by Dan Mitchell | May 3, 2019 | Blogs, Economics, Free Market, Socialism
In a column for the New York Times, Jochen Bittner writes about how a rising star of Germany’s Social Democrat Party wants the type of socialism that made the former East Germany an economic failure. Socialism, the idea that workers’ needs are best met by the...
by Dan Mitchell | Apr 25, 2019 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Free Market, Socialism, Welfare and Entitlements
I’ve repeatedly dealt with the argument over Denmark’s supposed socialism. My core argument is that Denmark is very bad on fiscal policy, but very laissez-faire on other issues such as regulation. The net effect is that Danes have about the same amount of economic...
by Dan Mitchell | Apr 11, 2019 | Blogs, Economics, Free Market, Taxation
Singapore is routinely ranked as the world’s 2nd-freest economy, trailing only Hong Kong. The nation’s laissez-faire approach has yielded big dividends. Singapore is now über prosperous, richer than both the United States and United Kingdom. But there are problems in...
by Dan Mitchell | Feb 10, 2019 | Blogs, Economics, Free Market
International development experts often write about a “middle-income trap.” According to this theory, it’s not that challenging for nations to climb out of poverty, but it’s difficult for them to take the next step and become rich countries. The theory makes sense to...
by Dan Mitchell | Jan 10, 2019 | Blogs, Free Market, Trade
Time for the final installment in my four-part video series on trade-related topics. Part I focused on the irrelevance of trade balances. Part II looked at specialization and comparative advantage. Part III explained trade and creative destruction. Here’s Part IV,...
