Economics

Do you think your taxes are too high or too low? Though I expect that well over 90 percent of you are thinking “too high,” many in the media and political class keep telling us taxes are too low. The left-leaning intelligentsia, in their arrogant smugness, claim we just don’t know what is good for us. Yet, they are the Read More ›

Which country receives the most in total foreign aid from all donors? The official numbers show Iraq at the top with $3 to $18 billion in aid (depending on how you define “aid”) and all the other recipient nations of the world at less than $3 billion per year. However, if you look at which nation benefits most from foreign Read More ›

This article, published by E-Commerce Times, mentions Discovery Institute Senior Fellow George Gilder: Contrary to what many technology gurus of the 1990s, including George Gilder, had predicted, turning computers into a commodity has boosted the technology business — and sales of computers across the economy. The rest of the article can be found here.

Why do Mexicans only have one-third the per capita income (on a purchasing power parity basis) of Canadians and only one-fourth that of Americans? The answer is that Mexicans are relatively poor because have been plagued by semidespotic regimes that have ignored the rule of law and often engaged in destructive economic policies. Mexicans have been free of their Spanish Read More ›

Do you think too much or too little is spent on defense? The U.S. government now spends a half-trillion dollars a year on its military, or about $1,700 for every man, woman and child in America.  I asked the opening question in the way many members of the media and political class pose it. The correct question is: What does Read More ›

The world that George Gilder envisioned in his provocative book Life After Television (Norton, 1990) has nearly arrived — more than a decade and a half behind schedule. Nowhere is that more evident than in the growth of the ‘blogosphere’ which threatens to overthrow the influence of the mass media by providing consumers with an endless supply of unfiltered news Read More ›

It is no secret that politicians frequently put all of us at risk because of their real or willful ignorance. Most wars are a result of political miscalculations, but so are many recessions, depressions and other economic calamities. What follows are three examples where the political class is putting us in danger because of economic ignorance or worse. U.S. Sens. Read More ›

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — Oscar Arias, while serving his first term as president of Costa Rica, won the Nobel Peace prize in 1987 for helping to negotiate the peace that ended the civil wars in Central America. Last month, after a long absence, he was elected to a second term as president by the narrowest of margins. This time Read More ›

If you were a very wealthy person and you really wanted to improve the lot of your fellow man by donating a large sum of money in the most cost-effective way possible, what would you do? According to the new Forbes list of the richest people, there are almost 800 billionaires in the world. Many of them are engaged in Read More ›

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands. — Like New Orleans, this city has had periods of past glory — evident in its many well preserved buildings from centuries back. But it has also been subject to major floods and other calamities over the last 900 years. That Amsterdam has managed to overcome similar adversity enables it to provide a role model for New Read More ›