It\u2019s one of the most persistent and politically powerful ideas of the last 50 years: cut taxes on the rich and corporations, and the benefits will eventually “trickle down” to everyone else. This theory, more formally known as supply-side economics, has been the cornerstone of conservative policy in Western nations since the 1980s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But after decades of real-world application, the verdict from economists and the data itself is clear: the trickle is a myth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Promise: A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The logic behind trickle-down theory sounds appealing. It goes like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s a simple, compelling story. Unfortunately, it\u2019s a story that has consistently failed to come true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Reality: A Rising Tide Lifted the Yachts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The great trickle-down experiment began in earnest in the 1980s under leaders like Ronald Reagan in the U.S. and Margaret Thatcher in the U.K. We now have over 40 years of data to see what happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Expert Consensus<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This isn’t a fringe opinion. The vast majority of mainstream economists, including those at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), have concluded that trickle-down policies are an ineffective tool for boosting broad-based growth. In fact, the IMF has published research suggesting the opposite is true: that economic growth is stronger and more sustainable when the middle class and the poor have a larger share of the economic pie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The verdict is in. As a tool for generating widespread prosperity, trickle-down economics has been tried, and it has failed. The benefits don’t trickle down; they flow up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s one of the most persistent and politically powerful ideas of the last 50 years: cut taxes on the rich and corporations, and the benefits will eventually “trickle down” to everyone else. This theory, more formally known as supply-side economics, has been the cornerstone of conservative policy in Western nations since the 1980s. But after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economy"],"yoast_head":"\n\n
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