Supply-Side Follies: Why Conservative Economics Fails, Liberal Economics Falters, and Innovation Economics is the Answer

(Paperback)

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Supply-Side Follies is a progressive political and economic challenge to the current George W. Bush policies. It debunks commonly held assumptions of conservative economic policies centered on the obsession that tax cuts led to greater productivity and prosperity. These fundamentally flawed policies are setting the United States up for a major economic downturn in the near future. The 21st century knowledge economy requires a fundamentally different approach to boosting growth than simply cutting taxes on the richest investors. The alternative is not, however, to resurrect old Keynesian, populist economics as too many Democrats hope to do. Rather, as Rob Atkinson makes clear, our long-term national welfare and prosperity depends on new economic strategy that fits the realities of the 21st century global, knowledge-based economy: innovation-based growth economics.

Reviews

In this important book, Rob Atkinson leaves behind the stale economic debates in Washington, D.C. and presents a compelling case that both conservative and liberal economic doctrines are out of step with todays global, knowledge-based economy and that we need a new 'innovation economics.' This book is a must-read for anyoneliberal, centrist, or conservativeinterested in ensuring a prosperous future for all Americans. -- Senator Evan Bayh
Dr. Atkinson's Supply-Side Follies is a primer on Bush/Reagan's supply-side economics doctrine, clearly showing how, despite claims to the contrary, it's a failed economic growth strategy. No solution-less Chicken Little, the book is full of provocative alternatives that understand the distinctions between fulsome economic policy in a global setting and unfair political ideology masquerading as such. Supply-Side Follies is an easily grasped must-read for every voter of every stripe. -- Leo Hindery, Managing Partner at InterMedia Partners and former CEO of AT&T Broadband and TCI
Supply-Side Follies is a closely-argued broadside against the Bush administration's two-pronged economic policy of tax cuts and more tax cuts. Anyone trying to evaluate the highly politically-charged arguments that these tax cuts stimulated economic growth, and may even have paid for themselves, would profit from thinking hard about the counterarguments Atkinson marshals in his clearly-written and accessible book. -- Joel Slemrod, Director, University of Michigan Office of Tax Policy Research

Author Bio

Robert D. Atkinson, Ph.D., is president of The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit think tank with a pro-innovation, pro-productivity, and digital economy public policy agenda. He was formerly vice president of the Progressive Policy Institute and project director at the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment. Government Technology magazine and the Center for Digital Government named him one of the 25 top 'Doers, Dreamers and Drivers of Information Technology' and Inc. Magazine listed Atkinson as one of '19 friends' of small business in Washington.