06-11-2025
Are free markets better for the environment? Is central planning linked to shorter life spans and lower literacy rates? Before he answered these questions to make a case for free markets, Dominic Pino, the Thomas L. Rhodes Journalism Fellow at National Review Institute, popped a line graph with a steep ascent before his audience at the 2025 Cornerstone for Business Conference, asking what was noticeable.
The graph depicted the economic output of individuals throughout time. A person in the time of the New Testament was about the same as a person in 1500, Pino showed.
Pino, who also hosts the American Institute for Economic Research podcast Econception, made a case for the power of free markets, drawing from global economic history and contemporary examples. His central thesis: Where markets, property rights and economic freedoms are embraced, human welfare and prosperity follow. When these are suppressed in favor of centralized planning, stagnation and suffering are the result.
Pino began with a striking visual: a graph of world economic output from year 1 to 2023. For centuries, both total and per capita GDP were flat until the 1800s, when output skyrocketed. This transformation, he argued, coincided with the rise of industrialization and the adoption of market economies, first in Western Europe and the United States, then spreading globally. The implications, Pino showed, reinforce free markets and show that the institutions that support them — property rights, the rule of law and the division of labor — contribute to human progress.
India’s story powerfully illustrates this point. After gaining independence in 1947, the country embraced socialism, prioritizing self-sufficiency and heavy regulation. Growth was sluggish, and poverty remained endemic. The real change came in 1991, when India undertook sweeping market reforms: deregulation, opening to foreign investment and loosening capital controls.
The results? Median income nearly doubled. Extreme poverty fell from half the population to one-eighth. Life expectancy rose by 13 years to the age of 72. Child and infant mortality dropped to just about 3%. Access to clean water, sanitation and education went up. Female literacy increased to 95%.
Pino said these are not just statistics. They represent millions of lives lifted from deprivation and early death, a testament to the power of economic freedom.
He then addressed a common critique of free markets: that they harm the environment. He countered with stark examples from the Soviet Union and East Germany, where centralized planning led to environmental catastrophes like the destruction of the Aral Sea and widespread air and water pollution. In contrast, market economies tend to improve environmental outcomes as they grow richer, investing in cleaner technologies and responding to price signals that reflect resource scarcity. In unified Germany, pollution levels in the former East quickly converged with the cleaner West after adopting market reforms.
Poland’s post-communist transformation further supports Pino’s case. After embracing rapid market reforms in 1990, such as privatization, deregulation and openness to trade, its economy grew at an average of 4% per year, outperforming peers and closing the gap with advanced economies like Japan. The lesson: Bold market reforms deliver sustained growth and convergence with the world’s most prosperous nations.
Pino acknowledged concerns about inequality but argued that, when accounting for government transfers, the U.S. income distribution is more equal than commonly believed. He cautioned against heavy-handed government intervention, especially in antitrust, where political motivations often override genuine consumer harm. While some regulation is necessary, he warned that government actors “spend other people’s money” as he framed the collective pool of tax revenue that democratically elected representatives are mandated to spend for the country’s good, and often fail to achieve their goals efficiently.
Finally, Pino challenged the “degrowth” movement, emphasizing that economic growth is not an end in itself but the means to better health, education, leisure and opportunity. As societies grow richer, working hours decline, and citizens gain the freedom to pursue higher aspirations. Growth, he argued, is inseparable from broader human flourishing.
Dominic Pino’s case for free markets is rooted in data: Wherever countries have embraced economic freedom, the results have been transformative for human welfare, the environment and social progress. Markets are not perfect, but history shows they are the best tool humanity has found for lifting people out of poverty and enabling them to flourish.
