Competition cured the “British Disease”

Can you guess?  According to economic historian Alexander Field, it is (controversially) the 1930s. Opening paragraph:

I frequently make this reference in talks, though I can’t recall having blogged it yet. Here is one report from the front today: Corporate earnings have risen at an annualized rate of 20.1 percent since the end of 2008, he said, but disposable income inched ahead by 1.4 percent annually over the same period, after adjusting for inflation.

A baby born with the AIDS virus was apparently cured after an aggressive drug regime, only the second reported cure of an HIV-infected patient.

Many MR readers have asked for commentary on this very interesting piece by Scott Winship.  Scott makes a number of points but here is one in particular:

David French, Senior Vice President of the National Retail Federation, the major industry group lobbying for the so-called “Marketplace Fairness Act,” (more aptly named the “National Internet Tax Mandate”) recently commented that “….the law [governing Internet sales] today is a 20th-century interpretation of an 18th-century document….&rdqu

Researchers believe that there will be a breakthrough in finding a cure for HIV “within months”. Danish scientists are expecting results that will show that “finding a mass-distributable and affordable cure to HIV is possible”.