you want to know why I’m pessimistic about Europe (particularly compared to the U.S.), this chart is a good example. It shows that many European nations have enormous long-run liabilities for their Social Security systems. It’s an...
by Dan Mitchell | Nov 24, 2025 | Blogs, Tax Competition, Taxation
In Part I of this series last year, we started with a table looking at the degree to which successful people were leaving some countries and moving to others. Let’s start Part II with a look at a map showing how much money they are...
by Dan Mitchell | Nov 6, 2025 | Big Government, Blogs, Taxation, VAT
The case against the value-added tax (VAT) is not complicated. Simply stated, this hidden type of national sales tax was a key precursor for the expansion of the European welfare state. As you can see in the chart, the burden of government spending...
