The intersection of markets and politics: fiscal policy, tax structure, regulatory economics, campaign finance, inequality, monetary policy, and the strategic behavior of economic actors in political environments.
Somewhere in the midst of this year’s elections, there is a debate about the structure of the federal government’s tax system. A common complaint about the system (and, increasingly, the Affordable Care Act) is dubbed “double taxation.” In this post, I describe the complaint and note its nonsensical nature. In a nutshell (and framed in … Read more
A frequent talking point (e.g., like this) in this year’s presidential campaign is about the economic burden of federal regulations. Given this focus, I thought it might be helpful to wade into the arithmetic behind this burden and the ways in which any president might alleviate it in the coming years. I focus on the two … Read more
The US Federal Government faces a looming “fiscal cliff” as a result of current law calling for a simultaneous set of across-the-board cuts in spending and a rise in various tax rates. There are many interesting aspects to this scenario, particularly given the divided partisan control of the two chambers of Congress. Digression. Because Congress must … Read more