by Dan Mitchell | Feb 24, 2012 | Blogs, Economics, Free Market
What is the best way improve economic performance and boost living standards? If you listen to politicians, they would like us to think that adopting Policy A or repealing Policy B is a magic elixir. And if that means adopting a flat tax or repealing Obamacare, I’ll...
by Dan Mitchell | Feb 20, 2012 | Blogs, Economics
I’ve written periodically about the perverse incentives of the unemployment insurance system. Simply stated, there will be fewer jobs if the government subsidizes joblessness, and I even showed that this is a consensus position by citing the academic writings of...
by Dan Mitchell | Feb 17, 2012 | Blogs, Economics, Laffer Curve
Even though there is a wealth of evidence for the Laffer Curve, statists and other big-government advocates routinely claim that incentives don’t matter. So I wonder how they’ll react to this new research showing that incentives have an impact on sexual choices. Here...
by Dan Mitchell | Feb 14, 2012 | Blogs, Capital Gains, Economics, Taxation
As discussed yesterday, the most important number in Obama’s budget is that the burden of government spending will be at least $2 trillion higher in 10 years if the President’s plan is enacted. But there are also some very unsightly warts in the revenue portion of the...
by Dan Mitchell | Feb 11, 2012 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending
When Ronald Reagan said that big government undermined the economy, some people dismissed his comments because of his philosophical belief in liberty. And when I discuss my work on the economic impact of government spending, I often get the same reaction. This is why...
