by Dan Mitchell | May 22, 2015 | Blogs, Economics, Immigration, Society
I can understand why immigration reform is so contentious since it touches on all sorts of hot-button issues, such as jobs, politics, national identity, and the welfare state. But I don’t understand why there’s a controversy just because Governor Walker of Wisconsin...
by Dan Mitchell | Mar 29, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs
As an economist, my primary objection to excessive government is – or at least should be – based on foregone growth. After all, government spending (whether it is financed by taxes or borrowing) diverts resources from the productive sector of society and results in...
by Dan Mitchell | Mar 18, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Welfare and Entitlements
Sweden is an odd country, at least from the perspective of public policy. On the positive side, it has private Social Security accounts. It has an admirable school choice system. And it was a good role model of spending restraint back in the 1990s. But on the negative...
by Dan Mitchell | Feb 5, 2015 | Blogs, Economics, Tax Competition, Taxation
I’m a relentless (probably to the point of being annoying) proponent of tax competition among jurisdictions. It’s one of the reasons why I favor tax havens and federalism. Simply stated, politicians are less likely to do bad things when they know economic activity can...
by Dan Mitchell | Jul 26, 2014 | Blogs, Economics, Taxation
I’ve had some fun over the years by pointing out that Paul Krugman has butchered numbers when writing about fiscal policy in nations such as France, Estonia, Germany, and the United Kingdom. So I shouldn’t be surprised that he wants to catch me making an error. But...
