Understanding the President’s international tax proposal

Let’s look at three factories, each of which produces $100 of income.

1. Your factory A is in the U.S. Your corporation pays a 35% U.S. corporate income tax rate ($35).

Working in the West Wing: Senior Staff

I promised I would write about what it’s like to work in the West Wing of the White House. After more than six years of working there, the process details seem less than fascinating to me, but conversations with friends suggest that even routine process…

Third party payment in health care (part 3): Technology drives cost growth

Imagine that Sony plans to bring to market a new TV that is twice as good as the old $500 TV but costs $200 more to produce. If instead it is twice as good but costs $2,000 more, they will probably hold…

Unpacking the Climate-Industrial Complex

The House Energy & Commerce Comittee reported legislation last Friday that would create a cap-and-trade system for greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. I’d like to expand a bit on some recent writings by Bjorn Lomborg and Greg Mankiw about this…

The China/India hole in the American climate strategy

The House Energy and Commerce Committee marked up the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade climate change bill this week. Much of the discussion focused on the domestic impacts of the legislation, and how the policy design would affect various…

Mixed results on the Chrysler announcement

The President’s Chrysler announcement last Thursday produced mixed results.

The agreement among Chrysler, Fiat, UAW, the Administration, and the large banks appears to increase the probability (from almost zero) that Chrysler will…