Crony Capitalism

June 28, 2023

Orban Is Running Out of Other People’s Money

There once was a time when foreign investors regarded Hungary as the tax haven of the European Union. Boasting a low corporate tax rate, a new flat tax, and most importantly for many investors massive subsidies from the Hungarian government to “create jobs,” this was Hungary’s claim to fame. Continue Reading...

August 16, 2021

America’s meat industry needs more freedom, less federal control

In the early 17th century, Calvinist philosopher Johannes Althusius put a distinctly Christian spin on earlier concepts of political subsidiarity. Althusius visualized civil bodies as not parts of a whole, but critical and complete entities in themselves. Continue Reading...

July 23, 2021

America suffers from economic nationalism

One of the biggest political upheavals in America over recent years has been a resurgence in economic nationalism. Given the amount of regulation with which it is burdened, America’s economy can hardly be described as laissez-faire. Continue Reading...

June 05, 2021

America is crossing economic Rubicon of government management

If anyone had any lingering doubts about where American economic policy is heading over the next four years, those should have been removed by President Joe Biden’s proposed $6 trillion budget for 2022. Continue Reading...

February 09, 2021

How the $15 minimum wage accelerates community decline

As Congress debates the specifics of yet another stimulus bill, President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders continue to push for the inclusion a $15 federal minimum wage – a policy that is only likely to prolong pandemic pain for America’s most vulnerable businesses and workers. Continue Reading...

February 02, 2021

Economic policy should focus on economic issues

With any new presidential administration comes new policies. That’s part of the electoral calculus made by the American people every four years. Different presidents have different priorities. No one expects otherwise. Continue Reading...

October 07, 2020

When cronyism meets ‘creative destruction’

Amid rapid globalization, Americans have faced new pressures when it comes to economic change, leading to abundant prosperity, as well as significant pain and disruption across communities. In search of a villain, populists and progressives routinely blame the expansion of free trade and rise of global conglomerates, arguing that entrenched and moneyed interests are now allowed to run rampant from country to country with little competition or accountability. Continue Reading...

October 07, 2020

COVID-19 and crony capitalism

Who wins in the COVID-19 economy? In some cases, outright fraud allows businesses to prosper. In other cases, political connections enable businesses to collect revenue from the federal government. Crony capitalism is defined by the Mercatus Center as “an economic system in which the profitability of firms in a market economy depends on political connections.” Continue Reading...

January 29, 2020

Alejandro Chafuen in Forbes: Corruption and economic freedom

Alejandro Chafuen, Acton’s Managing Director, International, writes this morning in Forbes about the relationship between economic freedom and corruption. Transparency International released its 2019 Corruption Perceptions Index last week, and Chafuen correlates these results with countries’ rankings in the Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom. Continue Reading...

January 20, 2020

Donald Boudreaux on why Oren Cass’s comparative advantage is not discussing comparative advantage

Last week I wrote about the basic economic illiteracy behind of Oren Cass’s case for industrial policy. So basic were the mistakes that I thought perhaps I had misread Cass’s argument. Continue Reading...

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