Promoting Economic Development: Government Programs or Economic Freedom?

Once economic development is properly understood, it becomes obvious that Oklahoma’s development policies and the jobs they have supposedly "created" do not actually promote growth, but instead retard it. To promote real economic development, the state must change its policy focus from specific development programs to instead providing a stable institutional environment with strong private property rights and high degrees of economic freedom. This working paper shows that to promote real economic development, the state must change its policy focus from specific development programs to instead providing a stable institutional environment with strong private property rights and high degrees of economic freedom.