by Dan Mitchell | Oct 8, 2017 | Blogs, Economics
One of my great frustrations (and there are many) is that the conventional wisdom about economic history oftentimes is wrong. It is very common for students to learn things that simply are not true. The history books usually promote the myth that capitalism caused the...
by Dan Mitchell | Sep 29, 2017 | Blogs, Economics
A new annual edition of Economic Freedom of the World has been released. The first thing that everyone wants to know is how various nations are ranked. Let’s start at the bottom. I can’t imagine that anybody will be surprised to learn that Venezuela is in last place,...
by Dan Mitchell | Sep 23, 2017 | Blogs, Economics, Taxation
The most common arguments for reducing the 35 percent federal tax on corporate income usually revolve around the fact that having the developed world’s highest tax rate on business undermines competitiveness and reduces investment in America. And all of that is true....
by Dan Mitchell | Sep 18, 2017 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending, Keynesian
Keynesian economics is like Freddie Krueger, constantly reappearing after logical people assumed it was dead. The fact that various stimulus schemes inevitably fail should be the death knell for the theory, which is basically the “perpetual motion machine” of...
by Dan Mitchell | Sep 11, 2017 | Blogs, Economics
If tax policy was a religion, the Holy Trinity of reform would be very straightforward. Lower tax rates in order to encourage more productive behavior. Get rid of double taxation in order to enable saving and investment. End distorting preferences in order to reduce...
