Some time ago I stumbled on the CATO Institute’s Dan Mitchell. He has an awesome video on how to balance the budget; a concept I’ve taken a liking to:
He also has his own blog that he regularly contributes to. The other day he referenced a great post of his where he links economic freedom to prosperity:
What’s responsible for the turn-around in each of these nation’s welfare?
As Mr. Mitchell says:
— Chile’s score jumped from 5.6 in 1980 to 8.0 in 2008, and the country now ranks as the world’s 4th-freest economy (ahead of the United States!).
— Argentina’s ranking has improved a bit, rising from 4.4 to 6.0 between 1980 and 2008, but that still only puts them in 94th-place in the world rankings.
— Venezuela, by contrast, is embarrassingly bad. The nation’s score has dropped from 6.3 to 4.4, and its ranking has plunged from 22nd-place in 1980 to 121st-place in 2006.
Chile was the poorest and is now the most wealthy of the three. Venezuela has seen just the reverse.
Fascinating.