24/09/2007 12:54:41 pm
In Economic Affairs: "Big Government - How to Create Poverty". In the latest edition of the respected journal Economic Affairs, one of the main contributions comes from my pen. The topic of the whole edition is "Poverty Amidst Affluence". An article in this journal is about 10 pages, so there is more space than usual to present the case.

My message is that Karl Marx was fundamentally wrong in his point about the free economy, capitalism, oppressing workers and creating poverty. On the contrary, now that capitalism spreads over the world, poverty decreases faster than ever. And countries in the Western world that have liberated their economies the most, have seen the most rapid increases in incomes - not least for people with low incomes.

And countries that introduced vast state interventions in the economy have experienced serious social problems. Not least was this of course the case where the interventions were extreme, in the centrally planned economies. But these differences are also visible in Western Europe today. The policy conclusion is that if you want to fight poverty, then launch reforms that reverse Marx and liberate the economy.

Due to copyrights, the article cannot be published on the web. One can read more about Economic Affairs, and subscribe, here. And a printed copy of my article, which will be delivered by mail, can be ordered by sending an e-mail to info@timbro.se.