“Very unlikely” current welfare system will survive the Covid-19 pandemic, says new IEA briefing By Dr. Stephen Davies, courtesy of IEA Radical changes to the welfare system are historically associated with major crises and events such as wars, civil unrest, famines or epidemics. There is no reason that it will this time be any different, says a new […]
Tag: welfare
Canada needs immigration to drive growth
“Increase Immigration – Increase Prosperity” By Matthew Lau, courtesy of the Frontier Centre for Public Policy One of the big policy issues for the federal government this year, as well as in the Conservative leadership race, is immigration. By a margin of 63 percent to 7 percent, according to a recent Leger poll, […]
A European Minimum Wage Is the Next Bad Idea from Brussels
By Bill Wirtz, courtesy of the Austrian Economics Center The incoming European Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs has only about one thing in common with yours truly: he’s Luxembourgish. Nicolas Schmit is a lifelong socialist and has been Minister of Labor in Luxembourg for as far as I can remember. Bureaucrat-made-politician, Schmit […]
Limits on Pension Investments Hurt Returns
By Ian Madsen, courtesy of Frontier Centre for Public Policy Recently, members of ‘Extinction Rebellion’, a climate change activist group, sat in protest at the University of British Columbia, beginning a hunger strike on January 6th, trying to stop UBC’s pension fund from making or holding any investments in fossil-fuel-related companies. Sadly, the […]
White House takes victory lap with economic report
By Erik Sass, TES Editor-in-Chief The United States is enjoying the longest period of economic growth in its history, now 127 months into the current economic expansion, with unemployment hovering around 3.5% and a GDP growth rate of 2.3% of 2019. The White House highlighted these gains – and the benefits […]
France shows the results of 50 years of short-term politics, statism
“Why did France choose unemployment and debt?” By Patrick Aulnas, courtesy of Contrepoints For half a century, France has made an implicit choice: mass unemployment and public debt . The two elements are linked because the size of the state weighs heavily on the economy and harms its dynamism. Hyper-regulation and massive taxes hamper the functioning […]
It’s not too late for Argentina to reform
“10 measures that Libertad y Progreso proposes for the first 100 days of Alberto Fernández presidency” Libertad y Progreso The measures taken during the first 100 days will determine the viability of an orderly solution of the public debt and the recovery of trust that will start a positive growth process. Only with a strong […]
“This is a mess”: QE isn’t working – and neither is government
By Erik Sass, TES Editor-in-Chief Collectively and individually the countries of Europe face economic problems that they are either unwilling or unable to confront due to a lack of political courage, despite the availability of effective remedies. That was the bleak takeaway from a panel discussion of economic and political experts at the […]
“Both parties have abandoned fiscal restraint”
“Both parties have “abandoned fiscal restraint” in favour of more borrowing” By Prof. Syed Kamall, courtesy of IEA Today’s election speeches show both parties have abandoned fiscal restraint in favour of increases in public spending to be paid for through extra borrowing. The Labour Shadow Chancellor has pledged to more than […]
Minimum wage hike led to less working time, higher prices in Germany
“Four years statutory minimum wage – an overview of the most important research findings” Courtesy of IAB It was the most radical reform of the German labor market since Agenda 2010: the introduction of the statutory minimum wage in 2015. At that time, science and practice contradicted each other in partly diametrically opposed […]