Matthew D. Mitchell

Senior Fellow in the Centre for Economic Freedom, Fraser Institute

Matthew D. Mitchell is a Senior Fellow in the Centre for Economic Freedom. Prior to joining the Fraser Institute, Mitchell was a long-serving senior fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, where he remains an affiliated senior scholar. He is also a senior research fellow at the Knee Regulatory Research Center at West Virginia University.

Mitchell received his PhD and MA in economics from George Mason University and his BA in political science and BS in economics from Arizona State University. His writing and research focuses on economic freedom, public choice economics, and the economics of government favoritism.

Mitchell has testified before the U.S. Congress and several state legislatures. He has advised federal, state, and local government policymakers in the United States on both fiscal and regulatory policy. His research has been featured in numerous national media outlets, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, National Public Radio, and C-SPAN.

Recent Research by Matthew D. Mitchell

— Oct 26, 2023
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The Free Enterprise Welfare State: A History of Denmark’s Unique Economic Model

The Free Enterprise Welfare State: A History of Denmark’s Unique Economic Model finds that, despite common misperceptions, middle-class workers in Denmark pay relatively high taxes for Denmark’s large government.

— Sep 28, 2023
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The Free Enterprise Welfare State: A History of Denmark’s Unique Economic Model (Chapter 1)

Denmark: Getting Rich Before Becoming a Welfare State, part of an upcoming essay series documenting the economic history of Denmark, finds that high levels of economic freedom—that is, relying more on entrepreneurs, businessowners and workers to make economic decisions rather than politicians and bureaucrats—drive Denmark’s high living standards.