by Dan Mitchell | Apr 15, 2012 | Blogs, Economics, Free Market
Sweden has a very large and expensive welfare state, but it’s actually becoming a bit of a role model for economic reform. I’ve already commented on the country’s impressive school choice system and noted that the Swedes have partially privatized their Social Security...
by Dan Mitchell | Apr 10, 2012 | Blogs, Economics, Taxation
The Laffer Curve is a graphical representation of the relationship between tax rates, tax revenue, and taxable income. It is frequently cited by people who want to explain the common-sense notion that punitive tax rates may not generate much additional revenue if...
by Dan Mitchell | Apr 8, 2012 | Blogs, Economics, Monetary Policy
Ron Paul has made “End the Fed” a popular slogan, but some people worry that this is a radical untested idea. In part, this is because it is human nature to fear the unknown. But there are plenty of examples of policy reforms that used to be considered radical but are...
by Dan Mitchell | Apr 6, 2012 | Blogs, Economics
The new unemployment numbers have been released and the White House must be somewhat happy. The joblessness rate is down to 8.2 percent, which means the number that gets the most publicity continues to move in the right direction. I’ve been predicting that Obama will...
by Dan Mitchell | Apr 3, 2012 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending, Society, Welfare and Entitlements
Why is big government bad for an economy? The easy answer is that big government usually means high tax rates, and this penalizes work, saving, investment, and entrepreneurship. And perhaps some of the spending is financed by borrowing, and this diverts money from...
