How Economic Freedom Affects the Poor

From The Cause and Effect Podcast:

Does economic freedom make the rich richer and the poor poorer? I had the pleasure of talking with Justin Callais about his research — the first causal investigation of this important question.

In episode 6 of The Cause and Effect, we dive into Justin’s research on how economic freedom affects both economic growth and inequality — and what this means for ordinary people, not just for GDP statistics.

We discuss:

• What economic freedom actually measures
• Who benefits from economic freedom
• How countries with higher freedom perform across different income groups
• Why improving economic institutions might be key to reducing poverty
• How his empirical design allows him to causally examine this question

Justin shares compelling data showing that economic freedom raises incomes across the entire income distribution — and doesn’t necessarily increase inequality. The poor, as well as the rich, benefit significantly when institutions improve.

It’s a conversation that challenges important assumptions about growth, fairness, and opportunity.

Listen to the episode.