I’ve had ample reason to praise Hong Kong’s economic policy. Most recently, it was ranked (once again) as the world’s freest economy. And I’ve shown that this makes a difference by comparing Hong Kong’s economic performance to the comparatively lackluster (or weak) performance of economies in the United States, Argentina, and France. But perhaps the most encouraging thing about […]
read more...Obama administration presses ahead in its war on for-profit colleges.
read more...Arguments in favor of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act start and end with tax evasion. Those who question the validity of a massive and invasive financial dragnet for the purpose of catching a few tax cheats are accused of either being a tax evader themselves or of condoning evasion. FATCA proponents recognize no legitimate […]
read more...The United Nations is not nearly as bad as other international bureaucracies such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development or the International Monetary Fund. But that’s because the U.N. tends to be completely ineffective. So even when the bureaucrats push for bad policy, they don’t have much ability to move the ball in the wrong direction. But […]
read more...Back in 2010, I shared some wise words from Walter Williams and Theodore Dalrymple about how society can become unstable when people figure they can “vote themselves money.” On a related note, I shared the famous “riding in the wagon” cartoons in 2011 and the “Danish party boat” image in 2014. Both of these posts highlighted the danger that […]
read more...Every so often, I share polling data from other nations that is either encouraging or puzzling. Looking through the archives, here are some memorable examples. *Americans are more libertarian than Europeans. *On the other hand, the French support spending cuts by a 4-1 margin. *More than 90 percent of Greeks and Italians see government as an obstacle to business. […]
read more...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 falling after Republicans captured the House of Representatives, and […]
read more...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 about capitalism. Unsurprisingly, I think Jeff is right on the mark. Here are some […]
read more...In the last few months of 2013, Obamacare suffered a series of embarrassing setbacks dealing with everything from a clunky website to plan cancellations tothe White House feeling compelled to arbitrarily ignore the law. Since that time, though, people seem to have adapted to this new burden. But adaptation doesn’t mean approval. There are still serious problems with Obamacare, as […]
read more...Does big government necessarily and automatically imply incompetent government? Unfortunately, that seems to be the case. Robert Samuelson, for instance, has written that the federal government is so large that it breeds failure and disappointment. I added my two cents, writing that: …government is far more likely to have a “reverse Midas touch” when it is too […]
read more...