Those sensitive and caring northern European welfare states do tax families rather heavily even after accounting for family cash benefits.
Source: Taxing Wages 2015 – OECD 2015.
Income tax plus employee contributions less cash benefits as % of earnings by family type in USA, Britain, Canada, Sweden, France, Italy, Denmark, Germany, Australia and New Zealand
04 Mar 2016 Leave a comment
in fiscal policy, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, public economics Tags: Australia, British economy, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, social insurance, Social Security, Sweden, taxation and labour supply
Those much admired northern European welfare states tax families and individuals much more than do the Anglo-Saxon welfare states.
Source: Taxing Wages 2015 – OECD 2015.
Social Security contributions as a percentage of GDP in the G7 countries
03 Mar 2016 Leave a comment
in economic history, public economics Tags: British economy, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, social insurance, Social Security, taxation and labour supply
Source: Revenue Statistics 2015 – OECD 2015.
Taxes on goods and services as a % of US, British, Danish, Canadian, French and German GDPs since 1965
02 Mar 2016 Leave a comment
in economic history, public economics Tags: British economy, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, GST, indirect taxes, VAT
How did German, Italian, French, British and American billionaires make their money?
26 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, survivor principle Tags: billionaires, British economy, entrepreneurial alertness, France, Germany, Italy, superstar wages, superstars
Public, mandatory & voluntary private social expenditure, G7, Nordics, Australia & New Zealand
20 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, economics of regulation, fiscal policy, labour economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, welfare reform Tags: British economy, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Norway, social insurance, Sweden, welfare state
Mandatory and voluntary private social expenditure makes a big difference to the degree of social insurance in some countries but not others. The calculation of these numbers in purchasing power parity would be much more interesting.
Source: OECD Income Distribution database.
% social benefits in cash by income quintile, G7, Nordics, Australia and New Zealand
20 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in fiscal policy, income redistribution, labour economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, Public Choice, welfare reform Tags: British economy, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Norway, social insurance, Sweden, welfare state
Some welfare states are much more targeted. Australia has the most targeted welfare state in terms of public social benefits paid in cash to the bottom quintile (Q1) of income earners.
Source: OECD Income Distribution database.
G7, Australian, Danish and New Zealand average personal income tax and social security contribution rates
01 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, public economics Tags: Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Social Security taxes, taxation and labour supply, the dish economy
G7, Danish, Australian and New Zealand marginal income tax and social security contribution rates
31 Jan 2016 Leave a comment
in politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, public economics Tags: Australia, British economy, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, social insurance, Social Security taxes, taxation and labour supply
Ordinary French, Germans, Italians and Danish pay much higher marginal tax rates and that is before their high rates of GST.
Data extracted on 30 Jan 2016 03:08 UTC (GMT) from OECD.Stat.
British, French, German and Italian All-in average personal income tax rates at average wage by family type
23 Jan 2016 Leave a comment
in fiscal policy, macroeconomics, public economics Tags: British economy, France, Germany, Italy, taxation and labour supply
The non-rise of a French working rich – top 1% income composition since 1948
10 Jan 2016 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, economic history, entrepreneurship, financial economics Tags: France, top 1%
Unlike many other countries, French top income earners did not turn into mostly top wage earners over the post-war period.
Source: The World Wealth and Income Database.
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US, British and French public and private health spending per capita, PPP since 1995
08 Jan 2016 Leave a comment
in economic history, health economics, politics - USA Tags: 2016 presidential election, British economy, France, Health spending
https://twitter.com/PolitiFact/status/678444166016335872
Source: World Bank Health expenditure per capita, PPP (constant 2011 international$) | Data | Table.
There was a measles outbreak in France a few years ago
14 Dec 2015 Leave a comment
in health economics Tags: anti-vaccination movement, France, measles, vaccinations
Eurosclerosis, Swedosclerosis, the British Disease and rising inequality harming economic growth
21 Nov 2015 2 Comments
in currency unions, economic growth, economic history, Euro crisis, fiscal policy, macroeconomics, politics - USA Tags: British disease, British economy, Eurosclerosis, France, sick man of Europe, Sweden, Swedosclerosis, Twitter left
The Washington Centre for Equitable Growth have joined the Wall Street Journal in falling for that dodgy OECD hypothesis about rising inequality holding back economic growth.
The chart below shows stark differences between egalitarian Sweden and France, and the more unequal UK since 1970 in departures from a trend growth rate of 1.9% in real GDP per working age person, PPP.
Source: Computed from OECD Stat Extract and The Conference Board. 2015. The Conference Board Total Economy Database™, May 2015, http://www.conference-board.org/data/economydatabase/
In the above chart, a flat line is growth at the same rate as the USA for the 20th century, which was 1.9% for GDP per working age person on a purchasing power parity basis. The USA’s growth rate is taken as the trend rate of growth of the global technological frontier. A falling line in the above chart is growth in real GDP per working age person, PPP, at below this trend rate of 1.9%; a rising line is above trend rate growth for that year.
- Sweden really had been the sick man of Europe until it turned its back on high taxing, welfare state socialism in the early 1990s.
- France has been in a long decline so much so that the global financial crisis is hard to pick up in the acceleration in its long decline in the mid-1990s.
Britain did very well, both under the neoliberal horrors of Thatcherism and the betrayals by Tony Blair of a true Labour Party platform. The UK grew at above the trend annual growth to 1.9% for most of the period from the early 1980s to 2007.
Neither France or Sweden, despite their egalitarian economies, kept up with the US growth rate since 1970. Under the OECD’s hypothesis, if France and Sweden had been more unequal, their trend growth rates would have been even more appalling since 1970.
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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