by Dan Mitchell | Jan 25, 2018 | Blogs, Economics
I’ve just finished up a week of lectures and meetings in India. It was an interesting trip, but not an encouraging trip. My first observation is that Indians are enormously successful when they emigrate to the United States. And they also do very well when they...
by Dan Mitchell | Jan 16, 2018 | Blogs, Economics, Taxation
To put it mildly, Italy’s economy is moribund. There’s been almost no growth for the entire 21st century. Bad government policy deserves much of the blame. According to Economic Freedom of the World, Italy is ranked only 54th, the worst score in Western Europe other...
by Dan Mitchell | Dec 21, 2017 | Blogs, Economics, Taxation
Now that we have a final bill rather than a mere “agreement in principle,” let’s step back and consider some implications of tax reform. There are three reasons to be pleased and one reason to worry. Win: Less-destructive federal tax code There are several provisions...
by Dan Mitchell | Dec 16, 2017 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Taxation
Greece has confirmed that a nation can spend itself into a fiscal crisis. And the Greek experience also has confirmed that bailouts exacerbate a fiscal crisis by enabling more bad policy, while also rewarding spendthrift politicians and reckless lenders (as I...
by Dan Mitchell | Oct 15, 2017 | Blogs, Taxation
When companies want to boost sales, they sometimes tinker with products and then advertise them as “new and improved.” In the case of governments, though, I suspect “new” is not “improved.” The British territory of Jersey, for instance, has a very good tax system. It...
