It is widely assumed that economists differ with each other on virtually every issue of relevance to their profession. Indeed, this supposed phenomenon is at the core of numerous jokes at their expense. Careful research, however, does not bear out this popular perception. To be sure, there is a...

Universality and selectivity are amenable to a rather straightforward and non-value-laden definition. For our purposes, universality may be described as pertaining to aid programs where the benefits go to all persons, regardless of income. The amount of the benefits, moreover, is invariant with...