Does Sweden Have the Right Response to the Coronavirus?

Having already written several dozen columns on public policy and the coronavirus, it’s time to add my two cents to the debate over Sweden’s (comparatively) laissez-faire approach to the pandemic. If nothing else, it’s remarkable that the nation Bernie Sanders praised for socialism (albeit incorrectly) is now the poster child for (some) libertarians. What makes […]

Read Full Post »

Norway, Sweden, Socialism, and the Welfare State

The Nordic nations punch above their weight in global discussions of economic policy. Advocates of bigger government in the United States, such as Bernie Sanders, claim that those countries are proof that socialism can work. But there’s a big problem with that claim. The Nordic nations don’t have any of the policies – government ownership, […]

Read Full Post »

Reforms to Sweden’s Retirement System and Lessons for the United States

Given Social Security’s enormous long-run financial problems, the program eventually will need reform. But what should be done? Some folks on the left, such as Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, support huge tax increases to prop up the program. Such an approach would have a very negative impact on the economy and, because of built-in […]

Read Full Post »

Evidence from Sweden Showing that Taxable Income Is the Key Variable in the Laffer Curve, not Tax Revenue

I know exactly how Ronald Reagan must have felt back in 1980 when he famously said “There you go again” to Jimmy Carter during their debate. That’s because I endlessly have to deal with critics who try to undercut the Laffer Curve by claiming that it’s based on the notion that all tax cuts “pay […]

Read Full Post »

The Rise and Fall (and Rise) of Sweden

I’m in Sweden today, where I just spoke before Timbro (a prominent classical liberal think tank) about the US elections and the implications for public policy. My main message was pessimism since neither Donald Trump nor Hillary Clinton support genuine entitlement reform. But I’ve addressed that topic many times before. Today, motivated by my trip, […]

Read Full Post »

In One Chart, Everything You Need to Know about Big Government, the Welfare State, and Sweden’s Economy

Sweden punches way above its weight in debates about economic policy. Leftists all over the world (most recently, Bernie Sanders) say the Nordic nation is an example that proves a big welfare state can exist in a rich nation. And since various data sources (such as the IMF’s huge database) show that Sweden is relatively […]

Read Full Post »

Debunking Leftist Mythology on Sweden and Denmark

I’m still in China, as part of a week-long teaching assignment about markets, entrepreneurship, economics, and fiscal policy at Northeastern University in Shenyang. One point that I’ve tried to get across to the students is that China should not copy the United States. Or France, Japan, or Sweden. To be more specific, I warn them […]

Read Full Post »

Sweden Isn’t a Good Role Model for Bernie Sanders

Senator Bernie Sanders wants to dramatically increase the burden of government and he claims that his policies won’t lead to economic misery because nations such as Sweden show that you can be a prosperous country with a big welfare state. Perhaps, but there are degrees of prosperity. And a large public sector imposes a non-trivial […]

Read Full Post »

No Matter How You Slice the Data, Senator Sanders and other Leftists Are Wrong to Think Nations like Sweden and Denmark Are More Prosperous than America

I periodically make comparisons of the United States and Europe that are not very flattering for our cousins across the Atlantic. Though this isn’t because of any animus toward Europe. Indeed, I always enjoy my visits. And some of America’s best (albeit eroding) features, such as rule of law and dignity of the individual, are […]

Read Full Post »

Lessons from Sweden about Welfare and Immigration

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 side, Sweden has one of the world’s […]

Read Full Post »

Copy Sweden or Greece? Learning from the Global Economic Experiment

While theory is important, I suspect most people are more likely to be convinced by real-world evidence. This is why I frequently compare nations when arguing that free markets and small government are the best way of generating prosperity. Simply stated, I want people to understand that economic liberty produces faster growth, and that faster […]

Read Full Post »

Sweden, Spending Restraint, and the Benefits of Obeying Fiscal Policy’s Golden Rule

When I first started working on fiscal policy in the 1980s, I never thought I would consider Sweden any sort of role model. It was the quintessential cradle-to-grave welfare state, much loved on the left as an example for America to follow. But Sweden suffered a severe economic shock in the early 1990s and policy […]

Read Full Post »

Which Nation Has the Most Per-Capita Government Spending on Healthcare: France, Italy, the United States, Sweden, Canada, Greece, or the United Kingdom?

What government spends the most on health care? Is it Canada or the United Kingdom, which are famous (or, if these stories are any indication, infamous would be a better description) for single-payer healthcare systems? Is it Sweden, the home of the cradle-to-grave welfare state? Or France, the land of the world’s most statist people? […]

Read Full Post »

If Sweden’s Big Welfare State Is Superior to America’s Medium Welfare State, then Why Do Swedes in America Earn Far More than Swedes in Sweden?

In my travels through Europe, I often wind up debating whether policy is better in the United States or Europe. I generally try to explain that this is the wrong comparison, both because Europe is not a monolithic bloc and also because most individual nations have both good policies and bad policies. But sometimes you […]

Read Full Post »

Sweden: The Sensible (and Slowly Shrinking) Welfare State

Sweden must be a schizophrenic country. Something strange is happening, after all, if a statist like Jeffrey Sachs and a rabid libertarian like yours truly both cited it as a role model in our remarks last month at the United Nations. So who’s right? Well, it depends what you care about. Jeffrey and other folks […]

Read Full Post »

Time to Follow Sweden’s Lead on Fiscal Policy

Sweden has a very large and expensive welfare state, but it’s actually becoming a bit of a role model for economic reform. I’ve already commented on the country’s impressive school choice system and noted that the Swedes have partially privatized their Social Security system. I even wrote a Cato study looking at the good and […]

Read Full Post »

Sweden Is a Role Model…but for Free Market Reforms, not Socialism

Johnny Munkhammar is a member of the Swedish Parliament and a committed supporter of economic liberalization. He has a column in the Wall Street Journal Europe that does a great job of explaining how Sweden became rich when it was a small-government, pro-market nation. He then notes that his country veered off track in the […]

Read Full Post »

Why Does Obama Want to Make America More Like Sweden When Swedish Politicians Are Trying to Move in the Opposite Direction?

Read Full Post »

New York’s Fiscal Suicide

The state of New York is an economic disaster area. New York is ranked #50 in the Economic Freedom of North America. New York is ranked #48 in the State Business Tax Climate Index. New York is ranked #50 in the Freedom in the 50 States. New York is next-to-last in measures of inbound migration. […]

Read Full Post »

Another Honest Leftist Admits Big Government Requires Big Tax Hikes on the Middle Class

It’s simple to mock Democrats like Joe Biden, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Bernie Sanders. One reason they’re easy targets is they want people to believe that America can finance a European-style welfare state with higher taxes on the rich. That’s nonsensical. Simply stated, there are not enough rich people and they don’t earn enough money (and […]

Read Full Post »

Immigration, Part II: Turning America into a Welfare Magnet

In Part I of this series, I explained why it’s absurd to think illegal immigration can be stopped by sending foreign aid to less-developed countries, such as many of those in Central America. Simply stated, government-to-government handouts have never been a successful strategy for turning poor nations into rich nations. Indeed, aid actually discourages countries […]

Read Full Post »

A Huge Victory for Education in West Virginia

As a public finance economist, I’m a huge fan of fiscal reforms such as a spending cap or a flat tax. But, if asked to pick the reform that would have the biggest positive impact for the United States, I’d be very tempted to pick school choice. Largely because of the pernicious effect of teacher […]

Read Full Post »

Five Notable Takeaways from the 2021 Index of Economic Freedom

The 2021 edition of the Index of Economic Freedom was released today (as I’ve repeatedly stated, it’s my favorite annual publication from the Heritage Foundation). There are five things that merit attention 1. Hong Kong is no longer in first place. Indeed, it’s no longer even part of the rankings because the authors have determined […]

Read Full Post »

The Looming Crisis of Demographic Decline and Entitlement Expansion

There are many compelling economic arguments against entitlement programs. They discourage savings. They discourage work. They are funded with taxes. They are funded with debt. Since I’m a libertarian, I also have moral concerns about tax-and-transfer programs. Today, though, let’s address the big problem of entitlements and demographics, especially with regards to social insurance programs […]

Read Full Post »

The Case Against Socialism, Part II

Two years ago, I explained that socialism is an economic failure, regardless of how it is defined. In today’s follow-up column, let’s start with an excellent video from John Stossel. Before addressing the three myths mentioned in the video, it’s worth noting that there’s a technical definition of socialism based on policies such as government […]

Read Full Post »

What Matters More to Biden: Union Bosses or Poor Children?

I have a Bureaucrat Hall of Fame to highlight government employees who have turned sloth and overcompensation into an art form, and I have a Moocher Hall of Fame to illustrate the destructive entitlement mindset that exists when politicians pay people to do nothing. I’m now thinking we also need another Hall of Fame to […]

Read Full Post »

The Destabilizing Mix of Demography and Entitlements, Part I

I’ve written many times about demographic change and the implications for public policy – both in the United States and around the world. Simply stated, it will be increasingly difficult to maintain tax-and-transfer entitlement programs in societies where people are having fewer children and people are living longer. I’m raising this issue because I spoke […]

Read Full Post »

Teacher Unions vs. Students

Coronavirus has been a dark cloud. But if we want to find a silver lining, the government’s bungled response to the pandemic has exposed some weaknesses in the government school monopoly. And this could mean opportunity for competing structures that can do a better job of educating kids. School choice – An approach where parents […]

Read Full Post »

The Case Against Biden’s Class-Warfare Tax Policy, Part III

In Part I of this series, I explained that President-Elect Biden’s soak-the-rich agenda didn’t make sense because the internal revenue code already is very biased against upper-income taxpayers. Indeed, the U.S. tax system is even more weighted against the rich than the tax codes of nations such as France and Sweden. In Part II of […]

Read Full Post »

Equality, Equity, and Capitalism

In an ad during last year’s campaign, Kamala Harris asserted that “equitable treatment means we all end up at the same place.” In other words, lots of class-warfare taxation to finance lots of means-tested redistribution. Here’s an oft-used meme illustrating this argument that fairness is only possible with “equality of outcomes.” I admit this is […]

Read Full Post »