Merrill Matthews, Ph.D., is a resident scholar with the Institute for Policy Innovation, a research-based, public policy “think tank.” He is a health policy expert and opinion contributor at The Hill. He also serves on the Texas Advisory Committee of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
Dr. Matthews is a past president of the Health Economics Roundtable for the National Association for Business Economics, the largest trade association of business economists. Dr. Matthews also served for 10 years as the medical ethicist for the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center’s Institutional Review Board for Human Experimentation, co-author of On the Edge: America Faces the Entitlements Cliff, and has contributed chapters to several books, including Physician Assisted Suicide: Expanding the Debate and The 21st Century Health Care Leader and Stop Paying the Crooks (on Medicare fraud).
He has been published in numerous journals and newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal, Investor’s Business Daily, Barron’s, USA Today, Forbes magazine and the Washington Times. He was an award-winning political analyst for the USA Radio Network.
Dr. Matthews received his Ph.D. in Humanities from the University of Texas at Dallas.
IPI Policy Basics: The Three Types of Taxes (Audio: Podcast)
Beginning a series on basics of tax, IPI President Tom Giovanetti explains taxes on what we earn, taxes on what we buy, and taxes on what we own, with the able assistance of fellow taxpayer and IPI Resident Scholar Dr. Merrill Matthews.
What If Taxpayers Imposed 'Price Controls' on Congress? (Audio: Interview)
IPI Resident Scholar Merrill Matthews tells Robert Pratt (Pratt on Texas) that there is a way to impose price controls on Congress to limit how much it costs taxpayers. It's called the budget sequester.
How Should We Think About the January 6 Riot (Audio: Podcast)
IPI Resident Scholar Merrill Matthews and IPI President Tom Giovanetti discuss what led up to and contributed to the January 6 riot, what actually happened, and what lessons we should learn going forward.
IPI Policy Basics: The Debt Obligations of the Federal Government Are Much Bigger than You Think (Audio: Podcast)
Beyond the “national debt,” which has skyrocketed in the past decade, the real total obligations of the federal government include the future obligations of Social Security, Medicare, federal employee pensions, military pensions and more. It’s not a pretty picture. IPI President Tom Giovanetti and Resident Scholar Dr. Merrill Matthews discuss federal deficits, debt, entitlements, and the threat this debt service poses to future generations.
Where Are We with the Covid-19 Pandemic? Is It Even Still a Pandemic? (Audio: Podcast)
IPI’s Resident Scholar Dr. Merrill Matthews discusses the current state of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Omicron (and subsequent) variant(s), and why it’s time to start living our lives pretty much like normal again. With IPI President Tom Giovanetti.
How Wokeness Is Infecting the Medical Profession (Audio: Podcast)
Following up on our recent Zoom policy webinar with Tevi Troy, IPI Resident Scholar Dr. Merrill Matthews talks more about how woke attitudes and policies are a threat to the proper delivery of healthcare services, the accuracy of medical research, and admission to medical schools.
Predictions of Inflation Were Not Inflated (Audio: Podcast)
Was inflation simply the result of Covid-19 related disruptions, or by Biden administration policies? Or have Biden administration policies nudged transitory inflation into a long-term political and economic disaster? IPI Resident Scholar Dr. Merrill Matthews guides a discussion about our current inflation concerns, and explains why inflation is the worst tax of all. With IPI President Tom Giovanetti
IPI Policy Basics: Why Are Lower Taxes Better than Higher Taxes? (Audio: Podcast)
There are moral, economic, philosophical, and political reasons why lower taxes are better than higher taxes. It’s not just about the greediness of taxpayers. IPI President Tom Giovanetti and Resident Scholar Merrill Matthews discuss lower vs. higher taxes from the perspective of government, the perspective of earners, and the political perspective.
Why a Tight Labor Market Is a Bad Thing (Audio: Podcast)
Progressives seem to think a tight labor market is a good thing because it pressures businesses to pay higher wages. But a labor shortage is bad for the economy, because in order to grow, an economy requires an abundant supply of both capital and labor. A tight labor market contributes to slower economic growth, higher prices, lower production, and inflation. With IPI President Tom Giovanetti, Resident Scholar Dr. Merrill Matthews, and Senior Research Fellow Bartlett Cleland.
IPI Policy Basics: Supply Creates Its Own Demand (Audio: Podcast)
A fundamental issue in economics, a law described by French economist Jean-Baptiste Say in 1803 asserts that production is necessary before any consumption can take place; therefore, production comes first, and is more important. Production creates economic growth, and demand essentially takes care of itself. This is in dramatic opposition to Keynesian economics, which posits that government should encourage consumption through borrowing and deficit spending, and that increasing demand will stimulate production. IPI President Tom Giovanetti and Resident Scholar Dr. Merrill Matthews explain why Say’s Law (and thus supply-side economics) is correct and why Keynesian, demand-side economics is wrong. And Senior Research Fellow Bartlett Cleland contributes several examples from the innovation economy that illustrate the point.
Wait--After the Trump Tax Cut, Federal Revenue is UP (Audio: Podcast)
The latest numbers from the Congressional Budget office show that federal revenue is up 22 percent since before the 2017 tax cuts. Both individual and corporate tax revenue is higher than expected, not lower. IPI President Tom Giovanetti and Resident Scholar Dr. Merrill Matthews explain that the right kind of tax cuts stimulate economic growth which results in higher, not lower federal revenue. So with revenue flooding into the federal treasury, it’s clear that spending is the problem, not taxes.
IPI Policy Basics: Not All Tax Cuts Are Created Equal (Audio: Podcast)
Tax cuts can have a strong impact on economic growth, or none at all—it depends on whether the tax cut encourages private sector investment. IPI Resident Scholar Dr. Merrill Matthews and President Tom Giovanetti look back at the IPI archives to a 2001 study that ranked different types of tax cuts based on their impact on economic growth. Hint: Tax cuts designed to “put more money in people’s pockets” aren’t going to get the job done.
Why Are All These Jobs Going Unfilled? (Audio: Podcast)
"Why are there all these jobs going unfilled even after the end of the enhanced federal unemployment benefits?” asks IPI President Tom Giovanetti, and Resident Scholar Dr. Merrill Matthews shares several possible reasons.
IPI Policy Basics: What's Wrong with Social Security, and How Do We Fix It? (Audio: Podcast)
IPI President Tom Giovanetti describes Social Security’s structural, demographic and financial problems, and explains that there are solutions and it’s not rocket science, if only our elected officials would pay attention.
We focus particularly on Personal Retirement Accounts. Resident Scholar Dr. Merrill Matthews describes how three counties in Texas have demonstrated for 40 years that Personal Retirements Accounts can safely outperform Social Security’s miserable rates of return.
What Can Be Done to Encourage Workers Back to Work? (Audio: Interview)
IPI Resident Scholar Merrill Matthews joins Houston's Morning Show on Newsradio 740 KTHR about the continuing stuggles of businesses to fill and retain a workforce.
Total Records: 704
