by Dan Mitchell | May 21, 2026 | Blogs, Economics
Earlier this month, in Part V of my series on the U.S. vs. Europe, I shared a chart showing the OECD calculations of “Actual Individual Consumption.” The AIC numbers are designed to give people an apples-to-apples comparison of living standards. I’m re-sharing the...
by Dan Mitchell | May 2, 2026 | Blogs, Economics, Europe, Welfare and Entitlements
The world’s big economic policy battle is not capitalism vs. socialism. Other than a few primitive backwater nations like Cuba and North Korea, genuine socialism has largely been vanquished. Instead, the battle in most countries...
by Dan Mitchell | Mar 12, 2026 | Blogs, Europe, Taxation
I frequently make the point that America’s tax system is more progressive than European tax systems. But not because the United States imposes higher tax rates on upper-income households. Instead, the big difference is that lower-income...
by Dan Mitchell | Mar 11, 2026 | Blogs, Europe, Welfare and Entitlements
Since I’m currently in Europe as part of the Free Market Road Show, I’m going to share some more data (for other examples, see here, here, here, and here) on why the United States should not become more like Europe. As I noted a few years...
by Dan Mitchell | Jan 28, 2026 | Blogs, Economics, Taxation, Welfare and Entitlements
Every year or so, I share data showing that a European-sized welfare state requires massive tax increases on lower-income and middle-class household. Let’s add another to the list. Here’s a chart comparing tax burdens on middle-class Americans and middle-class people...
