“A lucid, convincing, and devastating critique of supply-side economics and a starve-the-beast route to shrinking the size of government.  Jones and Williams document the high cost of the triumph of ideology over neutral competence in national policymaking and suggest ways of restoring honesty and responsibility to public finance in America.”

-THOMAS E. MANN, Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution, and co-author of The Broken Branch

“Here’s a good idea: Read The Politics of Bad Ideas. With care and without cant, Jones and Williamsan acclaimed political scientist and an accomplished policy experteviscerate the free lunch mantra of radical tax cutters.  They show that the 'great tax cut delusion' has eroded not just our government’s fiscal capacity, but also the health of our representative democracy." 

 - JACOB S. HACKER, Professor of Political Science, Yale University, and authorof The Great Risk Shift

“This lively book is a clear window into the very soul of American politics. It helps explain how analysts convince themselves of the things they want to believe and why citizens so easily believe what they want to hear. It’s at once a keen assessment of where we’ve been and a sharp look at the big, inescapable policy puzzles that lie ahead—and the challenges that America’s political institutions face in trying to solve them.”

- DONALD F. KETTL, Director, Fels Institute of Government, University of Pennsylvania

“The Politics of Bad Ideas is a ringing indictment of bad fiscal policy and an explanation of why and how bad fiscal policy persists.  Writing with incisive clarity, Bryan Jones and Walter Williams present a lively description of the decline of evidence-based policy making and a principled defense of the classic concept of neutral competence among career policy makers.  The Politics of Bad Ideas is an important contribution to political science, to public administration, and to policy analysis.”

- H. GEORGE FREDERICKSON, Stene Professor of Public Administration, University of Kansas   

 ADDITIONAL PRAISE FOR

THE POLITICS OF BAD IDEAS

 “In writing this book, Bryan Jones and Walter Williams have performed a valuable public service: they have laid out in clear terms the nexus of political and economic arguments underpinning debates over the economy and federal budget.  No small achievement, since most such arguments are so ideologically driven and academic jargon-riven as to be unheard by any larger public.  The authors are clear about their own preferences and they may well not persuade their opponents, but this book certainly deserves a large audience.”

-JOHN L. PALMER, University Professor, Maxwell School, Syracuse University

 “Jones and Williams provide a valuable and much needed critique of 'faith-based' analysis.  This is essential reading for students of public policy.”

-GEORGE C. EDWARDS III,Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Jordan Chair in Presidential Studies, Texas AandM University, and author of Governing by Campaigning: The Politics of the Bush Presidency

“Bryan Jones and Walter Williams have delivered a devastating critique, filled with lots of empirical evidence, of the faith-based style of policy-making that has been in vogue since the days of Ronald Reagan’s presidency and which has reached its apotheosis under the presidency of George W. Bush. But even more searing than its exposure of the calamitous policies of the Bush administration is the critique by the authors of our broken system of government."

-BERT A. ROCKMAN, Head and Professor of Political Science, Purdue University

Bryan D. Jones is Donald R. Matthews Distinguished Professor of American Politics and Director of the Center for American Politics and Public Policy at the University of Washington, Seattle.  His scholarly interests focus on American public policy processes.  Jones' numerous books include Politics and the Architecture of Choice (Chicago, 2001), Preconceiving Decision-Making in Democratic Politics (Chicago, 1994), both winners of the APSA Political Psychology Section Robert Lane Award, and Agendas and Instability in American Politics (co-authored with Frank Baumgartner; Chicago, 1993), winner of the 2001 Aaron Wildavsky Award for Enduring Contribution to the Study of Public Policy.

Walter Williams is Distinguished Fellow, Center for American Politics and Public Policy, and Professor Emeritus, Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs, University of Washington. He is a frequent contributor to the editorial pages of newspapers throughout the country.  His numerous books include Reaganism and the Death of Representative Democracy (Georgetown University Press, 2003), Honest Numbers and Democracy (Georgetown University Press, 1998), and Mismanaging America (University Press of Kansas, 1990).  

Preface

Chapter 1: The Politics of Bad Ideas

Chapter 2: The Tax Cut Theories

Chapter 3: Evaluating the Claims

Chapter 4: Budgetary Politics and the Spending Mind-Set

Chapter 5: Institutions, Rules, and Politics

Chapter 6: Big Government Republicanism Costs Money

Chapter 7: Politics, Economics, and Tax Theories

Chapter 8: The Impacts of Recent Fiscal Policies on America

Chapter 9:  The Rise and Decline of Reality-Based Policymaking in the Federal Government, 1945-2006  

Chapter 10: The Role of Institutions

Chapter 11:  Why Do Bad Ideas Persist?

Chapter 12: Escaping the Dead Weight of Bad Ideas

Appendix