Free Lunch Thinking

Low taxes promote economic growth.

The best way to cut oil consumption is to raise prices.

Government regulation stifles entrepreneurship.

Award-winning investigative journalist Tom Bergin digs into eight mantras widely accepted by Western governments and, by talking to the people who promote those ideas — and the workers, businesspeople and consumers, who have felt their impacts, — finds they often don't play out as expected.

Smart, funny and incisive, Free Lunch Thinking is essential reading for anyone who really wants to know how economies tick — and why they often don't.

1. The Laffer Conundrum
   Do lower taxes help growth?
2. The Feldstein Revelation
   Do high taxes make us lazy?
3. The Hire and Fire Debate
   Is job security economically damaging?
4. The Jensen Claim
   Can money make you a better manager?
5. The Stigler Hypothesis
   Does a minimum wage cost jobs?
6. The Russell Graph
   Do 'sin taxes' work?
7. The Pigou-Coase Disagreement
   Does regulation harm economic growth?
8. The Jorgensen Thesis
   Are taxes on business damaging?