Editor’s note: Nancy’s MacLean’s Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America has been the subject of intense scrutiny and controversy since it came out earlier this year. Much of the debate has centered on the motives of MacLean and her critics. In an effort to bring about more … Continue reading Book Symposium: Democracy in Chains

Josh McCabe Wellesley College (The following is an invitation for applications from our good friends in the Public Finance network of the Social Science History Association.) — The last decade has witnessed a revival of multidisciplinary research on the social, political, and historical sources and consequences of public finance. We invite interested graduate students from history, … Continue reading Graduate Student Workshop on the History and Politics of Public Finance

Josh McCabe Wellesley College When the new Congress meets in January, unified Republican control suggests that a shift toward the use of block grants is likely to take place. Under Paul Ryan, the House has proposed consolidating federal funding for both healthcare and social assistance into two block grants. Conservatives see this as fostering fiscally … Continue reading The Case for Block Grants

Josh McCabe Wellesley College Recent revelations that presidential candidate Donald Trump may have been able to avoid paying income taxes for two decades has piqued the public’s interest in taxes. Critics have accused Trump, who is no stranger to controversy and doesn’t hide his aversion to paying taxes, of engaging in strategic tax avoidance. While … Continue reading In Defense of Billion Dollar Tax Write-Offs

Josh McCabe  Wellesley College This week marks the 20th anniversary of the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, or what is popularly known as welfare reform in the United States. The reform took the country’s primary social assistance program, Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), and transformed it … Continue reading Putting Welfare Reform in (Comparative) Perspective

With ASA just two months away, the time is ripe to register for this year’s mini-conference, scheduled for August 19th, 2016 at the University of Washington, Seattle. Titled Can Comparative Historical Sociology Save the World? the conference explores how scholars might use the tools of comparative and historical sociology to engage issues of public concern. Featuring an opening … Continue reading Can Comparative Historical Sociology Save the World?

Josh McCabe  Wellesley College When and why do countries tax the rich? That’s the question at the center of Kenneth Scheve and David Stasavage’s aptly titled book, Taxing the Rich. The authors challenge a number of convention explanations for the rise and decline of taxes on the rich, including democracy, inequality, and the triumph of … Continue reading Taxing the Rich

Josh McCabe  Wellesley College What is the reality conservative professors and students face in contemporary American campus life? That’s the question at the center of a panel discussion, Conservatives on Campus: Myths and Realities, recently hosted by the Freedom Project at Wellesley College. Hoping to eschew the usual polemics on the topic, the event brought … Continue reading Conservatives on Campus: Myths and Realities

Basak Kus – Sven Steinmo – Josh Pacewicz – Josh McCabe  Monica Prasad – Richard Lachmann- Fred Block- Stephanie Lee Mudge The question of policy change is at the heart of the contest for the Democratic nomination between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. What is feasible, what is not? Is major change a possibility? Does the officer matter where … Continue reading Is Radical Change Possible? #Elections2016 #HillaryClinton #BernieSanders- final comments

Basak Kus – Sven Steinmo – Josh Pacewicz – Josh McCabe  Monica Prasad – Richard Lachmann- Fred Block The question of policy change is at the heart of the contest for the Democratic nomination between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. What is feasible, what is not? Is major change a possibility? Does the officer matter where the … Continue reading Is Radical Change Possible? #Elections2016 #HillaryClinton #BernieSanders- the discussion continues…

Basak Kus – Sven Steinmo – Josh Pacewicz – Josh McCabe – Monica Prasad – Richard Lachmann The question of policy change is at the heart of the contest for the Democratic nomination between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. What is feasible, what is not? Is major change a possibility? Does the officer matter where the office … Continue reading Is Radical Change Possible? #Elections2016 #HillaryClinton #BernieSanders

Blogger of the Week: Josh McCabe Wellesley College The reason the U.S. is alone among liberal welfare regimes in excluding the poorest families from the benefits of its child tax credit is that we lack family allowances as a policy legacy on which to build support for it. The taxpayer is exalted and tax relief is … Continue reading Strategies for Bipartisan Child Tax Credit Reform

Blogger of the Week: Josh McCabe Wellesley College In his discussion of why Bernie Sanders is talking about Denmark, John Campbell makes several excellent points about the relationship between the size of government and economic competitiveness. He argues that U.S. Republicans, with their emphasis on tax cuts and small government, could learn from a thing or … Continue reading Response to Campbell: Denmark’s Lesson for Democrats

Blogger of the Week: Josh McCabe Wellesley College A cursory examination of otherwise similar liberal welfare regimes reveals that the U.S. is unique when it comes to child tax credits (CTC). Canada’s child tax benefit, United Kingdom’s child tax credit, Australia’s family tax benefit, and New Zealand’s family tax credit all provide fully refundable (meaning you … Continue reading How Being Anti-Tax Became Pro-Family in the U.S.

Blogger of the Week: Josh McCabe Wellesley College Last month’s exchange between Marco Rubio and Rand Paul on the former’s proposal for a new child tax credit during a GOP debate brought to light a long simmering tension between pro-family and anti-tax factions within the Republican Party. Since the 1970s, these two rivals have coexisted peacefully … Continue reading GOP at the Crossroads