Most economies are very large and complex, and even relatively free market economies have extensive government intervention. This complexity allows people to find evidence to support almost any position on the question of optimal policy regimes. In a country that is viewed as relatively successful, it is almost always possible to find a few examples of policies that you favor. Then you merely need to claim that these policies explain the success of your chosen example.
Similarly, in a country that is widely viewed as economically unsuccessful, it is almost always possible to find specific policies that you disagree with. Then you can claim that these bad policies explain why the country is doing poorly. Due to motivated reasoning, I suspect that we usually overestimate the impact of any single policy on a country’s overall policy regime.
— Read on scottsumner.substack.com/p/the-world-is-bigger-than-you-can
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