Economics

VIENNA, Austria. — Human lifespans in developed countries have been increasing 15 seconds every minute for the past 125 years, and they are increasing even faster in the developing countries — on average about 20 seconds every minute. This means that in Europe and America lifespans increase about one year over every four-year period. Why has this happened? In one Read More ›

Does the language you speak or use help influence how wealthy you are? When trying to determine why some countries are wealthier than others, economists rarely, if at all, consider language. However, if you look at the list of wealthiest countries on a per capita income basis, you will notice almost all the top 20 are English-speaking, or use some Read More ›

Is the European Union a democracy? The Europeans and most others will argue yes, but there are many different degrees of democracy. Many Europeans increasingly feel powerless when it comes to their national government and particularly that of the EU, and for good reason. Despite the fact that many of the nations of Europe are much older than the U.S., Read More ›

This article, published by National Review, mentions Discovery Institute Senior Fellow George Gilder: The most articulate and successful advocates of tax cuts in the last thirty years — George Gilder, Jack Kemp, Ronald Reagan, Wall Street Journal editorial page editors, and Steve Forbes among them — all argued for cuts to prompt higher economic growth. The rest of the article can be Read More ›

Alain Akouala, communications minister for the Republic of Congo, in his June 11 article in the Commentary pages of The Washington Times, made an interesting stab at defending the indefensible. For those who have not followed the story, here is a quick summary. The Republic of Congo (not to be confused with the former Belgium Congo next door) is an Read More ›

You can bet that almost anytime a politician attempts to raise your taxes or pushes for a big, new government spending program, the justification is at least partially based on the results of some mathematical model. Al Gore, and many others endorsing the global warming rage, tell us the climate models show government must do something about global warming before Read More ›

ROME, Italy. — Sitting in a pleasant cafe on a sunny spring day, my Italian friend arrives and says, “Richard we have had a wonderful month here in Italy because we have had no government.” He referred to the fact that between the defeat of the last government at the polls and formation of the new government, no new initiative Read More ›

Assume you are a mid-level bureaucrat in a government regulatory agency, and you know your pay and title depend on how many regulations you are responsible for administering, and the number of people who work for you. Do you think you would push for more or fewer regulations? Assume you are a corporate regulatory compliance officer, and again you know Read More ›

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 ›