Krugman on Reagan and Supply Side Economics
♠
Is it really possible that all the triumphant declarations that the Reagan tax cuts led to a revenue boom — declarations that you see in highly respectable places — are based on nothing but a failure to make the most elementary corrections for inflation and population growth? Yes, it is.
-- Paul Krugman
Yeah, Krugman is a partisan, but his arguments are serious. I wouldn't go so far as to agree that there was nothing to supply-side theory, as I buy into conventional wisdom that when taxes are at a high enough rate, lower taxes will be economically productive, and I am inclined to believe that those tax rates may have been that high when Reagan took office. I am also inclined to agree that too much was made of this Laffer curve business, and that this has been especially abused in Dubya's tenure.
xXx
Is it really possible that all the triumphant declarations that the Reagan tax cuts led to a revenue boom — declarations that you see in highly respectable places — are based on nothing but a failure to make the most elementary corrections for inflation and population growth? Yes, it is.
-- Paul Krugman
Yeah, Krugman is a partisan, but his arguments are serious. I wouldn't go so far as to agree that there was nothing to supply-side theory, as I buy into conventional wisdom that when taxes are at a high enough rate, lower taxes will be economically productive, and I am inclined to believe that those tax rates may have been that high when Reagan took office. I am also inclined to agree that too much was made of this Laffer curve business, and that this has been especially abused in Dubya's tenure.
no subject
no subject