by Dan Mitchell | Nov 10, 2023 | Big Government, Blogs, Europe
In economics, convergence theory is the common-sense observation that poor countries – in general – should grow faster than rich countries. But a general principle sometimes has exceptions, and that’s why I put together my anti-convergence club. If you...
by Dan Mitchell | Nov 6, 2023 | Big Government, Blogs, Welfare and Entitlements
When I ask my leftist friends to identify a nation that got rich with big government, the knowledgeable ones try to change the subject. The ones who are not well informed will oftentimes cite Denmark. It is true that Denmark has...
by Dan Mitchell | Nov 5, 2023 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Free Market
People who understand “public choice” are usually not very optimistic about the future of economic liberty. Simply stated, we recognize that politicians have an incentive to hook people on the “heroin of government dependency.” And that doesn’t end well. But I...
by Dan Mitchell | Oct 20, 2023 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending
Washington has a spending addiction. And it’s bipartisan. To understand the magnitude of the problem, let’s look at how fast taxes and spending have increased this century compared to population plus inflation. There are two obvious takeaways from this data....
by Dan Mitchell | Oct 11, 2023 | Big Government, Blogs, Taxation
Paul Krugman isn’t always wrong. A few years ago, for instance, he admitted the Laffer Curve is real. And he even once wrote something sensible about tax policy. But those are the exceptions. His usual routine is to pontificate in favor of bigger...
