White House Illustrates Pattern of Deceptive Economics

The October 16 study from the Council of Economic Advisors — which I will take the liberty here to rename “The Economic Effects of a Yet Unspecified Corporate Tax Reform: Some Theory and Some Evidence” — is a classic example of how industry and partisan interests use economic analysis to give the public the impression their views are scientifically proven. In the case of the CEA study, the purpose is to convince the public and the press that contrary to earlier studies (which admittedly, primarily because of their age, do not take cross-border investment into account) corporate tax cuts are the key to the “middle-class miracle” that will create jobs and raise wages. Here's the recipe.