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Corporate Profits Soar as Proprietors’ Income Stagnates: The Decline of Small...
Americans have long seen small businesses as the heart and soul of their economy, but small firms have not fared well in recent years. Corporations, in contrast, seem to be on a roll, with profits and...
View ArticleWhy Conservatives Should Love a Carbon Tax—and Why Some of Them Do
Last Week the White House released a long-anticipated Climate Action Plan. Conservatives have been swift to attack it as a “backdoor energy tax.” The critics could not be more wrong. A carbon tax, or...
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Why Progressives Should Love a Carbon Tax—Although Not All of Them Do
Progressives should love a carbon tax. Most progressives love the environment and believe that carbon emissions cause environmental harm. Unlike conservatives, whose attitudes toward carbon taxes were...
View ArticleWhy Libertarians Should Support a Carbon Tax—Even if They Can’t Love It
In the first two parts of this series, I discussed the reasons why both conservatives and progressives should love a carbon tax, and why many of each political persuasion do. In this third installment,...
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The Economic Case for a Universal Basic Income (Part 1 of a series)
The news that Switzerland will hold a referendum on a proposal to provide every citizen with an unconditional grant of 2,500 Swiss francs a month (about $2,800) has sparked renewed interest in the old...
View ArticleCould We Afford a Universal Basic Income? (Part 2 of a Series)
This version, revised June 25, 2014, corrects errors in calculating the value of the personal exemption and the size of the Social Security population that were present in the January original. The...
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Does Inherited Wealth Really Help the Economy? A Reply to Greg Mankiw
Writing for the Upshot section of the New York Times, Harvard economist Greg Mankiw has weighed in on the Pikkety debate. He accepts Pikkety’s scenario of ever increasing inequality as at least a...
View ArticleA Universal Basic Income and Work Incentives. Part 2: Evidence
In Part 1 of this series, I outlined some basic economic theory regarding a universal basic income (UBI) and work incentives. By a UBI, I mean an income support policy that provides a set monthly...
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Everything That’s Wrong with the US Tax System in One Chart
Last week the Tax Foundation released its annual International Tax Competitiveness Index for 2014. The United States ranked 32 out of 34 OECD countries surveyed. Only Portugal and France got lower...
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Oil Prices are Down Again—Did We Miss Our Best Chance for a Better Energy...
Oil is down again. The price of Brent crude, which moves US gasoline prices, is below $100 a barrel for the first time (save a single month) in five years. Why am I not celebrating? No, I don’t own a...
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The Progressive Case for Abolishing the Corporate Income Tax
Reform of the corporate income tax is shaping up to be one of the big issues facing Congress in 2017. Republicans are pushing for big cuts in the corporate tax rate. Most observers seem to assume that...
View ArticleThe Conservative Case for Carbon Dividends: A Bad Marriage of Two Good Ideas?
As a firm supporter of both carbon taxes and a universal basic income (UBI), you would think that I would be thrilled by the new report, The Conservative Case for Carbon Dividends, released Wednesday...
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Universal Healthcare Access is Coming. Stop Fighting It and Start Figuring...
Many observers are describing the dramatic failure of the American Health Care Act (AHCA) as a debacle, but perhaps it will prove to be a step forward. As everyone knows by now, the United States is...
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