Filling out the facts on Denmark
By David Ong
Published on Monday, October 22, 2007
To the Editor:
In condemning libertarian economic policies of low taxes and low spending, professor John Campbell is at best misguided, and at worst grossly negligent in his pseudo-economic analysis of America and Denmark ("ExtraCurricular," Oct. 17).
He does not mention that America's GDP is significantly higher than Denmark's and has been growing more quickly, both of which one would predict given lower income taxes. Neither does he mention the lower corporate taxes in Denmark, which tend to compensate for the high income taxes (although Denmark does nonetheless have a higher overall tax burden). To his credit, economists do agree that a more educated population means a more productive population. But there is little evidence to suggest strong welfare programs or national health insurance strengthen economies, and plenty of intuitional reasons to think otherwise.
Cherry-picked facts, also known as propaganda, do little to convince an informed reader.