Category: Economic Reform

Free markets need free politics: A business case for saving democracy

     

Dissatisfaction with democracy has increased worldwide, a recent Pew Center report observed, with only 45% of people stating that they are “satisfied with the way democracy is working in their… Read more »

Market democracies’ ‘Faustian bargain’ being questioned

     

The United States ranks 15 in the Human Freedom Index 2019 released today by the Cato Institute, Canada’s Fraser Institute, and the Liberales Institut at Germany’s Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom…. Read more »

China’s corrosive capitalism conflicts with West’s liberal meritocratic model

     

China’s economic success undermines the West’s claim that there is a necessary link between capitalism and liberal democracy, argues Branko Milanovic, a Senior Scholar at the Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality… Read more »

Can new social compact resolve tension between democratic recession and resilience?

     

The collapse of communism in Europe 30 years ago ended a broader social-democratic compact. Does the failure to refashion that compact explain varying degrees of democratic recession and resilience? NATO… Read more »

Poverty & Freedom: Inequality feeding democracy’s susceptibilities to degeneration?

     

Enhancing global prosperity must begin with supporting locally-led initiatives that eliminate institutional barriers to freedom—and give citizens greater choice over their future, according to a new book. Governments and philanthropists… Read more »

Capitalism vs democracy: Europe’s hard problem – or source of resilience?

     

Modern Europe’s political structure is based on the supposition that capitalism and democracy can be compatible – so the most urgent challenge of our times is reconciling the two, argues… Read more »

150 years of data proves autocrats are bad for the economy

     

Deference to autocratic rulers is not only a bad idea for democracy: It’s terrible for the economy, too, according to a new analysis. The authors of the study published in… Read more »

Misplaced market dogma behind democracies’ legitimacy crisis?

     

Misplaced faith in markets lies behind liberal democracies’ legitimacy crisis, according to Sebastian Mallaby, the Paul A. Volcker Senior Fellow for International Economics at the Council on Foreign Relations and… Read more »

Democracy fosters economic growth (but democratization is no walk in the park)

     

Democracy fosters economic growth, with researchers finding vast gains in productivity after countries democratize, according to a new study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology: Research shows that when it… Read more »

Democracy is no longer the only path to prosperity?

     

Countries rated ‘not free’ are increasingly able to offer their citizens high incomes, Will democratic ideals lose their appeal?  Roberto Stefan Foa and Yascha Mounk ask in the Wall Street… Read more »