Publications

Most of the major presidential candidates have released tax reform plans with enough specifics to run them through an economic model. On tax policy, Republicans tend to focus on economic growth, while Democrats tend to focus on distributional effects.

As an Oregon welfare reform pilot program demonstrated in the 1990s, when people looking for welfare benefits were told they would have to work for their benefits, about a third walked out saying if they had to work they’d find their own job. 

Higher wages are nice, but not when it costs you your job.

The country has experienced three recessions in the past 30 years, and in each instance, median household income began to decline about a year to 18 months prior to the start of a recession. A 2013 report showing how median household income began to again decline hints that a recession may be around the corner.

The corporate tax is actually a hidden tax on employees, shareholders and consumers. When we raise taxes on corporations, they simply pass the tax along in the form of lower wages, lower dividends, and higher prices.

A president’s last State of the Union Address is often about defending his legacy. And he will have to because no one else will.

The U.S. is approaching what economists call "full employment," in which everyone who wants a job can find one.  So why are so many people unemployed and desperate for work? 

When a company is seeking to use government regulation to pad its own bottom line the government should reject the proposal.

Future Social Security and Medicare benefits can't be counted as part of seniors' wealth because they don't own those accounts.  But if seniors did own them, they wouldn't just be "counted" as wealthy, they would be wealthy.

Maine Governor Paul LePage wants to make the food stamp program more of a safety net and less of a hammock. Former Texas Senator Phil Gramm would have agreed.