Debunking the Myths About Government
Rediscovering Government presented four mainstream, empirically based analyses of major government-related questions in the Myths About Government panel in Washington DC on June 21st. The panelists from the roundtable discussion addressed four common misconceptions about government and the economy. Read their summary responses below, and click through to view their bios and full presentations.
Does big government impede growth?
Government Social Programs and Economic Growth: Verdicts from History
Peter Lindert, University of California, Davis
Economic history does not find any net cost in GDP from democratic large-budget welfare states. The “free lunch puzzle” of welfare states is this: They avoided any net GDP cost while achieving many social goals: reducing poverty and inequality, extending life spans, and having cleaner government. In addition, their government budget deficits are no greater, and people are no less happy in these large-budget welfare states.
Do high taxes create disincentives?
Evidence on the Economic Effects of Taxes
Jon Bakija, Williams College
There have been many econometric studies of cross-country data that have attempted to estimate the effects of the overall level of taxes on economic growth, and many other econometric studies (using a variety of types of data) that have attempted to estimate the causal effect of changes in marginal income tax rates on peoples' efforts to earn income. This presentation displays the basic facts on these issues, discusses why neither approach has provided convincing evidence of a strong negative effect of taxes on long-run real economic activity, and explains why healthy skepticism of any claims to the contrary is in order.
Do markets distribute income fairly and equitably?
America’s Struggling Lower Half
Lane Kenworthy, University of Arizona
When the country prospers, everyone should prosper. In the period between World War II and the mid-to-late 1970s, economic growth was good for Americans in the middle and below. Since then, however, relatively little of our economy's growth has reached households in the lower half. Wages for this group have barely budged. Rising employment helped in the 1980s and 1990s, but that wasn't enough to ensure that incomes kept pace with economic growth, and employment stopped increasing after 2000. Government transfers are another key source of income for many households in the lower half, but they too have lagged behind growth of the economy. What are the prospects going forward? Will we see a return to rising wages or employment for Americans in the lower half, or are the trends of the past few decades likely to continue? What, if anything, could our government do to help?
Do Americans want smaller government?
Better, Not Smaller: What Americans Want from Federal Government
Ruy Teixeira, Century Foundation, Center for American Progress
Americans lack confidence in the federal government's ability to solve problems. A wide range of other indicators show that people think the government wastes a lot of the money it spends, is inefficient, not accountable for its actions, unresponsive and more a hindrance than a help to getting ahead in life. Not a pretty picture. However, that doesn't mean the public necessarily wants the government to be smaller. They would prefer instead that it worked better and solved problems. Therefore, reforming the way government works could potentially contribute to building public support for government programs both old and new. This is particularly true among members of the Millennial generation. The other important factor is better macroeconomic performance, which would go a long way toward making people more receptive to an active role for government, especially a government that seemed to be performing more efficiently and effectively.
Rediscovering Government is an initiative of the Roosevelt Institute dedicated to exploring the purpose and value of government. Led by Roosevelt Institute Senior Fellow Jeff Madrick, the program aims to reinvigorate conversation surrounding government and what it can and should be doing for its citizens, through the website, blog, roadshows, and conferences.
Washington, D.C. image via Shutterstock.com.