I am happy to announce the publication of Unleashing Capitalism: Why Prosperity Stops at the West Virginia Border and How to Fix It published by the Public Policy Foundation of West Virginia. The book is edited by Russell S. Sobel, with Matt Ryan and myself as associate editors. The book focuses on West Virginia policy but is applicable to most any state in the nation. Free dowloads of individual chapters are available at the above link, and the entire book can be purchased there as well (and soon through Amazon).

Executive Summary and Table of Contents below the fold.

Executive Summary:

This volume of original research contains specific policy reform proposals for promoting prosperity in West Virginia from scholars across the nation. The authors present the case for why state policy should focus more heavily on promoting long-run economic growth, and discuss policies that can be used to accomplish it.

The authors review the scientific evidence on which policies best promote growth and conclude that a policy climate consistent with capitalism, or ‘economic freedom,’ is the best way to accomplish growth and increases in living standards. These policies work because they result in increased capital formation, higher labor productivity, reduced levels of wasteful rent-seeking and lobbying activity, and investment being better channeled to the most productive uses.

The authors also address the reasons why West Virginia has been so historically reluctant to follow the rest of the nation, and the world, in adopting a more free-market policy climate. Our state’s somewhat unusual cultural opposition to capitalism, which is rooted in folklore from our unique economic past, has resulted in a policy climate that halts business formation at our state border. Sadly, this general cultural opposition is rooted in stories that are, to a great extent, simply untrue. The authors attempt to dispel these myths of capitalism through scientific evidence and a careful examination of historical data.

This volume concludes with a set of specific growth-oriented policy reforms that address the broad spectrum from tax policy to legal reform to the security of private property rights. We hope that readers of this volume will come away with a better understanding of capitalism’s true potential to generate the long-run economic progress necessary to lift West Virginia out of poverty, as well as ideas for policy reforms that could accomplish it in our lifetimes.

Edited by: Russell S. Sobel

Associate Editors: Joshua C. Hall and Matt E. Ryan

Table of Contents:

Title Page & Publisher/ISBN Information

Table of Contents

Preface [by Russell S. Sobel]

Part I: Introduction: The Role of Government in Economic Growth

Chapter 1: The Case for Growth [by Russell S. Sobel and Susane J. Daniels]

Chapter 2: The Sources of Economic Growth [by Russell S. Sobel and Joshua C. Hall]

Chapter 3: Why Capitalism Works [by Russell S. Sobel and Peter T. Leeson]

Chapter 4: The Cultural Opposition to Capitalism: Mythbusting through Our Past [by Claudia R. Williamson]

Part II: Specific Policy Reforms for Increasing Economic Growth

Chapter 5. When it Comes to Taxes: Focus on Being Competitive [by Justin M. Ross and Joshua C. Hall]

Chapter 6. Three Specific Tax Reforms for Increasing Growth [by Robin C. Capehart and Pavel A. Yakovlev]

Chapter 7. Make Property Rights More Secure: Limit Eminent Domain [by Edward J. López, Carrie B. Kerekes, George D. Johnson]

Chapter 8. Quit Playing Favorites: Why Business Subsidies Hurt Our Economy [by Michael J. Hicks and William F. Shughart II]

Chapter 9. Lower Business Regulation: Costs and Unintended Consequences [by Joab N. Corey and Nicholas A. Curott]

Chapter 10. Reduce Labor Restrictions: From School Choice to Right to Work [by Nathan J. Ashby and Mark T. Gillis]

Chapter 11. Quit Punishing the Working Poor: Reduce Work Disincentives in the Welfare System [by Anthony C. Gregory and J. Sebastian Leguizamon]

Chapter 12. Reduce the Cost of Civil Litigation and Depoliticize the Courts [by Michael J. Hicks]

Chapter 13. Legal Reform: Specific Changes to Promote Economic Growth [by Kristen M. Leddy and Matthew T. Yanni]

Chapter 14. Reduce, Decentralize, and Constitutionally Constrain Government [by Daniel S. Sutter and Rex J. Pjesky]

Summary of Chapter Conclusions

About the Authors