It's rare to find a book on economic policy that is so well written for the general public without sacrificing first rate analysis. I would recommend it for undergraduates and for anyone who wants to get quickly to the heart of some very tough issues: fiscal stimulus; monetary policy; tax reform; trade imbalances; oil dependence; runaway entitlement spending; health reform; and preventing the next financial crisis. When a book is this quick a read, you often don't come away which much, but Seeds of Destruction pays big dividends and left me looking for more. You come away understanding the key drivers of economic growth without having to juggle equations or IS/LM graphs. They cut through a lot of extraneous issues and focus on the keys to good economic policymaking. It's particularly good at explaining some of the arcane underpinings of the financial crisis. Also, unlike many economic policy tomes, they have a deft touch when explaining the political constraints on policymaking.
Book Review by Pete Davis
I've always had the most respect for top economists, like Columbia Graduate School of Business Dean Glenn Hubbard,
who got their hands dirty in Washington policymaking. He was President
George W. Bush's first Council of Economic Advisers Chair and had a
strong hand his 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, which raised the child tax
credit, reduced marriage penalty, cut the double taxation of dividends,
and raised deductions for savings. Unlike many economists who tried
their hand in Washington, Hubbard left with an enhanced reputation and
with the genuine thanks of a grateful president. Hubbard's coauthor,
University of California-Irvine Business Professor Peter Navarro worked at the Department of Energy in Washington and contributes business consulting experience.
As much as I like this book, it has several flaws, which I hope won't dissuade you from reading it.
1.
It blames President Obama for deficits that clearly originated with
President George W. Bush's excessive tax cuts and pandering to the
elderly with the 2003 Medicare Part D
prescription drug benefit, which we could ill afford, but which helped
Bush win his second term. Obama is blamed repeatedly throughout the
book, while there's only one or two brief negative references to Bush
administration policies.
2.
It mostly ignores the income distributional effects of the policies it
recommends, many of which disproportionately favor the rich and hurt
the middle class and the poor. There is a brief discussion of
regressivity in favoring a consumed income tax over a VAT, but it was
way too thin to compared to the rich analysis elsewhere in the book.
3.
It hardly mentions any positive benefits of federal regulation and
glosses over the failures of federal financial regulation that sowed the
seeds of the 2007-2009 financial crisis.
4. It examines lots of individual income tax loopholes, but ignores business income tax loopholes.