The Growth Experiment Revisited Why Lower, Simpler Taxes Really Are America's Best Hope For Recovery

A tax increase on the wealthy is the centerpiece of President Obama’s plan for reviving America’s economy and paying down the debt. But Lawrence B. Lindsey, the former chief economic adviser to President George W. Bush, shows that while tax increases on the rich satisfy our strong inclination toward fairness, history proves that raising tax rates on the highest earners simply doesn’t work. Instead, the solution is counterintuitive—and to some, too controversial to consider.

The Growth Experiment was originally published in 1990, after Lindsey conducted an in-depth study of the surprising across-the-board benefits of Ronald Reagan’s so-called “tax cuts for the rich.”  As he revisits The Growth Experiment in this bold and accessible update, Lindsey offers a data-rich analysis of the past five presidential administrations, debunks the conventional wisdom about the1990s economic boom, addresses his critics head-on, and constructs the only viable way out of America’s ever-deepening economic morass.

Lawrence B. Lindsey is President and Chief Executive Officer of The Lindsey Group. He has held leading positions in government, academia, and business. Prior to forming The Lindsey Group, he held the position of Assistant to the President and Director of the National Economic Council at the White House and was the chief economic adviser to candidate George W. Bush during the 2000 Presidential campaign.

Dr. Lindsey also served as a Governor of the Federal Reserve System from 1991 to 1997, as Special Assistant to the President for Domestic Economic Policy during the first Bush Administration, and as Senior Staff Economist for Tax Policy at the Council of Economic Advisers during President Reagan’s first term. Dr. Lindsey served five years on the Economics faculty of Harvard University and held the Arthur F. Burns Chair for Economic Research at the American Enterprise Institute. From 1997 until 2001 he was Managing Director of Economic Strategies, a global consulting firm.

IN THE NEWS

Book Review: 'The Growth Experiment Revisited' by Lawrence Lindsey, Stephen Moore, Wall Street Journal, September 9, 2013