> Did "Reaganomics" essentially hinge on the Laffer > Curve (i.e. the elasticity of tax receipts w/ respect > to tax rate [?]), and its implications regarding tax > revenue? Or was there alot more to it than that?
Paul Craig Roberts has a fascinating book about economic policy in the early years of the Reagan administration, titled Supply-Side Revolution (Harvard, 1984). A few years ago, Roberts and Blinder were involved in an acrimonious and rather nasty exchange about whether the Laffer curve was part of official policy. Essentially, as a I recall it, Blinder claimed administration policy was based on the Laffer curve, Roberts said it was not and dared Blinder to offer some evidence. Blinder's response was to say something like "it was well known at the time" but not offer any actual evidence, and the exchange went downhill from there. Bill Sjostrom +++++++++++++ William Sjostrom Senior Lecturer Department of Economics National University of Ireland, Cork Cork, Ireland +353-21-490-2091 (work) +353-21-427-3920 (fax) +353-21-463-4056 (home) [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.ucc.ie/~sjostrom/
