Economia

Let us assume for this thought experiment; the OECD and FATF have their way on "unfair tax competition."

A recent article in Business Insider by Jim Edwards offers putative “Proof That Government Spending Cuts Hurt Economic Growth.” He even goes so far as to claim that “war is good (economically).” In this article, I’ll explain what’s wrong with this popular and age-old fallacy.

We regularly hear how important consumer spending is for the economy. The story goes like this: the more consumers spend, the more money circulates in the economy, which stimulates healthy job growth and profits. If people could be encouraged to go out and spend a little more of their paychecks, we’d all be better off. Remember the infamous “stimulus checks” back in 2008? Same idea.

The beauty of the market economy is that we can all enjoy a variety of goods and services despite the fact that some people, like myself, are really lousy at many tasks.

Again and again we hear it said: "The problem of production has been solved." Look at the stocks of wheat and bales of cotton go­ing begging! Consider the giant steel mills and factories with un­used capacity that could be brought into production! Many view this unused wealth, the sur­pluses and potential productive power, as a breakdown in distri­bution.

By Susan Athey, Michael Kremer, Christopher Snyder and Alex Tabarrok

The Covid-19 virus has killed over 200,000 people, overwhelmed health systems and confined billions of people in their homes. Large sections of the world economy have been locked down.

By Paul Romer

Imagine a world in which the only way to get a soda is to get your doctor to write a prescription. It costs $20 per can. Your insurance company pays. The economy produces about 100,000 sodas each day.

By Gonzalo Schwarz

Because the coronavirus pandemic is an unprecedented black swan event, we’ve seen many mistakes and delayed responses that were more reactive than proactive. There will certainly be no shortage of lessons to be learned.

By Steve Horwitz