Tax policy debates-and reforms-depend heavily on estimates of how alternative tax rules would affect behavior. Yet there is considerable controversy about the key empirical links among tax rates, household decisions, and revenue collections. The nine papers in this volume exploit the substantial...

This paper, which was written as part of the NBER project on American economic policy in the 1980s, examines the changes in government spending and budget deficits during the decade. The paper analyzes why the deficit increased substantially and looks at the policy options for reducing the...