This article is the first part of a two-part examination of the contentious issue of how state governments' provision of goods and services to the public should be taxed under a VAT.

Ever since its founding in 1948, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has maintained an aggressive and bellicose international security posture. Today, fully two decades after the end of the Cold War, North Korea's external defense and security policies look arguably more extreme and anomalous than ever.

Shared wariness over China is the main reason the U.S. and Vietnam have embraced each other. But it shouldn’t be the only one.

The massive government spending during World War II did not lead to an economic boom. Economic historians have known for some time that the war cut personal consumption as Americans saved their paychecks in record amounts.

For many years now, even among economists and jurists of reference of the Italian left, the false equation "common goods = state" appeared to be overcome, as well as the superficial view that the liberalization management of the service automatically results in the loss of the "public" nature of these assets.

When candidates flip-flop, their poll numbers suffer, but when countries flip-flop, entire economies suffer. This scenario is playing out in India after the government flip-flopped on its decision to allow retail giants such as Wal-Mart to own a majority 51% stake in joint operations with a local partner.

The following is a summary highlighting testimony by AEI Director of Economic Policy Studies Kevin Hassett to the Joint Economic Committee at a hearing entitled "How the Taxation of Capital Affects Growth and Employment."

Read this with charts as a PDF 

In the months ahead, there will be a renewed intensification of the European debt crisis that could have major implications for the US economy.