Yes, Heavy Regulation Hurts the Economy. Just Look at France.

November 30, 2023

We’re often told European countries are better off thanks to big government policies. So why is the U.S. beating France in many important ways?

by Veronique de Rugy Reason.com

It’s fashionable to claim that the free market ideas of Nobel laureate economist Milton Friedman have failed the country, and that it’s time for new policies. Campaigning in 2020, Joe Biden declared that “Milton Friedman isn’t running the show anymore.” More recently, New York Times columnist David Leonhardt noted that people like Friedman promised that the free market “would bring prosperity for all. It has not.”

This is nonsense. For one thing, I wish we lived in a world fashioned more fully by Friedman’s ideas. Sadly, while his insights have indeed influenced some U.S. economic policies, particularly during former President Ronald Reagan’s administration, the extent of their implementation has been quite limited.