I highly recommend Johnny Munkhammar’s piece on TCS Daily about the success of free-market reforms around the world. Here’s a taste:
Several countries cut taxes substantially and made them simpler. Ireland was the first country to decrease corporate tax radically, from 50 to 12.5 per cent. Average incomes have now doubled in one decade, and the low-income households decreased as a share of total households from 42 to 14 per cent in 15 years. Some 16 countries have introduced flat tax systems, making taxation simple and education beneficial.
The Netherlands launched a thorough health care reform, providing all citizens with private health care insurance – and care from providers in free competition. This allows choice, and most Dutch have used that right. It also benefits efficiency and quality. A price ceiling guarantees that people with chronic illnesses can afford treatment. Other countries have also opened up health care for competition, noticing increases in productivity.
Most countries need to reform pension systems, due to the demographic pressures and the need to cut public spending and taxes. And several countries have begun reform; Japan and Germany have indexed pensions. Australia has introduced funded pensions, Sweden has personal retirement accounts – and in reality no mandatory pensions age. This has made pensions more sustainable.
Sweden introduced school vouchers. Pupils and their parents get a voucher from the state representing 85 per cent of the public education cost, which can be used to pay for education in any school. The share of pupils in primary school that attend private schools increased from zero to eight per cent and for high school from almost zero to fifteen per cent in little more than a decade. Studies have shown that choice and competition lead to increases in quality in both public and private schools.
