Trickle-down economics

Last updated

Ronald Reagan's economic policies, dubbed "Reaganomics" by opponents, included large tax cuts and were characterized as trickle-down economics. In this picture, he is outlining his plan for the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 from the Oval Office in a televised address, July 1981. President Ronald Reagan addresses the nation from the Oval Office on tax reduction legislation.jpg
Ronald Reagan's economic policies, dubbed "Reaganomics" by opponents, included large tax cuts and were characterized as trickle-down economics. In this picture, he is outlining his plan for the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 from the Oval Office in a televised address, July 1981.

Trickle down economic theory is a social economic proposal that

Contents

It is relate to the computer term "bootstrap loader" which is a minimal program that transfers the main operating software from a storage device into a computer mechanism during its initiation.


Pejorative common use

Trickle-down economics is often a pejorative term for government economic policies deemed by opponents to disproportionately favor the upper tier of the economic spectrum (wealthy individuals and large corporations). These opponents reject the notion that spending by this elite group would "trickle down" to those who are less fortunate and lead to economic growth that will eventually benefit the economy as a whole. [2] Use of the term has been criticized on the grounds that no mainstream economist or major political party advocates the trickle-down theory. [3]

Nonetheless, the term has been used broadly by critics of supply-side economics to refer to taxing and spending policies by governments that, intentionally or not, result in widening income inequality; it has also been used in critical references to neoliberalism. [4] Similar criticisms have existed since at least the 19th century, although the term "trickle-down economics" was popularized in the US in reference to supply-side economics and the economic policies of Ronald Reagan. [5]

Major examples of what critics have called "trickle-down economics" in the US include the Reagan tax cuts, [6] the Bush tax cuts, [7] and the Trump tax cuts. [8] Major UK examples include Margaret Thatcher's economic policies in the 1980s and Liz Truss's mini-budget tax cuts of 2022, [9] which was an attempt to revive such Thatcherite policies. [10] While economists who favor supply-side economics generally avoid applying the "trickle down" analogy to it and dispute the focus on tax cuts to the rich, the phrase "trickle down" has also been occasionally used by proponents of such policies. [2] [11] As of 2023, studies have not shown that there is a demonstrable link between reducing tax burdens on the upper end and economic growth. [12] [13]

History

Background

William Jennings Bryan, who criticized trickle-down theory in his Cross of Gold speech in 1896 WilliamJBryan1902.png
William Jennings Bryan, who criticized trickle-down theory in his Cross of Gold speech in 1896

The Google Ngram Viewer shows that the term "trickle down economics" was rarely seen in published works until the 1980s; [14] however, the concept that economic prosperity in the upper classes flows down into the lower classes is at least 100 years old. The term itself is used mostly by critics of the concept. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary notes that the first known use of "trickle-down" as an adjective meaning "relating to or working on the principle of trickle-down theory" was in 1944, [15] while the first known use of "trickle-down theory" was in 1954. [16]

In 1896, United States Democratic presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan described the concept using the metaphor of a "leak" in his Cross of Gold speech. [17] [18] William Safire traced the origin of the term to this speech. [19] William J. Bennett credits humorist and social commentator Will Rogers for coining the term and observed in 2007 its persistent use throughout the decades since. [20] In a 1932 column criticizing Herbert Hoover's policies and approach to The Great Depression, Rogers wrote:

This election was lost four and six years ago, not this year. They [Republicans] didn't start thinking of the old common fellow till just as they started out on the election tour. The money was all appropriated for the top in the hopes that it would trickle down to the needy. Mr. Hoover was an engineer. He knew that water trickles down. Put it uphill and let it go and it will reach the driest little spot. But he didn't know that money trickled up. Give it to the people at the bottom and the people at the top will have it before night, anyhow. But it will at least have passed through the poor fellow's hands. They saved the big banks, but the little ones went up the flue. [21]

In 1933, Indian nationalist and statesman Jawaharlal Nehru wrote positively of the term (in the sense that wealth entered upper classes then "trickled down") in critical reference to the colonial seizing of wealth in India and other territories being a cause of increased wealth in England:

The exploitation of India and other countries brought so much wealth to England that some of it trickled down to the working class and their standard of living rose." [22]

After leaving the presidency, Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson alleged "Republicans ... simply don't know how to manage the economy. They're so busy operating the trickle-down theory, giving the richest corporations the biggest break, that the whole thing goes to hell in a handbasket." [23] Presidential speechwriter Samuel Rosenman wrote that "trickle down policies" had been prevalent in American government since 1921. [24]

Reagan years

Ronald Reagan launched his 1980 campaign for the presidency on a platform advocating for supply-side economics. During the 1980 Republican Party presidential primaries, George H. W. Bush had derided Reagan's economic approach as "voodoo economics". [25] [26] Following Reagan's election, the "trickle-down" reached wide circulation with the publication of "The Education of David Stockman" a December 1981 interview of Reagan's incoming Office of Management and Budget director David Stockman, in the magazine Atlantic Monthly. In the interview, Stockman expressed doubts about supply side economics, telling journalist William Greider that the Kemp–Roth Tax Cut was a way to rebrand a tax cut for the top income bracket to make it easier to pass into law. [27] Stockman said that "It's kind of hard to sell 'trickle down,' so the supply-side formula was the only way to get a tax policy that was really 'trickle down.' Supply-side is 'trickle-down' theory." [27] [28] [29]

Political opponents of the Reagan administration soon seized on this language in an effort to brand the administration as caring only about the wealthy. [30] In 1982, John Kenneth Galbraith wrote the "trickle-down economics" that David Stockman was referring to was previously known under the name "horse-and-sparrow theory", the idea that feeding a horse a huge amount of oats results in some of the feed passing through for lucky sparrows to eat. [31] Reagan administration officials including Michael Deaver wanted Stockman to be fired in response to his comments, but he was ultimately kept on in exchange for a private apology. [32]

Usage

Economic analyses of the effects of lowering taxes on the wealthy

Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz wrote in 2015 that the post-World War II evidence does not support trickle-down economics, but rather "trickle-up economics" whereby more money in the pockets of the poor or the middle benefits everyone. [33] In a 2020 research paper, economists David Hope and Julian Limberg analyzed data spanning 50 years from 18 countries, and found that tax cuts for the rich succeeded only at increasing inequality and making the rich wealthier, with no beneficial effect on real GDP per capita or employment. According to the study, this shows that the tax cuts for the upper class did not trickle down to the broader economy. [34] [35] [13] [36]

A 2015, IMF staff discussion note by Era Dabla-Norris, Kalpana Kochhar, Nujin Suphaphiphat, Frantisek Ricka and Evridiki Tsounta suggests that lowering taxes on the top 20% could actually reduce growth. [37] [38] Political scientists Brainard Guy Peters and Maximilian Lennart Nagel in 2020 described the 'trickle down' description of tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations stimulating economic growth that helps the less affluent as a "zombie idea", and stated that it has been the most enduring failed policy idea in American politics. [39] Some studies suggest a link between trickle-down economics and reduced growth, and some newspapers concluded that trickle-down economics does not promote jobs or growth, and that "policy makers shouldn't worry that raising taxes on the rich ... will harm their economies". [40] [41]

Broader use

While the term "trickle-down" is commonly used to refer to income benefits, it is sometimes used to refer to the idea of positive externalities arising from technological innovation or increased trade. Arthur Okun, [42] and separately William Baumol, [43] for example, have used the term to refer to the flow of the benefits of innovation, which do not accrue entirely to the "great entrepreneurs and inventors", but trickle down to the masses. And Nobel laureate economist Paul Romer used the term in reference to the impact on wealth from tariff changes. [44] Despite a lack of practical-use evidence for the Laffer curve, it is often cited by proponents of trickle-down policy. [45] [46] [9]

In the US, Republican tax plans and policies are often labeled "trickle-down economics", including the Reagan tax cuts, the Bush tax cuts and the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. [47] In each of the aforementioned tax reforms, taxes were cut across all income brackets, but the biggest reductions were given to the highest income earners, [48] although the Reagan Era tax reforms also introduced the earned income tax credit which has received bipartisan praise for poverty reduction and is largely why the bottom half of workers pay no federal income tax. [49] In contrast, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 cut taxes across all income brackets, but especially favored the wealthy roughly 67x more than the middle class. [50] [51] [52]

In the 1992 presidential election, independent candidate Ross Perot also referred to trickle-down economics as "political voodoo". [53] In the same election, during a presidential town hall debate, Bill Clinton blamed trickle-down economics for the declining economic conditions in America, saying that "...we've had 12 years of trickle-down economics. We've gone from first to twelfth in the world in wages. We've had four years where we’ve produced no private-sector jobs. Most people are working harder for less money than they were making 10 years ago.". [54]

The political campaign group, Tax Justice Network has used the term referring broadly to wealth inequality in its criticisms of tax havens. [55] In 2013, Pope Francis condemned "trickle-down theories" in his apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium , saying that "Some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world. This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system." [56]

In New Zealand, Damien O'Connor, an MP from the Labour Party, called trickle-down economics "the rich pissing on the poor" in the Labour Party campaign launch video for the 2011 general election. [57] In a 2016 US presidential election candidates debate, Hillary Clinton accused Donald Trump of supporting the "most extreme" version of trickle-down economics with his tax plan, calling it "trumped-up trickle-down" as a pun on his name. [58] In his speech to a joint session of Congress on April 28, 2021, US President Joe Biden stated that "trickle-down economics has never worked". [59] Biden has continued to be critical of trickle-down. [60] [61]

A Columbia journal article comparing a failed UK Enterprise Zone proposal to later US proposals references them as a form of trickle-down policy where lower regulatory and tax burdens were aimed at wealthier developers with the hope they would benefit residents. [62] Nobel laureate Paul Krugman states that despite the narrative of trickle-down style tax cuts, the effective tax rate of the top 1% of earners has failed to change very much. [63] Political commentator Robert Reich has implicated institutions such as The Heritage Foundation, Cato Institute, and Club for Growth for promoting what he considers to be a discredited idea. [64] Kansas governor and politician Sam Brownback's 2018 tax cut package was widely labelled as an attempt at trickle-down economics. [65] Friedrich Hayek's economic theories have also been described as trickle-down. [66] [67]

Objections to the term

Speaking on the US Senate floor in 1992, Hank Brown (Republican senator for Colorado) said: "Mr. President, the trickle-down theory attributed to the Republican Party has never been articulated by President Reagan and has never been articulated by President Bush and has never been advocated by either one of them. One might argue whether trickle-down makes any sense or not. To attribute to people who have advocated the opposite in policies is not only inaccurate but poisons the debate on public issues." [68]

Thomas Sowell, a proponent of supply-side economics, says that trickle-down economics have never been advocated by any economist, writing in his 2012 book "Trickle Down" Theory and "Tax Cuts for the Rich" that "[t]he 'trickle-down' theory cannot be found in even the most voluminous scholarly studies of economic theories." [69] Sowell disagrees with the characterization of supply-side economics as trickle-down, saying that the economic theory of reducing marginal tax rates works in precisely the opposite direction: "Workers are always paid first and then profits flow upward later – if at all." [70] [71]

In 2022, the Liz Truss administration objected to characterizing its policies as "trickle-down economics". [72]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reaganomics</span> Economic policies of Ronald Reagan

Reaganomics, or Reaganism, were the neoliberal economic policies promoted by U.S. President Ronald Reagan during the 1980s. These policies focused mainly on supply-side economics; however, opponents characterized them as "trickle-down economics" or "Voodoo Economics",, while Reagan and his advocates preferred to call it free-market economics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981</span> U.S. federal tax cut

The Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 (ERTA), or Kemp–Roth Tax Cut, was an Act that introduced a major tax cut, which was designed to encourage economic growth. The Act was enacted by the 97th Congress and signed into law by U.S. President Ronald Reagan. The Accelerated Cost Recovery System (ACRS) was a major component of the Act, and was amended in 1986 to become the Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System (MACRS).

Supply-side economics is a macroeconomic theory postulating that economic growth can be most effectively fostered by lowering taxes, decreasing regulation, and allowing free trade. According to supply-side economics theory, consumers will benefit from greater supply of goods and services at lower prices, and employment will increase. Supply-side fiscal policies are designed to increase aggregate supply, as opposed to aggregate demand, thereby expanding output and employment while lowering prices. Such policies are of several general varieties:

  1. Investments in human capital, such as education, healthcare, and encouraging the transfer of technologies and business processes, to improve productivity. Encouraging globalized free trade via containerization is a major recent example.
  2. Tax reduction, to provide incentives to work, invest and take risks. Lowering income tax rates and eliminating or lowering tariffs are examples of such policies.
  3. Investments in new capital equipment and research and development (R&D), to further improve productivity. Allowing businesses to depreciate capital equipment more rapidly gives them an immediate financial incentive to invest in such equipment.
  4. Reduction in government regulations, to encourage business formation and expansion.
<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wealth</span> Abundance of financial assets or possessions

Wealth is the abundance of valuable financial assets or physical possessions which can be converted into a form that can be used for transactions. This includes the core meaning as held in the originating Old English word weal, which is from an Indo-European word stem. The modern concept of wealth is of significance in all areas of economics, and clearly so for growth economics and development economics, yet the meaning of wealth is context-dependent. A person possessing a substantial net worth is known as wealthy. Net worth is defined as the current value of one's assets less liabilities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur Laffer</span> American economist (1940-)

Arthur Betz Laffer is an American economist and author who first gained prominence during the Reagan administration as a member of Reagan's Economic Policy Advisory Board (1981–1989). Laffer is best known for the Laffer curve, an illustration of the theory that there exists some tax rate between 0% and 100% that will result in maximum tax revenue for government. In certain circumstances, this would allow governments to cut taxes, and simultaneously increase revenue and economic growth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Progressive tax</span> Higher tax on richer source

A progressive tax is a tax in which the tax rate increases as the taxable amount increases. The term progressive refers to the way the tax rate progresses from low to high, with the result that a taxpayer's average tax rate is less than the person's marginal tax rate. The term can be applied to individual taxes or to a tax system as a whole. Progressive taxes are imposed in an attempt to reduce the tax incidence of people with a lower ability to pay, as such taxes shift the incidence increasingly to those with a higher ability-to-pay. The opposite of a progressive tax is a regressive tax, such as a sales tax, where the poor pay a larger proportion of their income compared to the rich.

Rent-seeking is the act of growing one's existing wealth by manipulating the social or political environment without creating new wealth. Rent-seeking activities have negative effects on the rest of society. They result in reduced economic efficiency through misallocation of resources, stifled competition, reduced wealth creation, lost government revenue, heightened income inequality, risk of growing corruption and cronyism, decreased public trust in institutions, and potential national decline.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Stockman</span> American politician and businessman (born 1946)

David Alan Stockman is an American politician and former businessman who was a Republican U.S. Representative from the state of Michigan (1977–1981) and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (1981–1985) under President Ronald Reagan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Economic inequality</span> Distribution of income or wealth between different groups

Economic inequality is an umbrella term for a) income inequality or distribution of income, b) wealth inequality or distribution of wealth, and c) consumption inequality. Each of these can be measured between two or more nations, within a single nation, or between and within sub-populations.

A tax cut typically represents a decrease in the amount of money taken from taxpayers to go towards government revenue. This decreases the revenue of the government and increases the disposable income of taxpayers. Tax rate cuts usually refer to reductions in the percentage of tax paid on income, goods and services. As they leave consumers with more disposable income, tax cuts are an example of an expansionary fiscal policy. Tax cuts also include reduction in tax in other ways, such as tax credit, deductions and loopholes.

Trickle-up economics is an economic policy proposition that final demand among a broad population can stimulate national income in an economy. The trickle-up effect states that policies that directly benefit lower income individuals will boost the income of society as a whole, and thus those benefits will "trickle up" throughout the population. It is the opposite of trickle-down economics.

Robert Ernest "Bob" Hall is an American economist who serves as a professor of economics at Stanford University, and as the Robert and Carole McNeil Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. He is generally considered a macroeconomist, but he describes himself as an applied economist.

In American political theory, fiscal conservatism or economic conservatism is a political and economic philosophy regarding fiscal policy and fiscal responsibility with an ideological basis in capitalism, individualism, limited government, and laissez-faire economics. Fiscal conservatives advocate tax cuts, reduced government spending, free markets, deregulation, privatization, free trade, and minimal government debt. Fiscal conservatism follows the same philosophical outlook as classical liberalism. This concept is derived from economic liberalism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Income inequality in the United States</span>

Income inequality has fluctuated considerably in the United States since measurements began around 1915, moving in an arc between peaks in the 1920s and 2000s, with a 30-year period of relatively lower inequality between 1950 and 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wealth inequality in the United States</span>

The inequality of wealth has substantially increased in the United States in recent decades. Wealth commonly includes the values of any homes, automobiles, personal valuables, businesses, savings, and investments, as well as any associated debts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Domestic policy of the Ronald Reagan administration</span>

This article discusses the domestic policy of the Ronald Reagan administration from 1981 to 1989. Reagan's policies stressed conservative economic values, starting with his implementation of supply-side economic policies, dubbed as "Reaganomics" by both supporters and detracters. His policies also included the largest tax cut in American history as well as increased defense spending as part of his Soviet strategy. However, he significantly raised (non-income) taxes four times due to economic conditions and reforms, but the tax reforms instituted during presidency brought top marginal rates to their lowest levels since 1931, such that by 1988, the top US marginal tax rate was 28%.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Redistribution of income and wealth</span> Political philosophy

Redistribution of income and wealth is the transfer of income and wealth from some individuals to others through a social mechanism such as taxation, welfare, public services, land reform, monetary policies, confiscation, divorce or tort law. The term typically refers to redistribution on an economy-wide basis rather than between selected individuals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laffer curve</span> Representation of the relationship between taxation and government revenue

In economics, the Laffer curve illustrates a theoretical relationship between rates of taxation and the resulting levels of the government's tax revenue. The Laffer curve assumes that no tax revenue is raised at the extreme tax rates of 0% and 100%, meaning that there is a tax rate between 0% and 100% that maximizes government tax revenue.

The Kansas experiment was a name given to a controversial and widely noted tax-cutting policy/agenda of Kansas Governor Sam Brownback that began with Brownback signing a bill cutting state taxes, in May 2012, and ended with the Kansas legislature's repeal of the bill in June 2017. It was one of the largest income tax cuts in the state's history. The Kansas experiment has also been called the "Great Kansas Tax Cut Experiment", the "Red-state experiment", "the tax experiment in Kansas", and "one of the cleanest experiments for how tax cuts affect economic growth in the U.S." The cuts were based on model legislation published by the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), supported by supply-side economist Arthur Laffer, anti-tax leader Grover Norquist, and the influential industrialists Charles and David Koch. The law cut taxes by US$231 million in its first year, and cuts were projected to total US$934 million annually after six years, by eliminating taxes on business income for the owners of almost 200,000 businesses and cutting individual income tax rates.

Middle-out economics is a branch of demand-side macroeconomic theory. It identifies the buying power of the middle class as the necessary ingredient for job creation and economic growth. With consumption typically responsible for two-thirds of the gross domestic product in the Americas consumer spending is key. Middle-out economics maintains it is only the middle class that can create the aggregate demand necessary for business to support full employment levels. Given the wealthy's high propensity to save, middle-out economics holds that large concentrations of wealth are not sufficient cause for job creation. Middle-out economics maintains companies don't hire when they have an abundance of profits; they hire when they have an abundance of customers.

References

  1. ↑ Journal of Social Studies Education Research:Evaporative Economics....
  2. 1 2 Lockwood, Benjamin; Gomes, Joao; Smetters, Kent; Inman, Robert. "Does Trickle-down Economics Add Up – or Is It a Drop in the Bucket?". Knowledge at Wharton. A business journal from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Archived from the original on February 1, 2023. Retrieved February 1, 2023.
  3. ↑ Arndt, H. W. (1983). "The "Trickle-down" Myth". Economic Development and Cultural Change . 32 (1): 1–10. doi:10.1086/451369. ISSN   0013-0079. JSTOR   1153421. S2CID   153842242.
  4. ↑ Springer, Simon; Birch, Kean; MacLeavy, Julie (July 7, 2016). Handbook of Neoliberalism. Routledge. ISBN   978-1-317-54966-6.
  5. ↑ Noah, Timothy (September 21, 2011). "New Republic: How Did Trickle-Down Get Acceptable?". NPR . Retrieved January 15, 2024.
  6. ↑ Redenius, Charles (April 1983). "Thatcherism and Reagonomics: Supply-Side Economic Policy in Great Britain and the United States". Journal of Political Science. 10 (2, Article 4). The Athenaeum Press. ISSN   0098-4612. Archived from the original on December 2, 2022. Retrieved February 9, 2023.
  7. ↑ "The Bush Tax Cuts Disproportionately Benefitted the Wealthy". Economic Policy Institute . Archived from the original on February 1, 2023. Retrieved February 1, 2023. The Bush-era tax cuts were designed to reduce taxes for the wealthy, and the benefits of faster growth were then supposed to trickle down to the middle class.
  8. ↑ "Trickle-down economics gets new life as Republicans push tax-cut plan". USA Today . Archived from the original on May 9, 2021. Retrieved May 7, 2021. Behind [Republican tax legislation of 2017] is a theory long popular among conservatives: Slash taxes for corporations and rich people, who will then hire, invest and profit — and cause money to trickle into the pockets of ordinary Americans.
  9. 1 2 Elliott, Larry (September 20, 2022). "Liz Truss favours trickle down economics but results can be trickle up". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077. Archived from the original on October 20, 2022. Retrieved February 3, 2023.
  10. ↑ Schomberg, William (September 7, 2022). "UK heads for return to 'trickle-down' economics under low-tax Truss". Reuters. Retrieved January 15, 2025.
  11. ↑ Harwood, John (November 9, 2017). "Gary Cohn: Trickle-down is good for the economy". CNBC. Retrieved January 1, 2024.
  12. ↑ Aghion, Philippe; Bolton, Patrick (April 1997). "A Theory of Trickle-Down Growth and Development". The Review of Economic Studies . 64 (2): 151. doi:10.2307/2971707. ISSN   0034-6527. JSTOR   2971707.
  13. 1 2 Hope, David; Limberg, Julian (January 7, 2022). "The economic consequences of major tax cuts for the rich". Socio-Economic Review . 20 (2): 539–559. doi: 10.1093/ser/mwab061 . ISSN   1475-1461.
  14. ↑ "Trickle down economics". Google Books Ngram Viewer. Archived from the original on February 3, 2023. Retrieved February 7, 2023.
  15. ↑ "trickle-down". Merriam-Webster (online edition). Archived April 10, 2010, at the Wayback Machine . Accessed September 17, 2010.
  16. ↑ "trickle-down theory". Merriam-Webster (online edition). Archived April 10, 2010, at the Wayback Machine . Accessed September 17, 2010.
  17. ↑ Wilson, Thomas Frederick. 1992. The Power "to Coin" Money: The Exercise of Monetary Powers by the Congress Archived March 11, 2023, at the Wayback Machine . Armonk, New York: M. E. Sharpe. p. 172. ISBN   0873327942
  18. ↑ Baker, Andrew, David Hudson, and Richard Woodward. 2005. Governing Financial Globalization: International Political Economy and Multi-Level Governance Archived March 11, 2023, at the Wayback Machine . London; New York: Routledge. p. 26. ISBN   9780203479278.
  19. ↑ Safire, William (2008). Safire's Political Dictionary (Revised ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 752–753. ISBN   978-0-19-534334-2 . Retrieved December 27, 2011.
  20. ↑ Bennett, William J. (2007). America: The Last Best Hope. Harper Collins. p. 78. ISBN   978-1595551115. Archived from the original on March 11, 2023. Retrieved February 18, 2023. Will Rogers referred to the theory that cutting taxes for higher earners and businesses was a "trickle-down" policy, a term that has stuck over the years.
  21. ↑ Roger, Will (November 26, 1932). "Will Rogers Explains That Money, Unlike Water, Always Trickles Up". The St. Louis Star and Times . Archived from the original on July 7, 2022. Retrieved July 7, 2022.
  22. ↑ The "Trickle-Down" Myth, H.W. Arndt, Economic Development and Cultural Change, Oct., 1983, Vol. 32, No. 1 (Oct., 1983), pp. 1-10, UCP, https://www.jstor.org/stable/1153421 Archived October 10, 2022, at the Wayback Machine
  23. ↑ Janos, Leo (July 1973). "The Last Days of the President". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on July 1, 2013. Retrieved March 12, 2017.
  24. ↑ Shlaes, Amity (May 27, 2008). The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression. Harper Perennial. p. 128. ISBN   9780060936426. Archived from the original on March 3, 2021. Retrieved September 6, 2022. The philosophy that had prevailed in Washington since 1921, that the object of government was to provide prosperity for those who lived and worked at the top of the economic pyramid, in the belief that prosperity would trickle down to the bottom of the heap and benefit all.
  25. ↑ Wiseman, Paul. "Trickle-down economics gets another try". The Detroit News. Archived from the original on October 18, 2022. Retrieved October 18, 2022.
  26. ↑ "Reagonomics or 'voodoo economics'?". BBC News. June 5, 2004. Archived from the original on August 29, 2017. Retrieved January 4, 2012.
  27. 1 2 "The Education of David Stockman" Archived December 27, 2020, at the Wayback Machine by William Greider
  28. ↑ William Greider. The Education of David Stockman. ISBN   0-525-48010-2.
  29. ↑ White, Michael (1983). "Creative statistics: the Laffer Curve and taxation incentives". Journal of Australian Political Economy, the (14): 63–76.
  30. ↑ Thomas, Sowell (January 7, 2014). "The Trickle-Down Lie". National Review. Archived from the original on May 24, 2022. Retrieved May 24, 2022.
  31. ↑ Galbraith, John Kenneth (February 4, 1982) "Recession Economics". Archived December 27, 2020, at the Wayback Machine . New York Review of Books Volume 29, Number 1.
  32. ↑ "David Stockman's famous trip to the woodshed was prompted..." UPI. April 12, 1986. Retrieved January 2, 2024.
  33. ↑ Stiglitz, Joseph E. (December 2015). "8. Inequality and Economic Growth". The Political Quarterly. 86: 134–155. doi:10.1111/1467-923X.12237. Archived from the original on February 1, 2023. Retrieved February 1, 2023.
  34. ↑ "Trickle-Down Economics Fails a Sophisticated Statistical Test". Bloomberg.com. December 21, 2020. Archived from the original on February 24, 2023. Retrieved February 1, 2023.
  35. ↑ Picchi, Aimee (December 17, 2020). "50 years of tax cuts for the rich failed to trickle down, economics study says". CBS News. Archived from the original on February 1, 2023. Retrieved February 1, 2023.
  36. ↑ Christopher Ingraham (December 23, 2020). "'Trickle-down' tax cuts make the rich richer but are of no value to overall economy, study finds". The Washington Post . Washington, D.C. ISSN   0190-8286. OCLC   1330888409. Archived from the original on August 19, 2022. Retrieved October 3, 2022.
  37. ↑ "Staff Discussion Notes Volume 2015 Issue 013: Causes and Consequences of Income Inequality: A Global Perspective (2015)". imfsg. doi: 10.5089/9781513555188.006 . Archived from the original on February 3, 2023. Retrieved February 3, 2023.
  38. ↑ Goodwin, Neva R. (2020). Principles of economics in context (Second ed.). New York, NY. ISBN   978-0-429-43875-2. OCLC   1111577770.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  39. ↑ Peters, Brainard Guy; Nagel, Maximilian Lennart (2020). Zombie Ideas: Why Failed Policy Ideas Persist. Elements in Public Policy. Cambridge University Press. p. 8. doi:10.1017/9781108921312. ISBN   9781108921312. S2CID   229422499. Archived from the original on December 27, 2020. Retrieved November 28, 2020.
  40. ↑ "In the Real World of Work and Wages, Trickle-Down Theories Don't Hold Up". The New York Times. April 12, 2007. Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved February 23, 2017.
  41. ↑ Craig Stirling (December 16, 2020). "Fifty Years of Tax Cuts for Rich Didn't Trickle Down, Study Says". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on December 17, 2020. Retrieved December 17, 2020.
  42. ↑ Okun, Arthur M. (1975). Equality and Efficiency, the Big Tradeoff . Brookings Institution. pp.  46–47. ISBN   9780815764762.
  43. ↑ Baumol, William J. (July 1, 2010). The Microtheory of Innovative Entrepreneurship. Princeton University Press. p. 80. ISBN   9781400835225. Archived from the original on December 27, 2020. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
  44. ↑ Romer, Paul (February 1, 1994). "New goods, old theory, and the welfare costs of trade restrictions" (PDF). Journal of Development Economics. 43 (1): 5–38. doi:10.1016/0304-3878(94)90021-3. ISSN   0304-3878. S2CID   28772407.
  45. ↑ Morgan, Jamie (February 17, 2021). "A critique of the Laffer theorem's macro-narrative consequences for corporate tax avoidance from a Global Wealth Chain perspective". Globalizations. 18 (2): 174–194. Bibcode:2021Glob...18..174M. doi:10.1080/14747731.2020.1760420. ISSN   1474-7731.
  46. ↑ "Art Laffer still thinks he was right about tax cuts". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286. Archived from the original on November 30, 2022. Retrieved February 3, 2023.
  47. ↑ "Trickle-down economics gets new life as Republicans push tax-cut plan". USA Today . Archived from the original on May 9, 2021. Retrieved May 7, 2021.
  48. ↑ "Reaganomics" Archived May 17, 2021, at the Wayback Machine , Corporate Finance Institute. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
  49. ↑ Marr, Chuck (August 1, 2014). "Reagan’s Actions Made Him a True EITC Champion" Archived May 16, 2021, at the Wayback Machine . Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
  50. ↑ Casselman, Ben and Jim Tankersley (April 14, 2019). "Face It: You (Probably) Got a Tax Cut" Archived May 14, 2021, at the Wayback Machine . The New York Times. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
  51. ↑ Crouse, Eric R. (2013). The Cross and Reaganomics: Conservative Christians Defending Ronald Reagan. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 31. ISBN   9780739182222.
  52. ↑ Jean, Ross (April 30, 2024). "The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Failed To Deliver Promised Benefits" Archived January 13, 2025, at the Wayback Machine . Center for American Progress. Retrieved January 16, 2025.
  53. ↑ "Commercials – 1992 – Trickle Down". The Living Room Candidate. Archived from the original on December 27, 2020. Retrieved March 13, 2017.
  54. ↑ "How Bill Clinton Engaged With One Voter To Win 1992 Town Hall Debate". HuffPost. October 16, 2012. Retrieved July 30, 2024.
  55. ↑ Heather Stewart (July 21, 2012). "Wealth doesn't trickle down – it just floods offshore, research reveals". The Guardian . London. Archived from the original on November 2, 2013. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
  56. ↑ "Evangelii Gaudium: Apostolic Exhortation on the Proclamation of the Gospel in Today's World". Holy See. Archived from the original on August 11, 2015. Retrieved December 9, 2019.
  57. ↑ Chapman, Kate (October 28, 2011). "Labour campaign video harks back to history". Stuff.co.nz. Archived from the original on December 28, 2017. Retrieved October 5, 2016.
  58. ↑ Pramuk, Jacob (September 26, 2016). "Clinton: Trump would cut taxes for the rich in 'trumped up' trickle down economics". CNBC . Archived from the original on December 27, 2020. Retrieved September 17, 2017.
  59. ↑ "Biden: 'Trickle-down economics has never worked'". April 28, 2021. Archived from the original on April 29, 2021. Retrieved April 29, 2021.
  60. ↑ "Biden Criticizes 'Mega-MAGA Trickle-Down Economics'". WSJ. Archived from the original on November 3, 2022. Retrieved November 3, 2022.
  61. ↑ "Video 'I'm so sick and tired of trickle-down economics': Biden". ABC News. Archived from the original on November 3, 2022. Retrieved November 3, 2022.
  62. ↑ Jordan, Bre (February 27, 2020). "DENOUNCING THE MYTH OF PLACE-BASED SUBSIDIES AS THE SOLUTION FOR ECONOMICALLY DISTRESSED COMMUNITIES: AN ANALYSIS OF OPPORTUNITY ZONES AS A SUBSIDY FOR LOW-INCOME DISPLACEMENT". Columbia Journal of Race and Law. 10 (1). doi:10.7916/cjrl.v10i1.4840. ISSN   2155-2401. Archived from the original on February 1, 2023. Retrieved February 1, 2023.
  63. ↑ "The Political Failure of Trickle-Down Economics". Paul Krugman Blog. August 20, 2017. Archived from the original on February 1, 2023. Retrieved February 1, 2023.
  64. ↑ "Why is trickle-down economics still with us? | Robert Reich". the Guardian. October 9, 2022. Archived from the original on January 20, 2023. Retrieved February 1, 2023.
  65. ↑ "After tax cuts many saw as a failure, Kansas may cut again". AP NEWS. April 27, 2018. Archived from the original on February 1, 2023. Retrieved February 1, 2023.
  66. ↑ Whyte, Jessica (2019). "The Invisible Hand of Friedrich Hayek: Submission and Spontaneous Order". Political Theory. 47 (2): 156–184. doi:10.1177/0090591717737064. ISSN   0090-5917. JSTOR   27126178. Archived from the original on February 2, 2023. Retrieved February 2, 2023.
  67. ↑ "Friedrich Hayek and the left: A response to Simon Griffiths". British Politics and Policy at LSE. March 6, 2015. Archived from the original on February 2, 2023. Retrieved February 2, 2023.
  68. ↑ Hank Brown. Congressional Record , March 24, 1992.
  69. ↑ Sowell, Thomas (2012). "Trickle Down" Theory and "Tax Cuts for the Rich" (PDF). Hoover Institution Press. pp. 1–2. ISBN   9780817916152. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 6, 2022. Retrieved September 6, 2022.
  70. ↑ Sowell, Thomas (January 7, 2014). "The 'Trickle-Down' Lie". Archived from the original on December 27, 2020. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  71. ↑ "'Trickle Down' Theory and 'Tax Cuts for the Rich'". Archived September 24, 2012, at the Wayback Machine .
  72. ↑ Mason, Rowena (September 21, 2022). "'No way' Truss's policies are trickle-down economics, says minister". the Guardian. Retrieved January 2, 2024.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.