Harvard Economist Ed Glaeser Makes a Key Point Regarding Effective
Governments:
“Every big government
makes mistakes -- generous public pensions that start at young ages, subsidies
that pay farmers to leave fields fallow, unlimited health-care promises.
Effective governments are able to abandon mistaken policies that imperil
society, even against the powerful opposition of the favored few who benefit
from the programs.
Sweden may be the most
obvious example of a social democracy that went too far and reshaped itself. In
the early 1970s, Sweden was an economic rock star, but its overregulated,
overtaxed economy lost ground in the 1970s and 1980s and experienced a crisis
from 1990 to 1993. The country responded with significant reforms,
deregulating, privatizing pensions and moving from vast deficits to budget
surpluses. The reforms weren’t easy -- previously favored companies and workers
lost out -- but the good of the country triumphed over the good of particular
interest groups.”
---
---
Meanwhile, Stanford Economist Michael Boskin Considers the
Impact of Bad Governance on California: