C4A Live Episode 10: The Debt Doctor-Sven Larson Explains How the Compact's BBA is Different
C4A Live host Nick Dranias chats with CFAEF Council of Scholars member Dr. Sven Larson, Economist and resident Debt Doctor, about what international economics teaches us about the national debt.
Sven Larson, PhD
Formerly a Senior Fellow – Wyoming Liberty Group
Sven Larson, originally from Sweden, is currently an economist with Republic Free Choice in Cheyenne, Wyoming. He was previously a senior fellow in economics with the Wyoming Liberty Group. After having earned his BA in economics and philosophy at University of Stockholm, Sweden, Larson worked as a teacher assistant in economics and free-lance political writer. During the dark years of Sweden's deep recession in the early '90s, he lectured all over the country on the virtues of economic freedom and sound fiscal policy. On two occasions he was invited to the national parliament to speak on fiscal policy and budget matters. In 1996, Larson returned to school to pursue his PhD in economics at Roskilde University in Denmark. Four years later he successfully defended his dissertation, titled Uncertainty, Macroeconomic Stability and the Welfare State. The dissertation suggested that in times of uncertainty, there are stabilizing mechanisms in the economy that prevent a free-fall from a recession into a depression, but that these mechanisms can be upstaged by overly invasive fiscal policy. Larson's thesis was recognized internationally and published by Ashgate, a renowned British academic publishing house. In 2002, Larson came to the United States to teach economics at Skidmore College. He developed a class on the European economic integration, a unique offering in America at the time. Three years later he switched careers and went to work for free-market think tanks. After a brief stint at the American Institute for Economic Research, Larson joined the Center for Freedom and Prosperity, based in Alexandria, VA. Working closely with Dan Mitchell, now senior fellow at the Cato Institute, Larson wrote numerous blogs and several research papers on the virtues of free markets, economic freedom and low taxes. Larson also worked for think tanks in New York, North Carolina, South Carolina and Utah before joining Wyoming Liberty Group in February 2009. In 2010, Larson published Remaking America: Welcome to the Dark Side of the Welfare State, a book that explained how the Obama administration's policies to expand entitlement systems in America would eventually lead to fiscal disaster. In 2012, he followed up with Ending the Welfare State: A Path to Limited Government That Won't Leave the Poor Behind. In this book, Larson presents tangible reform ideas for key entitlement systems, including Social Security, welfare and health care, and shows how Congress can introduce an economic-freedom checkpoint into its legislation. On his blog The Liberty Bullhorn, Larson tracks the economic developments in Europe. He wants to draw America's attention to the dire situation of the European economy, as a warning of what happens when the welfare state and government borrowing together run out of control.
