by Dan Mitchell | May 7, 2019 | Big Government, Blogs, Bureaucracy, Taxation
I’m doing my third field trip to the United Nations. In 2012, I spoke at a conference that was grandiosely entitled, “The High Level Thematic Debate on the State of the World Economy.” I was a relatively lonely voice trying to explain that a bigger burden of...
by Dan Mitchell | Apr 12, 2019 | Blogs, Economics, Europe
Thanks to the glorious miracle of capitalism, I’m writing this column 36,000 feet above the Atlantic Ocean. I’m on my way back from Europe, where I ground through about a dozen presentations as part of a swing through 10 countries. Most of my speeches were about the...
by Dan Mitchell | Feb 7, 2019 | Blogs, Economics, Trade
Donald Trump and other populist leaders frequently are condemned for undermining the “rules-based system” that is the basis of the “postwar order.” What exactly is meant by this criticism? In the case of Trump, is it disapproval of his protectionism? Yes, but that’s...
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,...
by Dan Mitchell | Oct 21, 2018 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Waste
When asked to pick the worst international bureaucracy, I generally respond as follows. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) or Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) should be at the top of the list. Both of those bureaucracies aggressively...