The Tax Foundation’s 2008 State Business Tax Climate Index (PDF) lists the ten best states as: 1. Wyoming; 2. South Dakota; 3. Nevada; 4. Alaska; 5. Florida; 6. Montana; 7. New Hampshire; 8. Texas; 9. Delaware; 10. Oregon. These states made the top due to an “absence of a major tax… . Wyoming, Nevada and South Dakota have no corporate or individual income tax; Alaska has no individual income or state-level sales tax; Florida and Texas have no individual income tax; and New Hampshire, Delaware, Oregon and Montana have no sales tax.” (5)

The ten worst states are: 41. Maine; 42. Minnesota; 43. Nebraska; 44. Vermont; 45. Iowa; 46. Ohio; 47. California; 48. New York; 49. New Jersey; 50. Rhode Island. According to the study’s authors, “Rhode Island has the worst unemployment tax system and the third worst property tax and individual income tax systems. New Jersey has the second to worst individual income and property tax systems and the seventh worst sales tax system. New York’s individual income, sales, unemployment and property tax systems all rank in the bottom ten, and its sales tax system is second worst. California has the worst individual income tax system, the ninth worst sales tax system and a poorly ranked corporate tax system. The remaining states in the bottom ten suffer from the same afflictions that plague these four bottom states: complex, non-neutral taxes with comparatively high rates.” (5)

A good summary article by George Mason University economist Bryan Caplan of his “The Myth of the Rational Voter” thesis. (Thanks to Frank for the link.) The full book was published in 2007 by Princeton University Press.

Growthology’s Tim Kane wonders what Schumpeter would think about the changing face of innovation promotion: “If Schumpeter had lived to see the development of the IT revolution, the Internet, and google, what would he have thought? He probably would be incredibly encouraged to see the acceleration of innovation and the constant re-spawning of innovative small firms. This is the start-up culture, and my sense is that it is the one big idea Schumpeter missed.”

The Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) is sponsoring an essay contest on the topic of globalization. The winning essay will receive $2,000 and be published in FEE’s publication The Freeman. The submission deadline is August 15, 2008.

In the journal Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, an essay by R. Duane Ireland, Laszlo Tihanyi, and Justin W. Webb examines the continuing challenges of developing an entrepreneurial culture in Central and Eastern Europe. Here is the abstract:

“Following the collapse of socialism in the late 1980s, Central and Eastern European countries initiated attempts to adopt capitalist economic frameworks and promote entrepreneurship. However, persistent economic difficulties and high levels of unemployment have led to dissatisfaction with political parties favoring capitalism. We integrate identity, institutional, and social movement theories to describe the emergence of four competing social movements (capitalist democracy, socialist command, social democracy, and populist command) that are undertaken to pursue politico-economic reforms. We discuss the implications for developing an entrepreneurial culture in Central and Eastern Europe.”

Three essays by philosopher David Kelley on morality and freedom: Altruism and Capitalism; Two Strains of Altruism; and Generosity and Self-Interest. Dr. Kelley spoke at Rockford College last year.

At RealClearPolitics, Carl Schramm briefly contrasts Keynes’s, Galbraith’s, and Schumpeter’s views on economics and the role of entrepreneurship.