Okay, the title’s an exaggeration, but this chart is rather revealing. It shows how per-capita GDP has changed between 1980 and 2008 in Chile, Argentina, and Venezuela. As you can see, Chile used to be the poorest of the three countries and now it is comparatively rich. Argentina has enjoyed a bit of growth. Venezuela, […]

Although not necessarily the intent of this video, the impressive data visualization makes it hard not to see just how profoundly the spread of freedom and capitalism has dramatically improved the lives of billions throughout the world in such an historically short period of time as 200 years:

Nancy Pelosi was rightly mocked for her nonsensical assertion that subsidizing unemployment is the best way to stimulate the economy.  Unfortunately, as we pointed out at the time, such claims reflect nothing more than standard Keynesian economics as understood by so many politicians.  Now Sherrod Brown’s saying the same thing: “Congressman Cantor (R-VA) either failed […]

Politicians and journalists who fixate on consumer spending are putting the cart before the horse. Consumer spending generally is a consequence of growth, not the cause of growth. This Center for Freedom and Prosperity video helps explain how to achieve more prosperity by looking at the differences between gross domestic product and gross domestic income.

In the latest “Economics 101” video released today by the Center for Freedom and Prosperity Foundation (CF&P), Hiwa Alaghebandian of the American Enterprise Institute punctures a common economic myth used by politicians to justify bigger government. The video, entitled “Keynesian Economics Is Wrong: Economic Growth Causes Consumer Spending, Not the Other Way Around,” dispels the popular Keynesian notion that artificially boosting consumer spending can improve economic performance.

A paper posted on the Social Science Research Network looks at nations that are prospering compared to those that are stagnating. Not surprisingly, limited government and free enterprise policies are associated with better economic performance. Here’s an excerpt from this new research. What can we conclude about the effect of various policies on economic growth? […]

Alberto Alesina of Harvard’s economics department summarizes some of his research in a column for today’s Wall Street Journal. He and a colleague looked at fiscal policy changes in developed nations and found very strong evidence that spending reductions boost growth. This, of course, contrasts with the lack of evidence for the Keynesian notion that […]

Here’s a story for the better-late-than-never file. Former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro confessed that communism doesn’t work and that his nation’s economic system should not be emulated. Fidel Castro told a visiting American journalist that Cuba’s communist economic model doesn’t work, a rare comment on domestic affairs from a man who has conspicuously steered clear […]

One of the main factors determining incumbent election success is economic performance. When disposable income is rising and people feel good about the future, it is difficult for an incumbent to lose. So why, then, is Obama pursuing policies that are undermining growth? Sure, it is in the interests of the left in the long […]

The fight for financial freedom and limited government is global. The Center for Freedom and Prosperity recognizes Eduardo Morgan Jr., an individual whose work for his native Panama echoes much of our own efforts to defend fiscal sovereignty from the onslaught of anti-growth taxation and regulation. As Panama’s Ambassador to Washington from 1996 to 1998, […]