European Fiscal Policy Week, Part III: A Continent-Wide Spending Problem

by Dan Mitchell | Oct 26, 2022 | Big Government, Blogs, Europe, Government Spending, Taxation

I discussed Italy’s looming fiscal crisis on Monday and then argued against a potential bailout on Tuesday. Today, let’s focus on the rest of Europe. I gave a presentation yesterday in Brussels about “Public Finances in the Eurozone” and used the...

European Fiscal Policy Week, Part II: The Right Response to Italy’s Fiscal Crisis

by Dan Mitchell | Oct 25, 2022 | Big Government, Blogs, Europe, Government Spending

I wrote yesterday to speculate about a possible fiscal crisis in Italy. Today, here are my thoughts on why there should not be a bailout if/when a crisis occurs. I have moral objections to bailouts, but let’s focus in this column on the practical impact. And let’s...

European Fiscal Policy Week, Part I: Italy’s Looming Fiscal Crisis

by Dan Mitchell | Oct 24, 2022 | Blogs, Europe

I’m in Europe to give a couple of speeches about fiscal policy, so I’m going to spend all week commenting on the continent’s (mostly miserable) fiscal policy. Let’s start with comments about Italy, the nation most likely to suffer a crisis. Normally, I tell...

Learning a Lesson about Big Government from Barbados

by Dan Mitchell | Aug 1, 2022 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending

I realize few readers are interested in small, faraway countries. But I periodically write about nations such as Jordan, Cyprus, Latvia, Vanuatu, Panama, and Pakistan because they offer important lessons – mostly negative, but sometimes positive – about fiscal policy....

The Case for Entitlement Reform

by Dan Mitchell | Jul 21, 2022 | Big Government, Blogs, Health Care, Welfare and Entitlements

If Joe Biden’s bungled economic policy is any indication, the GOP may wind up controlling Washington in the not-too-distant future. If so, I hope Republicans rekindle their interest in the kind of genuine entitlement reform discussed in this interview. But...