El Opinador Compulsivo

Mañana es el Día de San Patricio. Según Chris Edwards de Cato, el salto que dio Irlanda en los últimos 30 no se debió a la suerte de los irlandeses.

Si ellos lo pudieron hacer, por qué no nosotros. Espero honestamente que algún día nos decidamos y dejemos de perder el tiempo:

It's become fashionable to argue that increased government spending on education is the key to success for countries like Ireland. I'm skeptical. For one thing, booming economies today can attract high-skill workers from global labor markets. In Ireland, brain drain has been replaced by brain gain as smart people from across Europe are drawn into the country's growing industries.

Economic growth is spurred by attracting entrepreneurs and investment capital. Countries do that by establishing the rule of law, stable money, open borders, and low taxes. Let's call these the "rainbow" factors, since Irish legend says that there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Consider Hong Kong, which was once a barren outpost with seemingly few natural advantages. It followed the rainbow and found a pot of gold in just a few short decades.

You may recall that the Irish leprechaun is a sneaky character who tries to hide the pot of gold. Those are the politicians who spend their time trying to undermine the free market. Leprechauns, such as Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, may be buoyed for short periods by high oil prices or other unique factors. But natural resources are usually pots of fool's gold because of the bad governance they encourage.