by Dan Mitchell | Jan 22, 2014 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics
What’s the best state in America? I’m not sure I can answer that broad question, but I can address the more narrow issue of which state has the most economic freedom. Last month, for instance, I shared some data from the Canada-based Fraser Institute which showed that...
by Dan Mitchell | Jan 18, 2014 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Welfare and Entitlements
There’s an old joke about two guys camping in the woods, when suddenly they see a hungry bear charging over a hill in their direction. One of the guys starts lacing up his sneakers and his friend says, “What are you doing? You can’t outrun a bear.” The other guys...
by Dan Mitchell | Jan 2, 2014 | Blogs, Economics, Laffer Curve, Taxation
The business pages are reporting that Chrysler will be fully owned by Fiat after that Italian company buys up remaining shares. I don’t know what this means about the long-term viability of Chrysler, but we can say with great confidence that the company will be better...
by Dan Mitchell | Dec 9, 2013 | Blogs, Capital Gains, Economics, Taxation
Back in the 1960s, Clint Eastwood starred in a movie entitled The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. I was thinking that might be a good title for today’s post about some new research by Michelle Harding, a tax economist for the OECD. But then I realized that her study on...
by Dan Mitchell | Oct 21, 2013 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending, Tax Competition, Taxation
There’s a tendency in public life to exaggerate the positive or negative implications of any particular policy. This is why I try to be careful not to overstate the potential benefits of reforms I like, such as the flat tax. Yes, we would get better growth and there...