by Dan Mitchell | Jan 24, 2025 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Welfare and Entitlements
Back in 2019, I compared OECD nations based on the total burden of social welfare spending as a share of economic output. France was the worst of the worst, unsurprisingly, followed by Finland and Belgium. That column also differentiated by types of...
by Dan Mitchell | Jun 3, 2024 | Big Government, Blogs, Taxation
I wrote last November that Germany is in a period of fiscal decay. Over the past eight-plus years, the burden of government spending has grown far too fast, violating the Golden Rule of fiscal policy. As a result, the share of the economy...
by Dan Mitchell | May 2, 2024 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics
Just a few months ago, I wrote about Germany’s fiscal decay. Over the past eight years, government spending has grown much faster than the private sector, thus violating the Golden Rule of fiscal policy. Given the shift to bad policy in Germany, I...
by Dan Mitchell | Apr 5, 2024 | Big Government, Blogs
When I write a “Great Moments” column, that’s always been a sign that some government is going to be subject to mockery. For today’s column, though, I’m going to break with that pattern. That’s because I’m writing about the success story of Botswana, a country in...
by Dan Mitchell | Nov 22, 2023 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending
Back in 2014, I applauded German lawmakers for being fiscally responsible between 2003 and 2007. During that era, the burden of government spending barely increased. Today, I’m going to add more applause. I took another look at the IMF...
