Divided government is good for America’s economy. Or, to be more specific, divided government is a net plus if the alternative is to have statists fully in charge of economic policy. I made this point back in 2012 when I pointed out that the unemployment rate started…
Daily Analysis
Myths about Capitalism
In addition to his side job as Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Economics Department at Harvard University, Jeff Miron is Director of Economic Studies at the Cato Institute. He’s also the narrator of this video from Learn Liberty that discusses three myths…
Minimum Wage Follies
The great Krugtron the Invincible argues the minimum wage can be increased without much consequence. He says there’s “hardly any cost to raising it,” and that “we can raise these wages without losing lots of jobs.” Notice the weasel…
Obama Is Right about the European Economy…But Doesn’t Grasp the Implications
I’m not a big fan of Obamanomics. I don’t like the President’s class-warfare mentality on taxes. I don’t like his support for Keynesian spending policy. And I don’t like his costly expansions of government such as Obamacare. Indeed, I even like mocking his reflexive…
Nation’s Leader Rejects Keynesian Economics, Acknowledges that Real Jobs Are Created by the Private Sector
You’re probably surprised by the title of this post. You may even be wondering if President Obama had an epiphany on the road to Greece? I don’t mean to burst your bubble, but the leader we’re talking about isn’t the President of the United States. Instead, we’re…
The Rahn Curve and the Laffer Curve
What’s the relationship between the Rahn Curve and the Laffer Curve? For the uninitiated, the Rahn Curve is the common-sense notion that some government is helpful for prosperous markets but too much government is harmful to economic performance. Even libertarians,…
Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall, which Nation and State Punish Success Most of All?
I’ve shared some interested rankings on tax policy, including a map from the Tax Foundation showing which states have the earliest and latest Tax Freedom Days. There’s also a depressing table showing that the United States “earns” a lowly 94th place in a ranking of…
In the 50-Year War on Poverty, Bureaucrats Have Won while Both Taxpayers and Poor People Have Lost
We know the welfare state is good news for people inside government. Lots of bureaucrats are required, after all, to oversee a plethora of redistribution programs. Walter Williams refers to these paper pushers as poverty pimps, and there’s even a ranking showing which…
The Laffer Curve and Limits to Class Warfare Tax Policy
I’m a big advocate of the Laffer Curve. Simply stated, it’s absurdly inaccurate to think that taxpayers and the economy are insensitive to changes in tax policy. Yet bureaucracies such as the Joint Committee on Taxation basically assume that the economy will be…
Is Government Threat of Punishment Keeping Private Universities from Cutting Tuition?
Federal policies unquestionably deserve some blame for skyrocketing tuition costs. Washington subsidizes student borrowing, and colleges in turn raise prices to capture federal dollars. Higher prices put pressure on Washington to increase subsidies and the cycle…