By Howard Rich
Of all the myths helping to sustain the unsustainable status quo in Washington, D.C., among the most widely accepted is the belief that a politician’s seniority translates into tangible economic benefits for his or her district. In fact, this perception works hand-in-glove with another central government myth — the one about politicians being able to create private sector jobs with your tax dollars in the first place.
Perpetuated by aspiring elected officials at all levels of government (and parroted by an intellectually incurious mainstream media), these Keynesian pillars have gone virtually unchallenged for years — allowing government to continue devouring additional chunks of private sector industries it claims to be strengthening.
In recent years, however, public distrust of government has fueled renewed skepticism regarding these two myths — although the academic appetite to challenge them theoretically has been predictably lacking.
In fact, the research that could end up blowing these myths out of the water seems to have come about accidentally — or at least as an afterthought. Three professors at Harvard Business School — Lauren Cohen, Joshua Coval and Christopher Malloy — were examining the correlation between politically-connected firms and powerful legislative committee chairmen when they stumbled upon something “unexpected.”
What did they discover? Something free market advocates have known for years: Government spending kills jobs.
Get full story here.
No comments:
Post a Comment