Dale W. Jorgenson

Den orädde debattören är en vänbok till Bo Södersten på 80-årsdagen. Han är mest känd som nationalekonom, framför allt som författare till standardboken International Economics. Han var i tur och ordning professor i nationalekonomi i Göteborg, i internationell ekonomi i Lund och i nationalekonomi med särskild inriktning mot internationell ekonomi i Jönköping från början av 1970-talet till början av 2000-talet. Under skoltiden blev Bo Södersten politiskt intresserad. Han var riksdagsman för Socialdemokraterna 1979-1988 och satt bland annat i finansutskottet. När han kom tillbaka till universitetslivet kom han alltmer att engagera sig i fackliga akademiska frågor. Bo Södersten var under en period på 1990-talet ordförande i SULF (Sveriges universitetslärarförbund). Uppsatserna i Den orädde debattören spänner över de flesta av Bo Söderstens intresseområden. Den innehåller en handfull personliga porträtt av honom, speglar hans intresse för idéhistoria, svensk och internationell ekonomi, utvecklingsfrågor, rättighetsproblem och, sist men inte minst, hans debattvilja. Bo Södersten har aldrig varit riktigt politiskt opportun. Han kunde ta steget från Den hierarkiska välfärden till Kapitalismen byggde landet. Bo Södersten har drivit sina egna frågor, eldad av sin övertygelse, i bland annat Tiden, Aftonbladet, Svenska Dagbladet, Dagens Nyheter och Sydsvenska Dagbladet. I boken medverkar Mats Bergstrand, Jagdish Bhagwati, Yves Bourdet, Fredrik Braconier, Henrik Braconier, Karolina Ekholm, Gunnar Eriksson, Ronald Findlay, Gunnar Fredriksson, Birgit Friggebo, Stig Gustafsson, Göte Hansson, Erik Jonasson, Ronald W Jones, Dale W Jorgenson, Peter Kindlund, Mats Lundahl, Nils Lundgren, Johan Lönnroth, Anders Milton, Svante Nycander, Inga Persson, Lennart Petersson, Gunnar Petri, Lars Pettersson, Nils-Eric Sandberg, Bo Sandelin, Fredrik Sjöholm, Birgitta Strömbom och Hans Tson Söderström. Den orädde debattören har redigerats av Mats Lundahl.

This book presents a comprehensive treatment of the cost-of-capital approach for analyzing the economic impact of tax policy. This approach has provided an intellectual impetus for reforms of capital income taxation in the United States and around the world. The cost of capital and the marginal effective tax rate are combined with estimates of substitution possibilities by businesses and households in analyzing tax and spending programs. This makes it possible to evaluate tax reforms and changes in government spending. Studies of the economic impact of tax policies have taken two forms. First, the cost of capital has been incorporated into investment functions in macroeconomic models, which are used to model the short-run responses to tax policy changes. Second, the cost-of-capital approach has been integrated into applied general-equilibrium models used in evaluating the long-run economic effects of tax reforms.The cost-of-capital approach suggests two avenues for tax reform. One would retain the income tax base of the existing U.S. tax system, but would equalize tax burdens on all forms of assets as well as average and marginal tax rates on labor income. The other would substitute consumption for income as a tax base, while equating average and marginal tax rates on labor income.

Volume 1: Econometric General Equilibrium Modeling presents an econometric approach to general equilibrium modeling of the impact of economic policies. Earlier approaches were based on the "calibration" of general equilibrium models to a single data point. The obvious disadvantage of calibration is that it requires highly restrictive assumptions about technology and preferences, such as fixed input-output coefficients. These assumptions are contradicted by the massive evidence of energy conservation in response to higher world energy prices, beginning in 1973. The econometric approach to general equilibrium modeling successfully freed economic policy analysis from the straitjacket imposed by calibration.As a consequence of changes in energy prices and new environmental policies, a wealth of historical experience has accumulated over the past two decades. Interpreted within the framework of the neoclassical theory of economic growth, this experience provides essential guidelines for future policy formation. Volume 2: Energy, the Environment, and Economic Growth presents a new econometric general equilibrium model of the United States that captures the dynamic mechanisms underlying growth trends and responses to energy and environmental policies. Jorgenson uses the model to analyze the impacts of environmental regulations on US economic growth and tax policies for controlling US emissions of carbon dioxide.

These two volumes present empirical studies that have permanently altered professional debates over investment and productivity as sources of postwar economic growth in industrialized countries. The distinctive feature of investment is that returns can be internalized by the investor. The most straightforward application of this idea is to investments that create property rights, but these volumes broaden the meaning of capital formation to include investments in education and training.International Comparisons of Economic Growth focuses on comparisons among industrialized countries. Although Germany and Japan are often portrayed as economic adversaries of the U.S., postwar experiences in all three countries support policies that give high priority to stimulating and rewarding capital formation. In the Asian model of growth exemplified by Japan investments in tangible assets and human capital are especially critical during periods of rapid growth.