Most states ended the summer of 2014 on a positive economic note. Up from 14 states a year earlier, 25 states reported August unemployment rates below 6 percent. Every state but Alaska added jobs within the last year. But some troubling signs remain. Inflation-adjusted average weekly wages...

The Washington Post. The economy's expansion last quarter, for the first time in more than a year, has prompted much speculation that the recession is over. This turning point, however, simply marks an end to the decline in activity.

The elderly receive substantial income tax benefits in the form of an extra standard deduction and lenient taxation of Social Security benefits for recipients with modest incomes. States also provide significant tax benefits. Often all Social Security and pension income is tax free and many...

[Financial Times] In many ways, the debate over the tax bill was simply a warm-up for the much larger budgetary issues that Congress and President George W. Bush must face over the next few years. There is little doubt that if healthcare and retirement spending increase as scheduled,...

[Nihonkeizai Shimbun] What can Japan learn from the United States' experience with deficit reduction? First and foremost, U.S. success in eliminating deficits would not have been possible without the support of a broad public consensus that focused on the long-run negative effects of...

[L.A. Times] Four Economic Views, but there's one point on which analysts agree: The U.S. economy is shaky. But beyond that basic truth, there is little consensus. Why things soured, how to get back on track, even how.

The Enron debacle had potential implications in three areas of tax policy: tax-favored retirement plans, stock options, and differences in book versus tax accounting. The most important issue relates to the increasing riskiness of retirement plans that (1) can pay in a lump sum amount, (2) are...

This paper examines long-term fiscal discipline and economic performance, with two main results. First, declines in budget surpluses (increases in deficits) reduce national saving and therefore reduce future national income, regardless of their effect on interest rates. Second, increases in...

[Boston Globe] Like Massachusetts, state governments across the nation are facing budget deficits of historic proportions. Next year, they will face combined projected shortfalls of between $70 billion and $85 billionor about 15 percent of all the money they spend out of their general...

In this commentary for Marketplace, Len Burman argues that the government's faith in free-market solutions to public policy issues is contradicted by its position against private testing of cattle for Mad Cow disease.