When people in other nations ask me for evidence in favor of low taxes, I often will ask them to compare the economic performance of a high-tax nation like France with the performance of a nation such as Switzerland with less onerous taxes. If I’m asked by Americans, I generally suggest that they compare different states. For instance, […]
read more...Why do statists make so many mistakes with data? Paul Krugman, for instance, has butchered numbers when writing about fiscal policy in nations such as France, Estonia, Germany, and the United Kingdom. But Krugman isn’t alone. We also have Thomas Piketty, who was lionized by the left after publication of Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Ever since his book was published, various […]
read more...Libertarians tend to like – or at least have a grudging respect for – the underground economy. For instance, even if we’re personally very straight-laced, we don’t like government prohibitions against gambling, drugs, and prostitution. This is why we’re not upset when these things happen in spite of the laws enacted by the political class. But […]
read more...I’ve shared lots of data and evidence about the harmful economic impact of government spending. Simply stated, budgetary outlays divert resources from more productive uses.And this results in labor and capital being misallocated, leading to less economic output. The damage is even more pronounced when you look at how politicians finance the budget. Whether they use taxes or borrowing (or even printing […]
read more...The worst part of the tax code is something most Americans have likely never heard of.
read more...There have been many truly awful presidents elected in the United States, but if I had to pick my least favorite, I might choose Herbert Hoover. I obviously have disdain for Hoover’s big-government policies, but I also am extremely irritated that – as Jonah Goldberg explained – he allowed the left to create an utterly bogus narrative […]
read more...Back in 2010, I shared a remarkable chart showing how quickly economic output doubles in a fast-growth economy, but it also showed how long it takes for GDP to expand if an economy only grows 1 percent or 2 percent per year. My main message was that nations should follow good policy because: …even modest differences in […]
read more...Obamacare resulted in big increases in the fiscal burden of government(ironically, it would be even worse if Obama hadn’t unilaterally suspended parts of the law). The legislation increased government spending, mostly for expanded Medicaidand big subsidies for private insurance. There were also several tax hikes, with targeted levies on medical device makers and tanning beds, as well as some soak-the-rich […]
read more...I wrote the other day that Americans, regardless of all the bad policy we get from Washington, should be thankful we’re not stuck in a hellhole like Venezuela. But we also should be happy we’re not Europeans. This is a point I’ve made before, usually accompanied by data showing that Americans have significantly higher living standards than their cousins on the other […]
read more...Why are some nations rich and other nations poor? What has enabled some nations to escape poverty while others continue to languish? And if we want to help poor nations prosper, what’s the right recipe? Since I’m a public finance economist, I’m tempted to say a flat tax and small government are an elixir for prosperity, but those policies […]
read more...