by Dan Mitchell | Sep 19, 2018 | Blogs, Economics, Trade
When President Trump proposed zero trade barriers among major economies, I applauded. Government-imposed barriers to commerce hurt prosperity, whether those restrictions hinder voluntary exchange inside a country or across national borders. There’s a debate over...
by Dan Mitchell | Sep 17, 2018 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics
I’ve written many times about socialism, which is sometimes a frustrating task because the definition is slippery. I suspect the average supporter of Bernie Sanders or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez thinks that socialism is big government, with lots of handouts financed by...
by Dan Mitchell | Sep 16, 2018 | Blogs, Economics
I periodically explain that pro-market policies are the best way of helping poor people. The reason rich countries are rich is because they had lengthy periods of limited government, free markets, and the rule of law. And the convergence literature shows that the same...
by Dan Mitchell | Sep 15, 2018 | Blogs, Economics
I’ve repeatedly argued that faster growth is the only effective way of helping the less fortunate. Class warfare and redistribution, by contrast, are not effective. Such policies are based on the fallacy that the economy is a fixed pie, and proponents of this view...
by Dan Mitchell | Sep 12, 2018 | Blogs, Economics, Taxation
If the goal is higher living standards, then higher levels of productivity are necessary. And that requires entrepreneurship and innovation. But bad tax policy can be an obstacle to the economic choices that create a better future. I’ve already shared lots of...
