I’ve written before about the remarkable vitality of Hong Kong and Singapore, two jurisdictions that deserve praise for small government and free markets.
I have also praised Switzerland because of policies such as genuine federalism and financial privacy, and it goes without saying that I admire tax havens such as Bermuda, Monaco, and the Cayman Islands
I’m a big fan of Estonia, which has made big strides thanks to the flat tax and other free market reforms.
Australia also is one of my favorite nations, in part because of its privatized Social Security system.
Even Canada and Sweden have earned my praise for recent economic reforms.
But here’s a video, produced by the folks at The Fund for American Studies, that identifies an even more impressive economic miracle.
I did guess the country in the video, but only a few seconds before the narrator spilled the beans. My excuse is that I watched early on Sunday morning, when civilized people should still be asleep.
But allow me to atone for my slowness by adding a very important point about growth. The country in the video became successful because it enjoyed a very long period of decent growth. But that has recently changed for the worse.
And things got worse when statists were in power, as even the Washington Post has acknowledged.
The lesson to be learned is that even small differences in growth can make a big difference over time.
By some measures, Hong Kong and Singapore are now richer than the United States. The simple reason is that those jurisdictions have been enjoying 5 percent-plus growth for decades while the United States economy has struggled to achieve 3 percent growth.
Then again, the United States is more prosperous than most European nations, though that may be an example of damning with faint praise.
[…] learn about how various places became rich, including the United States, Hong Kong, and New […]
[…] learn about how various places became rich, including the United States, Hong Kong, and New […]
[…] instructive to note, for instance, that the United States evolved from agricultural poverty to middle-class prosperity in the 1800s– during a time when the burden of government spending was trivially […]
[…] instructive to note, for instance, that the United States evolved from agricultural poverty to middle-class prosperity in the 1800s – during a time when the burden of government spending was trivially […]
[…] important, it enabled ever-higher living standards for ordinary people, which should please folks on the left, at least if we believe their rhetoric […]
[…] the only way for a poor nation to become a rich nation. Those are the policies that helpd North America and Western Europe become rich in the 1800s and it’s how East Asia became rich in the second […]
[…] reason rich countries are rich is because they had lengthy periods of limited government, free markets, and the rule of […]
[…] reason rich countries are rich is because they had lengthy periods of limited government, free markets, and the rule of […]
[…] video from The Fund for American Studies specifically about U.S. […]
[…] video from The Fund for American Studies specifically about U.S. […]
[…] paradise. But there’s been enough economic freedom that, over time, we’ve enjoyed amazing improvements in living […]
[…] paradise. But there’s been enough economic freedom that, over time, we’ve enjoyed amazing improvements in living […]
[…] this system is what has given us the “hockey stick” of human […]
[…] spending in these areas is two or three times larger than it was in America and other nations that when they made the move from agricultural poverty to middle class […]
[…] it’s not just the U.S. data on how all income classes are climbing over time. Check out the “hockey stick” showing how the […]
[…] it’s not just the U.S. data on how all income classes are climbing over time. Check out the “hockey stick” showing how the […]
[…] it’s not just the U.S. data on how all income classes are climbing over time. Check out the “hockey stick” showing how the […]
[…] it’s not just the U.S. data on how all income classes are climbing over time. Check out the “hockey stick” showing […]
[…] The bad news is that a lot of people believe in the false left-wing narrative that the economy is a fixed pie and the rich get richer at the expense of the poor. I addressed that issue a few days ago, but the most compelling evidence is in these videos from Learn Liberty, Marginal Revolution, and the Fund for American Studies. […]
[…] Per-capita economic output has increased in the world (and in the United States), which obviously means that the vast majority of people are far better off than their […]
[…] if you look at the amazing historical story in this video, you’ll see that prosperity soared in the United States because of economic liberty. And […]
[…] An Amazing Story of Economic Success […]
[…] An Amazing Story of Economic Success […]
Dan you are the closest I have ever seen to Milton Friedman. Keep up the good work!!!
Liberals just feed off of the free market past successes.
This is a great video along the principle that overrides all: With growth significantly below the world average, and its compounding effect, nothing is sustainable. Nothing! As one looks at a longer and longer horizon, prosperity depends exclusively on one factor: Growth.
But to the voter-lemming a redistribution dollar today is worth five percentage points of growth tomorrow. Hence decline continues. And as the video points out, the pace of all things human is accelerating. If you think decline is your children’s problem, think again.
It’s not so impressive once you consider that all Western countries made pretty much the same progress in the same timespan; and the rest of the world is catching up quickly. (OK, most other Western countries hardly have any air conditioning, but that’s because they don’t need it.)
A fairer assessment would address the 2 questions: which countries deserve most of the credit for this progress? and why?
Usually one gets sent to that page and voila, there it is. In this email there was nothing to help. Thanks.
a lot of nonsense. HK & Singapore are 98% & 90% yellow. HK is 95% Han Chinese, Singapore is 75% Han. It would be fair to compare if US was 98% White, 90% Anglo-Saxon. Ethnic cohesion, common ancestry, common culture produce success, not other way around.
Look at Korea, Japan, China. Samsung, Hyundai, Sony, Panasonic, Canon, Nintendo, Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Subaru, Mazda. Why? Japan is 100% Yellow, 99% Japanese. Korea is 100% Yellow, 98% Korean.
Small govt, low taxes, free markets, private property are consequence, not the cause of common descent.
Dan Mitchell is wrong as usual.
Dan-
In terms of your compliments on Hong Kong and Singapore, be careful there as desired changes are afoot that appear to realign those societies and economies into something Mainland China finds more palatable. The vision of so-called Learning Cities that involve a social, political, and economic coordination on behalf of the worst off is coming in as education policy so it is mostly hidden. But it is far more than that and the vision involves levelling and targeting mindsets that are conducive to individualism.
It really came out in documents related to the 2010 Shanghai expo but I have been tracking it also through something called the Global Cities Education Network. http://www.invisibleserfscollar.com/misportraying-the-conspiracy-covers-up-the-broader-plans-of-political-and-economic-transformation/
This relates to what Brookings is pushing hard as Metropolitanism. Which used to be known as Regional Equity Movement. It is bad enough as US policy as it means ultimately using federal revenue sharing to quietly coerce staes and cities. But the equity part ultimately means the Red State prosperity will be exported to the Blue Hells. With no incentive for anything other than continued urban fiefdoms that control massive amounts of votes in federal elections.
We know what works and it is all being shut down in favor of Predator Statism. Especially anywhere liberty and free markets ever flourished.
Reblogged this on This Got My Attention and commented:
It’s good to see government enabling success rather than frustrating it.