by Dan Mitchell | Dec 31, 2023 | Big Government, Blogs, Education, Welfare and Entitlements
Time for the annual “best and worst” column, which has been a long-standing tradition (2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, etc). We actually saw some major good news in 2023. Here are my top 3 developments. President Milei in Argentina – The most...
by Dan Mitchell | Nov 24, 2023 | Big Government, Blogs, Europe
Last month, I shared data on per-capita welfare spending in American states. The big takeaway was that states such as New York and California were spending more tan twice as much as states such as Texas and Florida. And I concluded...
by Dan Mitchell | Nov 6, 2023 | Big Government, Blogs, Welfare and Entitlements
When I ask my leftist friends to identify a nation that got rich with big government, the knowledgeable ones try to change the subject. The ones who are not well informed will oftentimes cite Denmark. It is true that Denmark has...
by Dan Mitchell | Sep 22, 2023 | Big Government, Blogs, Welfare and Entitlements
I periodically explain that redistribution is bad for prosperity, mostly because it encourages sloth and dependency among recipients. Though it is important to realize that the taxes needed to fund redistribution also are harmful (the magnitude of the...
by Dan Mitchell | Aug 29, 2023 | Big Government, Blogs, Taxation, Welfare and Entitlements
Scandinavian countries have very unusual economic policy. They are very free market-oriented with regards to most types of economic policy. The glaring exception is fiscal policy, where these nations get very low scores. The burden of...
