Since the time of the French Revolution, when a gold standard saved the nation from hyperinflation, France has wanted gold to be the linchpin of international monetary arrangements. And, indeed, from the earliest use of bills and coins as money until August 1971, money was, in principle at...

In his Keynote Address “Death Tax” Politics at the October 2, 2015 Boston College Law School and American College of Trust and Estate Counsel Symposium, The Centennial of the Estate and Gift Tax: Perspectives and Recommendations, Michael Graetz describes the fight over the repeal of the...

In recent years, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has invalidated many income tax law provisions of EU member states as violating the guarantees of the European constitutional treaties of freedom of movement for goods, services, persons, and capital. These decisions have not, however, been...

The author discusses the issues impacting the development of international tax policy. He states that the proper question in forming international tax policy should be, "what policy is in the United States' national interest?" However, advancing the competitive position of U.S. multinationals...

With the permission of MIT Press, this document includes Chapters 11 and 12 from my 2011 book, The End of Energy: The Unmaking of America’s Environment, Security, and Independence. These two chapters discuss some of the history and merits of taxes, subsidies, and regulation (including cap and...

Introduction / Alice H. Munnell -- Values, politics, and economics in social security reform. A framework for considering social security reform / Michael J. Boskin -- The economics of social security reform / Peter A. Diamond -- A political science perspective on social security reform / Hugh...

This report considers some of the payout issues that might arise from implementing a system of individual accounts, if such accounts were to become a part of federal retirement policy. Why is it important to examine "payout" issues? Because a central goal of retirement security policy is to...

The gravamen of the constitutional complaint against the individual mandate is its supposed intrusion on personal freedom. But, when all was said and done, no one attacked a state government’s requirement that individuals must purchase health insurance, nor advanced any constitutional...

Forty-two years ago, in the Virginia Law Review, long before Congress twice enacted — and twice repealed — carryover basis for assets transferred at death, I published this article examining and evaluating a number of proposals for taxing gains at death, as well as for carryover basis. (One...