Some recent analyses have claimed that the 75-year cost of extending the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts is as large as the funding imbalances in Social Security and Medicare. This article takes a critical look at these analyses and finds them flawed and misleading. Previous analyses have relied on...

A great deal of government spending is hidden in the federal tax code in the form of deductions, credits, and other preferences that seem like they let taxpayers keep their own money, but are actually spending in disguise

We use information reported by ten utilities about their electricity conservation programs to calculate the life-cycle cost per kWh saved - the cost of a "negawatt " -- associated with these programs. These computations indicate that the cost associated with utilities "purchasing" negawatthours...

Governments often favor environmentally superior products in procurement, even if Abstract they cost more than alternatives. This article analyzes the effects of such green procurement policies. If marginal production costs are increasing, private market responses counteract changes in...