Richard W. Rahn

Corruption and prosperity

What is the single most important determinate as to whether a country is rich or poor? It is not the level of government spending, taxation, regulation or monetary stability -- even though those factors are very important.

October 31, 2016

Backers of third-party candidates likely to have regrets

Four years from now, will you regret having voted for the person you chose this year for president? In decision theory, there is a concept called "regret," which is the emotion experienced when realizing that an alternative course of action would have likely resulted in a more favorable outcome.

October 24, 2016

The Russian enigma and the U.S. election

Does Vladimir Putin want Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump to win the presidency? Those supporting Hillary claim that Mr. Putin wants Mr. Trump to win, and they claim that is why WikiLeaks is putting out the Hillary emails and speeches.

October 17, 2016

Hypocrisy’s heavy economic price

Were you shocked when you heard Donald Trump's lewd comments? Were you shocked when Hillary Clinton, the leader of "destroy-the-women-victims-of-Bill-Clinton's bimbo eruptions" and a notorious potty mouth herself, said Mr. Trump was unqualified to be president?

October 10, 2016

Obama loyalists reckless and lawless

During the past two weeks, officials in the Obama "Justice" Department almost caused a new global financial crisis, because they put political considerations above the national welfare. Government is supposed to protect person and property, not put the citizens at greater risk.

October 3, 2016

Separating economic sense and nonsense

Why is it that many politicians and journalists can quickly grasp the idea that if the tax on cigarettes or soft drinks with sugar is increased, the demand for them will decline, but seem unable to understand that increasing a tax on labor, like a mandated increase in the minimum wage, will cause a decline in the demand for labor, leading to higher unemployment?

September 26, 2016

A reality check of the election

Government spending and borrowing are once again growing as a percentage of GDP. The federal debt held by the public was 35 percent in 2007. It is 74 percent today, and is projected to be 140 percent in 2046 — provided nothing goes wrong.

September 19, 2016

Why equal justice matters

More than two years ago, several independent researchers, investigative journalists and columnists (including yours truly) began providing evidence and reporting on apparent funds from Russian government-controlled entities funneling into U.S. environmental groups.

September 12, 2016

Tax malpractice in the EU

Why would the Irish government argue against receiving $14.5 billion (yes that is a billion with a B) in income taxes that the European Union says Apple owes it? The amount is greater than the entire Irish budget, yet they are saying, "No thank you." Both the EU and the Apple executives, including CEO Tim Cook, have engaged in tax malpractice.

September 5, 2016

Gains on commodity sales a real loser of a tax

Would you be in favor of a tax that loses money for the government, and penalizes entrepreneurship, job creation and economic growth? Only muddy-brained or mean-spirited people would favor such a tax — yet many such people are found in the Internal Revenue Service and Congress. The tax that I am referring to is the capital gains tax, and even more specifically, the capital gains tax as it is applied to the sale of commodities.

August 29, 2016

Causing less harm by doing nothing on climate change

It has not only been a waste of money, it has done real harm. Some trillions of hard-earned taxpayer dollars have been spent to combat global warming over the last three decades. Has the expenditure of all of this money reduced global temperatures from where they would have otherwise been? No, at least not to a measurable degree.

August 22, 2016

The case for free trade

Do you support free trade? Many business people, politicians and workers say they are in favor of free trade, "but with conditions" -- because they can see and feel the job losses but not the job and income gains.

August 15, 2016

Capitalist economies are prosperous economies

Which presidential candidate's policies are likely to cause higher growth?

August 8, 2016

Wild charges over hacking of the DNC

Did the Russians hack the emails of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Hillary Clinton? The answer is almost certainly "yes," but that does not mean that the DNC and other emails were released on behalf of the Kremlin to help Donald Trump. The basis for my skepticism of the charge that the email dumps were ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin is as follows.

August 1, 2016

A regulatory plague from Austin

All plagues, whether they are biological or destructive policy ideas, begin at some specific place and time. The city of Austin, Texas, is now the place of origin of what could be a very costly experiment.

July 25, 2016

Book burners and gun banners

Environmental zealots and the politically correct have become modern-day book burners in their attempts to criminalize and repress the speech of those who disagree with them. The Nazis and other dictatorial regimes used the old practice of book burnings and gun seizures as a way of maintaining control and intimidation.

July 18, 2016

Progress is improving human life

It is the worst of times -- well no, not really. This past week we had shootings of police and shootings by police. The world economy and political situation is a mess. It is a time of crisis -- without an apparent Churchill, Thatcher or Reagan. Yet, in many ways, things have never been better.

July 11, 2016

Businesses can get too big to succeed

Have you ever wondered why it is that even the most successful companies invariably stall out in terms of growth and profits? The reason is that any organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit, or a government, reaches a point where it can no longer be managed in an effective and efficient manner as it was when it was smaller.

July 4, 2016

Brexit a revolt against the unaccountable

The Brexit vote is just the beginning of the revolt against unaccountable institutions and persons. The global political-economic class reacted with horror when a majority of British citizens said "enough is enough," by voting to leave the EU.

June 27, 2016

Changing minds with words, not weapons

Most people who have reached a certain age have changed their minds about something or someone that they firmly believed in the past. Many of the real conflicts in society, including hate-driven mass shootings, result from people who fail to acknowledge, even to themselves, that they could be wrong.

June 20, 2016