BY Rodger Paxton
Even though some research studies make you say “We knew that already!”, our side can use them as indisputable evidence against the horrors of big government.
Living under communism makes countries poorer and less healthy for decades, according to a recent landmark study. Researchers testing historical connections between cultures found that whether a country had been under communism was the biggest factor for those with lower health, income, and educational levels.
In the first undertaking of its kind, they analyzed the fortunes of 44 countries across Europe and Asia and looked at geography, religion, systems of government and a more intangible quality called “deep cultural ancestry.”
Most of the issues they looked at appeared to have little or no effect on the disparities between the countries, except for Islamic countries scoring a little worse on education. Instead, the single strongest predictor for a country’s health and the second-strongest for its wealth turned out to be whether its rulers had embraced communism.
The study said that after World War II, economic growth in Communist Eastern Europe was slower than in the West, but despite the Soviet Union’s collapse almost 30 years ago, the effects are still being felt.
The study shows communism was also behind the stagnation of life expectancy behind the Iron Curtain during the 1970s and 1980s, which has set those countries back even today. The researchers say: “The proximate causes for this low life expectancy are complex, but high alcohol consumption, smoking, and poor workplace safety, as well as low-quality diet and living conditions associated with lower income levels are implicated.”
I mean, how is this even news? First of all, this is just pure logic. Secondly, many economists, mainly those who are more liberty-minded such as Austrian School economists, have been saying this for a long time. And not just saying it without evidence, they have been saying it using massive amounts of evidence. I’m glad to see that, yet again, mainstream thought is catching up to Austrian economics theory.
Finally, let’s go one step further than this report. If we identified the US state with a population that most-understands the power of markets instead of government, what would it look like? Fortunately, that state is very familiar to most of our readers – New Hampshire.
Even more good news, there’s an organization who’s participants are not satisfied with that #1 ranking. The Free State Project has over 4,300 people working to make the Granite State even better.
If you understand the historic failures of communism and the inspirational successes of markets, I encourage you to stand proudly with me and thousands like us. Join for the Free State Project today!
And don’t stop there. New Hampshire’s future is tied to the success or failure of the Free State Project. Without your support, the Free State Project will faulter, along with our state’s top ranking.
Real Americans who believe in real freedom need to hear why New Hampshire is known as The Free State. Do your part to help make the Free State Project a household name. Draw a line in the sand, push that thermometer as high as it can go, and say it with me: “Live Free or Die”!
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Author profile:
Rodger Paxton is the CEO of Pax Libertas Productions, a podcast and media company created to help spread the word of liberty and free-markets to the four corners of the world. In 2015, Rodger and his family moved 1,500 miles from Arkansas to New Hampshire, joining the exclusive ranks of nearly 2,000 “early movers” who made the decision to move prior to the Free State Project receiving it’s first 20,000 signatures. Rodger and his wife Jessica also unschool their two children at home.
