Free to Grow: Unlocking Economic Prosperity

On Tuesday, 26 September CIS hosted a special evening featuring Professor John Cochrane for a lecture and conversation with economist and CIS adjunct fellow Gene Tunny. This event will be Professor Cochrane’s only public appearance in Australia.
Creeping stagnation ought to be recognised as the central economic issue of our time. Growth is not just more stuff, it’s vastly better goods and services; it’s health, environment, education, and culture; it’s defence, social programs, and repaying government debt. Why are we stagnating?
Much regulation protects politically influential businesses, workers, and other constituencies from the disruptions of growth. Responsive democracies give people what they want, good and hard. And in return, regulation extorts political support from those beneficiaries. We have to fix the regulatory structure, to give growth a seat at the table.
Economists are somewhat at fault too. They are taught to look at every problem, diagnose “market failure,” and advocate new rules to be implemented by an omniscient, benevolent planner. But we do not live in a free market. When you see a problem, look first for the regulation that caused it.
John Cochrane is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution in California and an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute in Washington. He is author of The Fiscal Theory of the Price Level (Princeton University Press) and The Grumpy Economist a blog of news, views, and commentary, from a humorous free-market point of view.
Gene Tunny, a former Australian Treasury official, is director of Adept Economics and a 1997 CIS Liberty and Society alumnus. He is author Debunking Degrowth (CIS) and Beautiful One Day, Broke the Next: Queensland’s Public Finances Since Sir Joh and Sir Leo (Connor Court).
______________________________________________________________________________________________
CIS promotes free choice and individual liberty and the open exchange of ideas. CIS encourages debate among leading academics, politicians, media and the public. We aim to make sure good policy ideas are heard and seriously considered so that Australia can prosper. Follow CIS on our Socials;
Twitter - / cisoz
Facebook - / centreindependentstudies
Linkedin - / the-centre-for-indepen...
Telegram - t.me/centreforindependentstudies
📖 Read more from CIS here: www.cis.org.au/
💬 Join in the conversation in the comments.
👍 Like this video if you enjoyed it and want to see more, it really helps us out!
🔔 Subscribe to our channel and click the bell to watch our videos first: / @cisaus
⏲️ Missed this event live? Subscribe to CIS to be up to date with all our events:
www.cis.org.au/subscribe/
📝 Subscribe to CIS mailing list- www.cis.org.au/subscribe/
💳 Support us with a tax-deductible donation at - www.cis.org.au/support/

[@bealzy]

Can't wait to listen to this one, I listen to John on his good fellows podcast from the Hoover institute ❤

[@roberthumphreys7977]

Gene, life expectancy is more dependent on life style than on health care. Health care is what you need when as a result of an unhealthy life style. The poor relative life expectancy of Americans versus people of other advanced economies is primarily a result of unhealthy American life styles, particularly with respect to diet, exercise, and obesity. No amount of healthcare spending will make up for poor life style choice. The US answer to this problem? Call anyone who points out the problem a "fat shamer". The government has been trying to incentivize healthy behavior (e.g. exercise) for decades while the same government simultaneously and knowingly advocated an unhealthy diet (e.g. the Department of Agriculture recommending a high carb diet that made the USA into Carbohydrate Nation) in response to farm lobbying.