Noteworthy Papers / July 17,2019

In today’s world of political economics, the topic of international trade is only large enough to accommodate two points of view: one that believes in free trade and one that believes in protectionist policies. You’re either in one group or the other. Both pure trade and international finance are vast fields of economics incorporating the highest levels of competence, formal
theoretical skills and math. Any bimodal classification of people’s views and thoughts is grotesquely misleading. Trade theory and its practice is as nuanced as any branch of economics—full of rich, deep theory and empirical research. Treating the topic loosely or superficially is dangerous in the extreme. Let the reader beware. Enter at your own risk.

Noteworthy Papers / May 30,2019

The voluble discussion over the prospective nomination of Stephen Moore to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve
System was undisciplined in many ways, not least in its characterization of the monetary history during the crucial decade of
the 1980s. Bloggers and reporters, especially at the Washington Post, seized upon Moore’s remarks concerning the way Paul
Volcker had conducted monetary policy during the successful latter portion of his chairmanship of the Federal Reserve from
1982 to 1987. Moore contended that Volcker had followed a commodity-price rule, while Catherine Rampell of the Post (who
led the anti-Moore charge) called this “flat-out false.

Study / September 01,2015

These series of charts offers a snapshot of West Virginia’s economic climate and how the state compares with other U.S. states. The charts were included in Dr. Laffer’s remarks to  the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Meeting on September 2, 2015. Link to study: West Virginia Chartbook

Articles, Study / July 23,2015

For many countries around the world, the challenge of administering effective tobacco taxation has been to ensure the optimal level and structure of taxation that achieves the public health and public finance goals of governments. As I pointed out in my book, Handbook of Tobacco Taxation: Theory and Practice, many people believe that tax policies on tobacco…

Articles, Study / May 14,2015

President Obama’s FY 2016 budget plan includes a proposal to deny the standard business cost deduction to U.S.-based, foreign-owned companies for reinsurance premiums they pay to foreign reinsurance affiliates. That same proposal is carried over, though never enacted, from President Obama’s budgets for several recent years. Link to study: Do We Want Special Interest Trade…

Articles, Study / May 11,2015

Jimmy Pethokoukis, a columnist and blogger at the American Enterprise Institute, recently appeared on my friend Bill Bennett’s radio show. Based on his comments on Bill’s show, Jimmy wrote an article entitled “The right needs to get real on Reaganomics,” claiming that the Reagan tax cuts didn’t pay for themselves. Bill Bennett asked for my…