The Waste of Nations

In 1776, Scottish thinker Adam Smith wrote the book The Wealth of Nations to explain why countries grow rich. The Waste of Nations is about the opposite – how countries waste money and become poor. The goal of every society must be to spend tax income on the right things and to spend it efficiently. Unfortunately, we often experience the opposite. Taxpayers’ money is spent on the wrong things and when it is spent on the right things, it isn’t as effective as it might be. How can we explain why tax money is being spent on the wrong things and why efficiency is so often lacking? This waste is not accidental and it cannot all be laid at the door of individuals, political parties or interests. There are patterns, underlying mechanisms, that are well documented in economic research.