Government spending and economic growth with Dr Dan Mitchell

<p>Here’s a link to Dr Dan Mitchell’s <a href="https://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/">International Liberty blog</a>. </p><p>Use these timestamps to jump right to the highlights:</p><ul><li>1:40 – Gene mentions the <a href="https://queenslandeconomywatch.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/the-optimal-size-of-government-in-australia.pdf">Optimal size of government in Australia paper</a> co-authored by Griffith University Professor Tony Makin and Economic Society of Australia (QLD) President Julian Pearce</li><li>3:00 – Dan notes empirical literature suggests optimal size of government around 20% of GDP</li><li>10:20 – discussion of OECD research on government spending and growth (see this <a href="http://www.oecd.org/economy/public-finance/The-effect-of-the-size-and-the-mix-of-public-spending-on-growth-and-inequality-working-paper.pdf">OECD working paper</a> and <a href="https://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2016/11/28/oecd-economic-research-finds-that-government-spending-harms-growth/">Dan’s blog plot</a>)</li><li>17:10 – Dan notes the 1930s and 1960s were the two periods where the size of government really stepped up</li><li>20:05 – how a value-added tax (VAT) promotes growth of government</li><li>30:55 – discussion of Adam Smith’s dictum “Little else is requisite to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence from the lowest barbarism but peace, easy taxes, and tolerable administration of justice…” (see this <a href="https://oll.libertyfund.org/quotes/436">Online Library of Liberty post</a>)</li><li>32:45 – using foreign judges to import the rule of law </li></ul>