This paper discusses specific proposals for reducing the United States' deficit that draw on the lessons from past fiscal consolidations.

Breaking windows will stimulate the economy, according to a leading public pension advocacy group. Skeptical? The National Institute on Retirement Security (NIRS) has not literally endorsed breaking windows, but a report recently published by the organization relies on the same economic fallacy.According to NIRS-whose membership consists principally of...

The U.S. is more active on trade policy than it has been in years.  President Obama is meeting with Canada and Mexico about new agreements, Congress will hold hearings on changing decades-old trade law, and the federal government will more broadly be bringing several cases before the WTO.

Yet, in constructing...

The experience of twenty-one countries over thirty-seven years yields a simple truth: cutting spending works, and raising taxes does not.

The governments of U.K., Ireland and Greece have embarked upon ambitious, sometimes painful efforts to restore their economies Of the three, the U.K. and Ireland took their medicine, while Greece decided the taste was just too awful, and its irresponsibility threatens every euro-zone country.

According to historical data and a long record of academic research, successfully addressing the fiscal gap requires fiscal retrenchment on the expenditure side.

Scott Brown's economic platform aligns with what academic literature considers sound economic policy and it won him the election in the bluest of states.

Countries with deficits that averaged about 20 percent of GDP have historically proceeded down three divergent paths. This paper discusses the historical evidence along each of these three paths and compares the current U.S. situation to past experiences.