by Dan Mitchell | May 11, 2021 | Blogs
Back in 2010, I applauded Paul Krugman for acknowledging that government unemployment benefits can encourage joblessness. And I even cited Krugman in this 2012 debate on the topic. We’re debating this issue again today, but it’s an even bigger problem...
by Dan Mitchell | Feb 9, 2021 | Blogs, Uncategorized
While I understandably don’t like politicians, I rarely think they are stupid. They do lots of idiotic things, of course, but they are making calculated decisions that it’s okay to hurt the economy if they achieve some political benefit. That’s...
by Dan Mitchell | Sep 17, 2020 | Blogs, Taxation
Every single economic school of thought agrees with the proposition that investment is a key factor in driving wages and growth. Even foolish concepts such as socialism and Marxism acknowledge this relationship, though they want the government to be in charge of...
by Dan Mitchell | Aug 4, 2020 | Blogs, Economics
In early June, I pontificated about the upside-down incentives that are created when government pays people more to be idle than they could get by working. This is a real-world concern because the crowd in Washington earlier this year approved a $600-per-week bonus...
by Dan Mitchell | Jun 5, 2020 | Blogs, Economics
Yesterday, I shared some research showing how misguided redistribution policies lead to high implicit marginal tax rates that discourage work. Then I was interviewed about a very tangible example of this phenomenon – jobless benefits that give people more money than...
