by Dan Mitchell | Jan 17, 2017 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Tax Competition, Taxation
Mancur Olson (1932-1998) was a great economist who came up with a very useful analogy to help explain the behavior of many governments. He pointed out that a “roving bandit” has an incentive to maximize short-run plunder by stealing everything from victims (i.e. a 100...
by Dan Mitchell | Dec 31, 2016 | Uncategorized
There was some genuinely good news in 2016, which is more than I can say for 2015 (my “best” development for that year was some polling data, followed by some small-ball tinkering). Though the good news for 2016 was mostly overseas. Here are the four things from...
by Dan Mitchell | Aug 15, 2016 | Big Government, Blogs, Bureaucracy
Back in 2013, I got very upset when I learned that senior bureaucrats at the IRS awarded themselves big bonuses, notwithstanding the fact that the agency wasdeeply tarnished by scandal because of its efforts to help Obama’s reelection campaign. That’s when I decided...
by Dan Mitchell | Jul 11, 2016 | Big Government, Blogs
It would be impossible to pick the most hare-brained government policy. We haveall sorts of bizarre examples from the United States. And we have equally “impressive” examples from other nations. And today, we’re going to augment our collection of bone-headed policies...
by Dan Mitchell | Jun 24, 2016 | Blogs, Economics, Europe
What an amazing vote. The people of the United Kingdom defied the supposed experts, rejected a fear-based campaign by advocates of the status quo, and declared their independence from the European Union. Here are some takeaway thoughts on this startling development....
