Charles Kenny

There was a time when the predominant view worldwide as to why poor people and countries were poor involved the circumstances they were in—they lacked the money for the roads, factories, and power that would spur industrialization, or the education and healthcare that would make them productive. But, in the rich world at least, views have shifted. Now it is a commonplace argument that the reason poor countries are poor is because of the moral failings of the people who live there—governance that doesn’t work, perhaps driven by a “culture of corruption.”

On May 7, Emmanuel Macron—centrist, pro-European, pro-immigrant—won the French presidential election runoff against the far-right populist Marine Le Pen. After victories by Donald Trump (who has said “laziness is a trait in blacks”) and for a Brexit campaign led by the UK Independence Party (amongst which’s backers 48% admit prejudice against people of other races), that is some relief for liberal globalists who feared a nativist, racist backlash spreading across the West. But it should not have come as such a surprise: the global trend is towards less discrimination on the grounds of skin tone or caste.

The deadline for filing 2016 tax returns in the US looms today. And it’s closely followed by Tax Freedom Day: April 24 will mark 31% of 2017 elapsing, which symbolically equals the 31% of national income that goes to paying taxes. In Washington, lawmakers are busy mulling budget plans to spend those taxes, as well as reforms to the tax code itself. Small government advocates will claim considerable advantages to reduced spending and taxation on economic dynamism. But the international evidence suggests otherwise: The link between low government expenditure and a strong economy worldwide is not only weak, it is backward. Want to see some of the smallest governments in the world? They are in Africa, where per capita income is a fraction of US levels.

Two weeks ago, on International Women’s Day, women workers were urged to abstain from paid and unpaid labor in order to demonstrate how much the economy depends on female participation. As women work more hours than men worldwide each day, their importance is undeniable. But while the last few decades have seen incredible global progress in terms of gender equality in education, there is a still a huge gap worldwide between women and men in the marketplace—in countries poor and rich alike. This gap is going to lead to growing frustration for future generations, even as feminism and women’s empowerment become increasingly mainstream concepts.