Are taxes an important determinant of business activity? If they are, what are the implications for public policy? The four surveys of this volume provide a detailed description of the current state of knowledge for specialists in tax policy. In this essay we develop some of the common themes....

In this paper, we argue that much of the debate regarding the role of government policy in mitigating economic instability has failed to give sufficient attention to the role of capital markets. We argue that in an economy with well-functioning markets for risk-bearing, direct public...